Kayhan Audio Unbox and Initial Thoughts compared to G8 Designs kit

[J Wikoff]

In a moment of weakness, I ordered the new Kayhan Audio setup AND the G8 Designs kit with a Pioneer W8400NEX headunit. I haven't installed either, but have opened both and have some thoughts. I didn't take many pics of the G8 Designs kit, so most of this will be about the Kayhan.

The Kayhan comes attractively packaged in a hard cardboard box with magnetic closure, with purpose cut foam to secure things in place. So good so far. The trim around the unit is sturdy with what seems like a durable finish. The G8 Designs trim, by comparison, is a thin shell with a finish that seems like it'll be easy to muck up. Mine came with some handling scratches that are sizable, but only visible under certain lighting angles, so I might not notice them much if at all when in the car. And people seem happy with the kit, so it'll probably be fine. I've talked to the guy and he says if it's a problem, he'll make it right. The Kayhan didn't have any of that. Kayhan's install instructions are absent from the kit. The guy with the Facebook account says they were making a Youtube video showing the process. LOL, as I'm typing that sentence, he IMs me a link to the install. Talk about timing! It's 42 minutes long. I'll have to watch it later. G8 designs emails a lengthy and well detailed PDF instruction set. I haven't attempted either install yet, but it seems like the Kayhan will be a little easier, requiring less splicing. G8 Designs requires a few splices that Kayhan manages to build into the harness. It's probably mostly unavoidable because the G8 Designs kit is designed to use with any number of different headunits, so that's fine. One of those in the canbus connection, which seems like it could be in the main harness connector like Kayhan does, but would need a whole large section of open pin sockets for just one wire. So G8 Designs included the splice, along with all the rest of the splices you'll need, to save a little money. That's only a nitpick, nothing major. The Kayhan's wiring is all well labeled. There are one or two that I'm not sure what they are. I'm sure it'll be in the install video. G8 Designs' is all well outlined in the install PDF.

Some pics. Sorry some are sideways. Tinypic rotated my vertical pics and I'm not sure how to change it back.






























Some of the G8 Designs kit. Mostly the marks on the trim.





There's a scratch here that is pretty much invisible under indirect lighting.



Visible under direct light.

[GXPaycheck]

Been watching the thread on that other forum. Looks interesting!

[J Wikoff]

I installed the Kayhan yesterday. It's a pretty simple process. It all just plugs in. It took me a couple hours with occasional sitting and thinking about where to route the mic and GPS antenna and tinkering with settings. The only tool needed is a screwdriver. I left the glovebox mounted and still had room to get to the main connector on the right side of the unit. If you have an amp for the door speakers or a reverse camera, there are a few splices to get done. They look clearly labeled and shouldn't be difficult. I can get pics up tonight when I'm home. It's taking a bit to get used to all the new options available.

Bright spots include:
Bluetooth connecting automatically and works as expected for streaming music.
Google Play app store works fine like it should.
GPS is good at locating the car even in my garage.
Audio quality is fine for me, still getting the EQ where I want it.
Boot up time is a few seconds. I was afraid that it would be slow, but that is not the case.

Things to work out:
Amazon Music app says someone currently has the unit registered to their account and I have to wait 179 days to register it to mine. The unit doesn't seem used at all so it doesn't make much sense. I'm in the process of working that out with Amazon.
The two upper clips for the unit don't seem to want to snap in so it sits a little proud at the top, only really noticeable when you know how far it should sit back. I think I can tweak the mount plate a little to make it snap in or maybe put some thin felt on the clips to snug up the fit. I can make that happen when I have a couple minutes to give it some more attention. The bottom snaps in very securely.
My front right channel doesn't get any audio, but does get some alternator whine. I'm working it out with Kayhan, but I have a feeling I'm going to have to swap the unit out. Not a big deal for me, I understand defects happen from time to time.

[J Wikoff]

Install pics. I'm realizing they aren't great shots. The lighting was all the same. I guess my phone darkened everything else when the screen came on and I wasn't paying attention.

And tinypic rotated the vertical pics again. Don't know how to fix that.

At this point, I 'm ready to install the unit. I've pulled down the side panels of the center stack and console, and the driver side knee panel, pulled off the face of the stock radio, undid the wiring on either side of it, removed the 4 screws in the front, and pulled the unit out (after taking my CDs out before any other step).



Attached the main harness and antenna jumper to the car side harnesses.



Set the unit in place, just to check how it looks.



I've mounted the mic to the windshield near the top of the driver a piller and the gps antenna on the dash at the base of the a pillar, routed their harnesses through the end of the dash, down under the steering column and into the radio cavity, attached the mounting plate using the original 4 screws, attached all the harnesses to the back of the unit, put the clips from the stock face plate onto the back of the new unit, and slid it mostly into place, and powered it on to start playing with things. Looking at the nav here.



Home screen.



From the driver seat with the unit more snapped into place. I've since got it to snap into place better.

[J Wikoff]

Fresh morning boot up and better lighting pic. Smudges, the glory of a touchscreen! They didn't really seem all that bad in person.



https://youtu.be/q48JvnmGsog

[mooredata]

Love the fact that people are still adding knowledge and upgrades to there G8 cars. Thank you for sharing your experiences.

[tchr49]

Nice job!!

[GXPaycheck]

Can you change what displays on the home screen? I don’t need a calendar.

[J Wikoff]

I haven't found a way to change the home screen. Most of the time, I don't have it there anyway. It's usually on the radio screen. One slightly annoying thing is that there are a whole bunch of radio presets. And while it will let you select 5 or 6 favorites and give you buttons for them in a row along the bottom of the radio screen, left scroll takes you through the whole preset list. So changing presets while on the home screen is a bit tedious. I haven't tried, but maybe one can circumvent this by repeating your favorites in a pattern through the whole list of presets. I managed to have it auto-program all the presets while pressing buttons to see what they were. I'll never listen to most of what it found. Maybe I can just remove most of them one way or another. Haven't messed with it enough yet.

[Napalm]

I'm very intrigued.

how much are we talking about here?