1995 Camry, several newbie questions (be gentle)

[gigoloju]

Hi folks,

 

I have a 1995 Camry which has a pretty much identical dash to the one in the picture in the "1996 Camry" thread. I'm thinking of getting an AVIC-D2 for it. A few questions:

 

Is the GPS antenna part of the unit itself, or does it go somewhere else in the car? For that matter does anything else on this unit have to be attached to some other area for it to be fully functional? I read somewhere about the need to attach something to the headlight system in order for the automatic dimming based on headlight status to work.

 

Is there any kind of 3.5mm aux input jack (on the front or back) to hook up an MP3 player to it? I don't have an iPod; I have a Cowon iAudio M3 (hard drive based player) which has a standard line-out jack. If there's no aux input on the AVIC, is there another way to make this work?

 

Can you dim and brighten the display by hand if the auto-dimming isn't dim enough? And does the screen get very dim (or even completely turn off) at lowest setting? I like my car interior really dark at night.

 

How is the sound quality and EQ settings on the D2? The factory head unit, an AM/FM Cassette, is still on my trusty old Camry XLE V6 and the sound is lousy. I realize I'd have to add amp and speakers if I *really* want much better sound, but I just want reasonable improvement and a good stereo/nav system.

 

How does the Nav system work when you're playing tunes? Does the music cut out entirely when the voice comes on to warn you about a turn?

 

I'm a newbie to the whole Nav thing and I'm not planning on installing it myself, but I wanted to get an idea of how complicated the install is. In fact I'm not sure where to go to get it installed since I had a semi-bad experience with Circuit City installing a head unit for me years back. I'll probably buy it online and then get it installed locally. Anyone with advice on an electronics/car audio chain that has a good reputation and good installation rates?

 

Thanks everyone!!

[jimmy303]

The GPS antenna is separate. You can place this on the roof or trunklid, or, like many of us on this forum, put it under the dash cap on a metal plate, which works fine provided there is no metal above the antenna. The bypass for full video and nav while driving is here------> http://www.avic411.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2307 but remember, the D2 doesn't play DVD's, in case you weren't informed of this earlier.

For an aux input, you will need an adapter to go from the headphone jack on your mp3 player to standard rca jacks which will connect to the aux inputs on the back of the D2. This is available at your local electronics store, like Radio Shack. Yes you can dim the screen to near off. You may want to get some new speakers, considering yours are over 10 years old, any may not handle the higher output of the D2 very well at all. The nav voice guidance interruption is configurable. The install is very simple, if you are the slightest bit handy. Just read the posts on the '96 Camry thread http://www.avic411.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3110 and you can see how easy.