My dad's just received his new company car. It's a Renault Laguna.

The first thing that interested me was the fact that it had two DIN slots. So it's Empeg-compatible, YAY! This is a good thing because I will also drive a lot with this car, as I said before it's a company car so it runs for free which is all the motivation I need to use it! )

Unfortunately, it comes with a stock headunit that isn't easily removable because it sends its display to a small screen on the dash and it's controlled via a small "sony stick" like device on the right hand side of the steering wheel.

But no worries, it can control a trunk mounted CD-changer (which is not installed at the moment, nor will it ever be).
So I figure : If it can control a cd-changer then it has an aux-in !

So now comes the hard part : I'll obviously need some sort of adapter which will make this headunit believe that there's actually a CD-changer connected to it so I can access it's aux-port.

Where can I find such an adapter? Does anybody recognise this headunit? There's no brand on it anywhere, but I have a strong suspicion it's a Phillips headunit.



This is the dashbord with the lid closed. I really like this option because it completely conseals the headunit from prying eyes.



This is with the lid open. As you can see there's enough room to accomodate an Empeg.



This is a close-up of the headunit. Does anybody recognise it? It's a piece of crap obviously, but I'll be very happy if I can connect my Empeg to it. I've got a spare sled to do this, I just need the forementioned adapter.

Thanks!

ps. Sorry for the bad picture quality. The photo's were taken with my Nokia 7650 phone and this is as good as it gets. I really must buy me a decent digital camera one of these days!

post for second photo

post for third photo.

I've got the old laguna and cheated. I used an fm modulator into the aerial socket of the renault hu.

For my the mark 1 laguna you can get a 'connector' that converts the renault stalk controls into sony (its not sony currently). This means that you'll lose the head up display part for the radio station etc.

https://www.edworthys.co.uk/acatalog/Fitting_Renault.html

Renault Smart Lead (PC9-112) is the one you want I believe.
I'm just about to move back to the UK and was looking at getting another laguna (mark 2 obviously now). Mine won't have the spare slot as thats where the satnav is, however the little headup display is replaced with a colour lcd screen.

Either way, the factory installed hu was coming out and I was going to replace it with my empeg and an amp. Might be worth speaking to your local renault dealer about this.

The other car I'm looking at, is the new Mazda RX8. But that has some purpose built Bose crap installed so that won't be an easy task.

might also be :-

http://www.incardiscount.co.uk/acatalog/SC_RENAULT.html

REN02DIS Sony Smart Lead

Thanks for the info, but this is not exactly what I'm looking for.

I'm not looking for a way to replace the standard headunit. My dad would never allow me to do that. He doesn't like his car to be tampered with. I've already had to use every ounce of persuasion power I have to convince him to let me install an Empeg in his new car. ("No dad, this isn't going to scratch your dashboard", "No dad, this is easily removable if needed be", etc, etc...)

So what I'm really looking for is an adapter which could turn the interface for the CD-changer into an AUX-in input on the standard head unit.

I guess if I really had to I could also go the FM modulator way, but this is something I *really* want to avoid.

I've seen kits to get aux in, but they've been for aftermarket units. If you could figure out who makes the stereo, you may find it easier to do.

I'm pretty sure it's a Philips, but I don't know the model number. It's nowhere on the unit and it's not mentioned in the manual. I think I'll go and pay the dealer a visit and ask him.

I did find this however. The technical details show it's using a "Renault fitting adaptor" and not an FM modulator, so it must be possible!

A bit of digging around on this site showed me this. (look under Renault, Philips headunit)

Now of course I still don't have any idea if this will work with anything different from a Denison unit, but I think my chances are pretty good.
I would love to see a picture of the back of a Denison unit now, if only to see if it has a special interface of it's own (in which case I would be out of luck), or if it simply uses cinch. I've looked for the Denison homepage, but it seemes to have vanished. Nothing can be found online about this player anymore, except for one review with little or no photo's. Has the Denison been discontinued?
Could anyone provide any more info about this?

Thanks!

Has the Denison been discontinued?

I don't think so. It helps if you spell it right.

Ouch !

You're really enjoying this, aren't you?

It looks a hell of a lot like a 22DC279/62:

(source)

Woohoo!

Thanks Bitt! With your help I've found out that this unit probably isn't a Philips, but a VDO, at least that's what this link on the Dension site mentions. (here's the adapter link)

All the Philips headunits mentioned in the link I provided in my previous post seem to be Tape headunits. (though that 22DC279/62 is also branded as a Philips -and not VDO- on that Russian site you've linked me to)

Or do Philips and VDO have a joint venture for headunits ?

We're halfway! Thanks a lot BItt !!

It looks like VDO (a company I never heard of until now; I didn't even assume that was a manufacturer name until you said so; I thought it was some sort of specification I didn't understand) and Philips are the same company:

VDO Car Communication was established in 1998 when Mannesmann VDO purchased the Philips Car Systems group from the Dutch consumer electronics giant, Philips Electronics N.V.

Ah! That explains a lot.

Thanks for the link!

It's the same company known over here as VDO/Dayton. Best known for their GPS head-units. I figured as much, but I didn't know that it was a owned by Philips.

I don't think it is owned by Philips. It seems that VDO purchased Philips car audio division.

Oh, that could be it too. Thanks for correcting me.

But now that I know which brand has made this HU, it should be simpler to find the adapter I'm looking for.

The search goes on...

I had a Laguna as a rental car for my honeymoon in 1997 in northern Italy and central Switzerland. There was a knob for setting the headlight aim, so you could adjust for a heavily loaded car. It had four positions, simply marked 1,2,3,4. I'd never seen a car with this feature so I looked into the owner's manual (in French) to see what it was all about. The manual read something like this:

Position 1: One person, no luggage.
Position 2: 1-3 people, some luggage.
Position 3: 3-4 people, a lot of luggage.
Position 4: Do not use Position 4.

I don't know why, but I found that profoundly funny. Sorry about the thread jacking, but I felt the need to share that.

-Zeke

(we now return you to your regularly scheduled post about empeg installation...)

What happened when you used position 4?

Position 4 – fraternity party shuttle (aka clown car)

That's a whole other story!

No, not really. Of course I _did_ try Position 4. Nothing exploded or ejected from the car, so I suppose they just tilted a little too high. I imagine that the car design was finished and some government regulator pointed out that #4 was too high for the laws of the land regardless of loading and, instead of spending real money, Renault simply printed what they did in the owner's manual. That's my best guess.

I think little pictograms of clowns getting out of a car would have been a pretty effective solution also. There were little people & luggage pictograms to go along with positions 1-3.

-Zeke

Did some searching and found this site. They can add an aftermarket changer to the laguna stereo. They might be able to help you out get the aux in going.

Thanks!

I'll go and check it out. I'll let you know if they were any help.

Yeah, they appear to make bodge boxes for changers. So maybe they could rustle up a box to make the unit think a changer is connected. I remember a friend had an old unit which simply required a line driving high on the umbilical. You could then send audio down it. The display used to flash CDC? on the screen but you could hear the music and that was the main thing!

This site might also be able to help.

http://www.connects2.co.uk

In the AUX section they do one for the renault, but it is not out yet.

C.

Also that cd head is a bit poo, my mum had one in her astra convertible, i changed it for a much older philips head as it would not play some of the new CD's she has.

C.

Thanks a lot for the link, that one's a keeper.

But today I was able to order a specific adapter through http://www.ihavetohave.it
Very friendly service. Cost me £50 + shipping, not too shabby.

Also that cd head is a bit poo, my mum had one in her astra convertible, i changed it for a much older philips head as it would not play some of the new CD's she has.

Yeah, but once I got my Empeg hooked up to it, that isn't going to matter anyway!

It will for your dad.

C.

It will for your dad

True, but you have to know my dad. If it makes noise it's ok with him. 99% of the time he listens to "radio 1", which is mostly talk, talk & more talk.

My dad really doesn't care about music in his car, which is why it took all my persuasion power (basically I nagged his ears off) to convince him to let me install an Empeg.

Would you believe it ? The guys from www.Ihavetohave.it also buy their products from connects2.co.uk.
And, although connects2 has a Renault Aux-in adapter on their website, they currently aren't shipping it.

Just my luck.

This might help but it requires a changer be installed.
http://www.incarexpress.co.uk/focus.php3?partno=PHI02AUX

You might be able to get a dead changer and just hack the audio from the empeg in to the wiring (No idea on pinouts)

C.

Good suggestion, I'll look into that. I'll definitely keep it as an option !

Thanks a lot !

Philips no longer manufacture any car audio gear. They sold the whole division, including the CARIN satnav, to Mannesman-VDO.