August 2010 - Installing the Meos-MC701B head unit

The Meos-MC701B is now installed and I have been driving around with it installed for a couple of weeks now. Overall I've been pleasantly surprised by the Meos unit. A far cheaper alternative to the expensive Pioneer or Kenwood options, yet quality certainly meets the 'it does what is says on the tin' saying. Now it hasn't all been plain sailing though; a couple of days into enjoying my new ICE, I was adjusting the volume whilst awaiting further sat nav instructions. Through my impatience of not waiting to hear the sound, I speedily raised the volume extremely high, to the point that suddenly 'pop' went the unit. A fuse had blown. A few minutes later, glove box out again and the unit was working with a new fuse. Has not happened since, so fingers crossed. The unit functions well generally, with perhaps a clunky bluetooth phone interface, however the ability to have hands free through the stereo speakers far outweighs this and conversations have been clear and stable. With a rather limited ipod interface, the ability to have my ipod connected directly to the head unit and select/pause etc songs is still a nice feature to have. Not fully compatible with the iPhone it should be noted. I'll let you know if my view changes on the Meos but so far thumbs up especially given the cost.

The installation was straight forward. Remove the glove box and gain access to wiring looms, with the T5 not requiring any ISO conversion on the cabling as the Meos connects directly into the van's stereo wiring. A bonus I thought. The permanent live (yellow) and switched live (red) wires are wired different on the ISO block than the Meos requires, so a quick swap at the fuse holder ends of the red and yellow wires and the power is corrected now. I did purchase an ariel extension to give more freedom of this cable at the back. Space is tight with all those inputs and cables at the back of the head unit, though with patience the unit goes in fine.