Time for an aftermarket stereo... HELP!

[Neodeuccio]

My 20+ year old factory stereo finally gave up the ghost this year, so it's time to put in an after market system. The problem is that I don't know a damned thing about car stereo installation. I'm not looking for anything fancy or expensive, just something good enough to listen to some tunes while I'm out for a ride. Can anyone answer a few questions for me?

1) After buying the cheap aftermarket head unit of my choice, I need an adapter harness to connect it to the car, right? Where do I get one? How do I know which one to get?

2) Will the auto-up powered antenna work with any aftermarket unit? If no, which ones will it work with?

3) I need new speakers too, only 1 works, and it's almost dead. Is there any difference in how aftermarket speakers connect that I need to pay attention to? (Remember, the word of the day is cheap, so if there's an expensive option, it doesn't apply).

4) Should I plan on running new speaker wires? Is it hard? Are they special or different in some way or just regular wire?




Thanks guys!

 

[CyFi6]

Dont bother with adapters, just cut the old connectors off and solder your new one into place. A lot of stereos will hold the antenna up even when in CD mode, so if this bothers you, check on this before you buy a head unit. You will want to make sure that the unit has a wire to signal the auto antenna, you can look up the wiring diagram for the head unit and should see a wire dedicated for an auto antenna. Speakers are just two wires, so just get the polarity right. No need to replace any speaker wiring if you are going with relatively stock speakers.

 

[Neodeuccio]

One of the units I'm looking at is 4 channel by 50 watts. Can the stock speaker wires handle this? I have no idea what they're spec'd for.

 

[connor.stephens]

yes the stock speaker wires can handle that no problem. There is no need to change out the factory speaker wire unless your running some major power. I'm currently running 100 watts RMS to each speaker thru the factory wiring and its running great. I had the same question when I was doing my stereo system so I asked a professional installer and they told me that there was no point in changing out the factory speaker wiring unless you planned on running enough power to blow out your windows with your speakers.

 

[Neodeuccio]

Well that's good. I was dreading trying to pull and reroute those wires...
So now I'm attempting to install a dual unit I picked up for not too much at Walmart while sitting in the car in the dark in my parking lot. Wish me luck!

 

[suprarx7nut]

Eek, dual is horrible quality. Really, really bad.

Did you get a dash kit? You'll need a plastic mounting kit for the stereo to even look ok. Without the dash kit, it'll look terrible.

The adapter connectors, aka harnesses, are helpful and much easier to deal with compared to soldering or crimping wires in the dash.

To each his own though... Good luck!

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

 

[jrot]

i would use the wiring adapter, i got my wiring harness and mounting from walmart, just makes things easier when you can wire it up outside the car and then snap it in. i have to disagree that dual is awefull, its not great but its not kraco or something, for him it will be fine. the head unit you are looking at will not put an actual 50w per channel, not even close, the 50w rating is peak not rms. i would imagine if you look in the book or on the box it will give a rms rating somewhere around 12-17w per channel, which is fine for the stock speakers and wiring. the other poster is right about the antenna popping up all the time but it doesnt bother me much. as far as new wires you dont have to run new although you might have to crimp new spade ends on to the wires if you go with after market. you should be able to find no name low quality speakers at any walmart or autozone type store for near nothing.

@ conner. what amp are you running and what speakers?? (not to thread jack, just curious)

mine kinda looks like this

 

[Neodeuccio]

I got the mounting kit from Walmart as well, but they didnt have the harness in stock. I'll pick one up tomorrow.

So tonight I successfully removed the factory stereo. What a monster. I did want to make sure of something though:
There are two multi-pin connectors going to the stereo. These will connect to the harness, then to the new unit no doubt. There are also two other connections: a black wire and a white wire. I assume the black goes to the antenna and the white is the power for the antenna. Is this right?

Thanks for all the help!

 

[Neodeuccio]

After thought -

I've head dual is base quality, but I'm not an audiophile, so I expect it will be sufficient. It was a little over $100 and did everything I wanted: remote control, cd, SD mp3, bluetooth, etc. Plus it has a multi-line display (which I like), and the color-changing faceplate will please the GF. I'm sure I could have gotten it cheaper online, but I really didn't want to wait or pay for shipping, since I want it done tomorrow.

 

[Justin]

Dont bother with adapters, just cut the old connectors off and solder your new one into place.

[\QUOTE]

DON'T do that. Go buy the $15 dollar wiring harness and do it correctly. Really. If you ever try and change stereos or put your old one back in you will SERIOUSLY thank yourself.

A lot of stereos will hold the antenna up even when in CD mode, so if this bothers you, check on this before you buy a head unit. You will want to make sure that the unit has a wire to signal the auto antenna, you can look up the wiring diagram for the head unit and should see a wire dedicated for an auto antenna. Speakers are just two wires, so just get the polarity right. No need to replace any speaker wiring if you are going with relatively stock speakers.

To elaborate a touch on what he said (which is good advice and not something often mentioned) Check the wiring harness. A BLUE/WHITE wire will be constant on, designed to be used for an amp turn on. A BLUE wire will be an antenna wire which will only power up while the tuner input is selected, not the CD, iPOD, Aux, etc, etc.

My Pioneer, as nice and fancy as it is, ONLY has BLUE/WHITE, which means I had to split that wire for my amp and my power antenna and subsequently, my power antenna is up on all sources, CD, IPOD, everything. Annoying.

 

[jrot]

" i think " everything you will need to make the stereo work will be in the harness. the black wire with the metal end is for the antenna the white wire im not sure, though i dont think it has anything to do with the antenna. dual is not great nor good really. for you just wanting to have something to listen to it will be fine. as far as there being two plugs i think one is for power, ground, antenna ect and the other is just for the speakers but yes both will be included. its hard for me to rember since i took all of that stuff out and ran all my own speaker wire within min of having my car home haha. i could always go pull my deck out and see whats what tomorrow after work if you run into any issues.


to elaborate more on the antenna my kenwood has both wires but still the only time the antenna goes down is when i have the unit in stand by, it stays up in cd, ipod, tuner and all, but this was one of the biggest complaints about the head unit online.

 

[connor.stephens]

@ jrot i'm running an alpine PDX 5 amp its rated at 75 watts RMS x4 and 300 watt RMS mono for the sub but my birth sheet on the amp says it putting out 98 watts RMS x4 and 411 watts RMS to the sub. its a class D five channel amp. its amazing, fits right under my passenger seat too so you don't even know its there it also has separate gains and crossovers for the front, rear and sub.

and for the speakers i'm running Hertz HCX 165 in the front and Hertz HCX 130 in the rear and a 12" pioneer shallow mount sub

 

[te72]

My Pioneer, as nice and fancy as it is, ONLY has BLUE/WHITE, which means I had to split that wire for my amp and my power antenna and subsequently, my power antenna is up on all sources, CD, IPOD, everything. Annoying.

If it bothers as much as it did me, it's a simple thing to pull the connector for the antenna. Radio sucks where I live anyway, so I never listen to it.

 

[connor.stephens]

^ did the same thing. and i still get ok radio reception but i never listen to it any ways so it didnt matter

 

[RazoE]

We have 2 antennas, one for the power, and the other for the one embedded in the rear glass.

DONT cut the connectors, but make sure you use a quality conversion harness. The one in my 92 is crapping out, so my front passenger speaker doesnt work. I might use a new harness or just get a new headunit as it sometimes loses power (once again, probably the harness).

 

[Neodeuccio]

So I bought the harness and plugged it in to test it. So far so good. Tonight I'm finishing the install with the dash kit/pocket, then to put in new front speakers and a new antenna, since mine is apparently completely broken. Hopefully, music tomorrow. I'll update when I can.

Nobody knows about that white wire? Shit. TSRM here I come!

 

[Justin]

Nobody knows about that white wire? Shit. TSRM here I come!

What white wire? Take a picture and post it

 

[Neodeuccio]

TSRM doesn't show it. At least not clearly enough for me to understand. Maybe my car being an 88 and the online TSRM being for a 90 is part of the confusion...

Justin, I'll post a pic when I get home, but it will be a few hours.

 

[Justin]

TSRM doesn't show it. At least not clearly enough for me to understand. Maybe my car being an 88 and the online TSRM being for a 90 is part of the confusion...

Justin, I'll post a pic when I get home, but it will be a few hours.

It's been a while since I've been behind the dash but I have NO recollection of a white wire, it could be something aftermarket. You should have two antennas, one 'normal' size and one that is a little smaller than the normal one, then your two parts of the wiring harness. Going from memory there really shouldn't be anything else there.

 

[Neodeuccio]

2 Antennas? That would explain it. The white wire plugs into the back of the stock stereo just like the black, and looks a little like a headphone plug. I had no idea we had two antennas.

Where does #2 go?


And also, does anyone have a pin-out diagram for the factory power antenna? The one that was on the car wasn't stock, and was busted, so I'm replacing it with a powered unit, but I have only three connections on the new unit and I'm not sure where to connect them.