Need ideas, post pics of your aftermarket
headunit. How did it fit, did you use wiring harness.

I went to circuit city and they wanted to charge me $404.00
for setup. $55 for 4 kenwood speakers 6 1/2, kenwood
unit 139.00 and free labor. Can you believe rest is parts.

What is best to replace first speakers or unit? Just
need to see what and how you guys units are installed.


Thanks for all your help, you guys are great!!

 

I haven't played with mine at all yet, but you can try poking around the audio and electronics forum too... you might find some more useful information there...

Welcome to the .org

-James

 

Thanks guy I will do that

 

if you dont know how to install HU's.....have them do that, but install the speakers yourself, its very simple

 

It would also be good to try and find some "hook ups" for the system that you want, you can usually get head units/install way cheaper than what stores charge and still be legal.

 

$155 in parts is a RIP OFF. At the very most parts would be $50 tops, if that. Installing the speakers are quick and easy for even a novice. The radio on the other hand is a little harder but not by much. All new radios come with a wiring diagram that has the color codes to match each with and their purpose and the wiring harness that you purchase in your parts have matching colors and information. Pretty simple, just solder the wires together tape them with some good electrical tape, plug the harness into the radio and to the harness that is in the car, put everything back together and that is about it. On a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the hardest the speakers would be a 1 and the radio a 2.5. This is just b/c most of the difficulty is in taking apart the dash.

Personally I would go with something other then a Kenwood headunit. I prefer Alpine or Pioneer Premier radio and maybe matching speakers.

If you are stilling unwilling to do this yourself go to a local stereo shop and check there for better deals. Maybe someone on here is in your area and they might help. If not I could help via email.

 

if you get the nissan wiring harness from circuit city - its easy as cake, just match up all the colors and use some electrical tape....solder or use wirenuts if you want to be a show off :-p

 

so i don't even need to solder the wires together? i can just use electrical tape to connect the wires on the harness to the wires in the car?

 

Eeeks!! Don't use electrical tape! Unless of course you want to have loose connections on a regular basis!!

If you don't know how to solder, your best bet is to use some butt connectors. Heheh...he said butt.

No - really! Here's what they are:

Clicky!

Stick one wire in one end, the other wire in the other end (with insulation stripped off a little). Use a crimping tool click here for tool to crimp each end down. This tool will strip the wire for you as well.

This will make a much tighter fit than just twisting the wires together.

I personally solder all my connections and use heat-shrink tubing instead of tape to cover each connection. I've installed about a dozen stereos and not one person has come back because it wasn't working.

Good luck............

 

yeah.. its easy to install the head unit.. just takes some patience.. you just have to buy the wiring harness. then you just match the colors. solder them or if you dont know how to solder, use butt connectors. Do not cut any of the factory wires because it will void the electrical system warranty and the dealership will use that against you.

 

What does the crimper do?

 

Inside the butt connectors is a metal sleeve. You use the crimping tool to pinch the metal sleeve onto the wire. The two wires don't need to touch inside the butt connector because they are connected by the conductive metal sleeve.

I can take photos of how you do it tonight if you want. I don't have the means to do so while at work. Let me know......

 

What crimper's do!!

 

that will be great. i'm gonna install my headunit this saturday. i'm gonna go to radio shack tomorrow.

 

I apologize for the delay - I've had a real case of the ***-its lately. Hope the install went well if you decided to tackle it yet.

In case you still wanted to see how using the crimpers with butt connectors work here are some pics:

Strip some of the insulation off of your wire and twist the strands.

Pic1

Now insert the exposed wire into the butt connector (I'm using a bullet plug in the photos, but it works the same). Notice that you can see the wire just before the plug. I know that it's contacting the metal. Also notice that no exposed wire is outside of the red plastic.

Pic2

This is how the crimpers work. You want to squeeze the metal inside the red plastic onto the wire so it clamps down and it can't come loose.

Pic3
Pic4

To show how it works I have a finished one and a new one side by side. I removed the red plastic to show how the metal is clamped onto the wire.

Pic5

You should be able to give the wire a good tug and it shouldn't come loose. If it does it's probably not crimped tight enough. I also like to use regular pliers after the crimpers to make sure it's nice and tight.

I've used these bullet plugs on some aftermarket turn signals on my motorcycle. Trust me - that thing has waaaay more vibration and shaking than a car stereo does. I haven't had to touch them since they were installed.

Hope this helps!

 

just a word to the wise....if you have a bose system its not just as easy as "hooking it up" first....you have to bypass the bose amps because the speakers are now run at a 1 ohm load...that would fry your headunit..so you have to bypass that and its still good to have an aftermarket amp because those speakers are supossed to be run at 1 ohm but it doesnt really matter.....oh yeah and i work for circuit city and that ****s not that expensive here in the ATL

 

thank you very very very much!

 

Listen to this guy. He knows what he is talking about. I do it the same way and I have yet to have any problems. I end up installing more and more stereos just by referals. The secret to soldering --- FLUX. It helps it heat evenly and quickly.

Secondly, the heat-shrink tubing is much better than electrical tape that I have seen installers at Circuit City use.

Just my two cents.

 

DO NOT GO TO CIRCUIT CITY TO BUY SPEAKERS/HU/AMPS. Their quality isn't that great. Try hifi buys or a specialized car audio place.

 

their installation quality?

 

1, they rip you off
2, the quality is just average
3, they're not too great at installing compared to other places.

4. Always go to a specialised place for installation and car audio. It's just like going to mcdonalds and getting a nice filet migon. What's wrong with the picture there? lol.

 

I can't comment on their car stereo install quality - I've always done that myself. But I did have them install the Viper 550HF in my previous car (full alarm with remote start & remote trunk release).

In my opinion they did a great job - and since the install and alarm has a lifetime warranty I couldn't go wrong. They noticed I did a half-a$$ed job at running my amp cable so they re-routed it through the firewall and hooked up a scanner LED (I already owned) to the alarm for no extra cost. I had a problem with the alarm when I first got it (defective from factory) and they swapped it out no questions asked.

I even wanted it to auto-arm and lock so if I forgot to lock the doors it would do it itself. Without an appt. the guy walked outside with me and set the alarm to do it. I couldn't ask for any better service. That was over 5 yrs ago however.

I say as long as you have a lifetime warranty on the labor you should be good to go. You also know that a chain like Circuit City will be around down the road where as the smaller specialized shops might not be.

 

thanks madmax1996, i just finished installing my headunit and it sounds and looks great! thanks for your help and pictures!

 

Hey no prob man! Glad it worked out for ya. Isn't the satisfaction of doing it yourself great?

Enjoy your new tunes! What brand/model of HU did you get?

This is the one I had in my previous car - I sure do miss it. I didn't want to fool w/ the Bose in my Maxima (it's also a lease). I put it in my girlfriend's car because I couldn't let it go. Clicky!

 

i got an alpine 9807. i was gonna get that exact same headunit at tweeter! but it was too expensive. it was $560. how much did you get it for? that pioneer headunit looks really really nice.

 

I hunted around on the internet and got it for about $350 shipped. This was back in August of 2002 so that was a smokin deal because it was brand new at the time. It sucked because it arrived at my house the same day I had my appendix out so I couldn't install it until the next week. ARGH.