I am inquiring about the Panasonic CR-SRF100 satellite radio. Does anyone have this unit installed in their Maxima? If so, did you get installed professionally or do-it-yourself? If do-it-yourself, was it easy?

How do you like the quality, sound, unit?

 

As you have seen from your previous thread, I have this unit installed. I did it myself. It wasn't the easiest thing in the world to do but common sense will get you through it. The sound is pretty good but would be better if it was not FM modulated.

First thing that I did was the antenna. I mounted it on the roof where it belongs. Then, you have to tuck the wire below the weather stripping of the back window. The best way that I found to do this was to use 2 credit cards, one to make room for the wire and the other one to push the wire down below the weather stripping.

Next I needed to decide where I would mount the controller for the unit.
I got the Panasonic unit so I decided to see if it would fit inside my
sunglasses holder and have a clear view of all of the buttons. It was
perfect.
(NOTE: In order to mount the controller in there, I needed to remove
that assembly up there to make it easier to work on.) To remove that
whole assembly, open the sunglasses holder and remove the 2 Phillips
head screws from there. The front of the assembly by the map lights is
held up there by clips. Just pull down and toward you once the screws
are out. Once the assembly is free, unfasten the wire connectors to the
map lights and sunroof controls.

Once the assembly was completely free, I mounted the controller inside
the sunglasses holder. I used Velcro to do this.
(NOTE: Before I mounted it with Velcro, I needed to make sure that the
wire was going up toward the roof. With the Panasonic, the wire from
the controller is on the bottom left. I used black electrical tape to
fasten the wire in the upward position on the left side of the
controller.)

In order to get the wire up in the roof with no wires showing, I needed
to modify the sunglasses holder on the left side. I removed the
sunglasses holder from the rest of the assembly. To do this, I removed
the small Philip head screws on the back of the assembly. With the
sunglasses holder now separated, I used a little hacksaw GENTLY!!! I
cut an opening about 3/4 of an inch in length to allow the wire to go
through the sunglasses holder.

Once this was done, I reattached the sunglasses holder to the rest of
the assembly.
With this done, my controller wire will get buried up in the roof.

Then I ran the wire for the controller.
(NOTE: DO NOT ATTACH the assembly until the wire has been completely
fed through.) I removed the A Pillar cover on the driver's side. I fed
the wire through the hole where the sunglasses assembly goes. I fed it
through the roof on the drivers side and down the A pillar. Once the
wire is going down the A pillar, the sunglasses assembly can be put back
into place. After that, I pulled the excess wire and put the cover back
on the A pillar. The bottom of the wire will go down through the dash
and will reach the floor.

I mounted the FM modulator under the steering column. You will need to remove the bottom plastic piece of the dash to do this.

Then I ran the necessary wires along the left side of the car into the trunk where the receiver was going to be mounted. Just pop out the moldings that hold the carpet in place and then run the wires through. Not only did I have the wiring harness, I also ran the power wire from the receiver to the front of the car. I got power to the receiver by tapping the wire to the power outlet next to the hazard button. NOTE: Because of all the wires that are in the kit, it is a good idea to use electrical tape to keep them all together.

Once all of this was done, I removed the the radio unit from the dash and completed the necessary hookup to the radio. After it is hooked up, test it before you put everything back together.

This should give you a better idea of what is involved. Be prepared to
spend a lot of time on this. I think it is well worth it.


Hope this helps you.

 

Thanks a lot for this write up! I really appreciate it. My unit is scheduled to arrive tomorrow and so I plan to spend my Saturday working on it. I am planning on installing my unit in the place of the money draw right under my Bose stereo. I wanted it to be uniform with the rest of the equipment in my car and I am hoping it will turn out this way.

By the way, you mentioned that you wished it sounded better. Does it sound as good as FM radio?