I just called best buy and they said it would cost 50$ for installation plus another 50$ for a dash adapter and wiring harness.

First I wanted to know if I bought a stereo with 4X50W would it probably fit my car with stock speakers?
How about 4X52W?

If I decide to do it myself where could I buy a dash adapter and wiring harness and does it really come out to 50$?

Would I just pop out my old stereo with a screwdriver then attack a wiring harness to the new stereo and then plug the wires into it or would I need to crimp them? If I was to crimp them what kind of plug would I have to crimp them with or is that specific to the harness?

Thanks for the help.

5/4/2009 3:51:41 PM

Quote :

"First I wanted to know if I bought a stereo with 4X50W would it probably fit my car with stock speakers? How about 4X52W?"

4x50 should be plenty enough, the aftermarket stereos have a much better output to your stock speakers, that being said, in the future if you want an amp you should get aftermarket speakers, unless you have good quality stock ones.

You can get a crimp and wiring kit (depending on what you need at worst buy) and yes you are going to need a wiring harness as well. Worst buy has that as well, a simple but complex procedure

[Edited on May 4, 2009 at 4:01 PM. Reason : oh what kind of car is it?]

5/4/2009 4:00:35 PM

Its a Mazda 626.

I took out the old stereo (didn't unhook the battery, hope I didn't fuck anything up)

I also might have yanked too hard on the cable's trying to get them out so I hope they are still good too.

But anyways, a power plug that looks like a large headphone plug was in one hole and the wires were already crimped into a large plug that went into another slot.

Will the power cable hook in directly to the new stereo? Do I have to remove all the wires and insert them into a new plug or can I just get an adapter to go from the existing plug to the new stereo?

How do you go about crimping 5-10 different wires into one plug, I thought you could only do it one wire at a time. Also, where would I find the adapter for this (I'm guessing this is the wiring harness).

What is the dash adapter for?

5/4/2009 4:09:55 PM

Quote :

"Will the power cable hook in directly to the new stereo?"

i think that 'power cable plug' you're referring to is the antenna cable, and yes it will hook into your new stereo

Quote :

"How do you go about crimping 5-10 different wires into one plug, I thought you could only do it one wire at a time. Also, where would I find the adapter for this (I'm guessing this is the wiring harness)."

your factory wiring harness should have its own "plug" or connector for the factory radio. buy a wiring harness and it'll hook right into that. then crimp the wires on the wiring harness to the plug that comes with the new stereo

5/4/2009 4:19:00 PM

Is 18$ the cheapest I'm going to find a dash kit for?

5/4/2009 4:32:54 PM

christ this guy is a winner, sounds about as intelligent as the tards that do the installs at worst buy

5/4/2009 5:00:35 PM

Thanks for the help 69.

I didn't know I was supposed to be an expert on everything right away without ever seeing or reading about car stereo installations.

I have learned to build my own computer, fix laptop lcds, mod game systems, and other things online from the help of nice people. There is always a douche bag that complains about stupidity though.

Stupidity is paying Best Buy to do this for me so fuck off.

5/4/2009 5:58:09 PM

he has a point. he's just trying to learn.

5/4/2009 6:08:32 PM

$18 is about right if you're buying retail around Raleigh...

You can find them for ridiculously cheap on Ebay most of the time if you're willing to wait.

5/4/2009 6:22:38 PM

You also need to remember, the "4x52" is peak power, not continuous power (rms). It will probably only do about 17 watts a channel at a constant load.

That being said, stock speakers should work fine with any aftermarket radio, as long as they are not already damaged.

If you order from crutchfield, it comes with dash kit, wiring harness and installation instructions. You have to get a radio $129 and up to get this stuff free. They also have tech support 24/7 for free. They ship to NC in about 2 days.

5/4/2009 7:29:22 PM

this guy can not be serious? he is putting on a good trolling at the moment. no one is stupid enough to not know shit about radios if he has "learned to build my own computer, fix laptop lcds, mod game systems, and other things online from the help of nice people"

5/4/2009 7:56:58 PM

Quote :

"But anyways, a power plug that looks like a large headphone plug was in one hole"

This statement makes me think you'll be better off paying someone else to do this.

5/4/2009 8:19:07 PM

hahah whatever.

So I buy a harness, crimp some shit, plug it in, put the player in the dash kit, slide it in and I'm done. Seems pretty easy to me but I'll post here if I have problems and will probably be willing to pay for help.

I don't think I'll have any though.

The only thing I have ever crimped was a rj-45 and that was over 5 years ago so that is the only step I may have to do further research on. I'm hoping the instruction are good enough for me to know where each wire goes.

5/4/2009 8:24:47 PM

fwiw, you could just twist the wires and wrap them in electrical tape.

5/4/2009 8:38:16 PM

WIRE NUTS!

5/4/2009 9:37:24 PM

^ yes please use wire nuts and don't be a cheapo and use electrical tape. Not a good idea...I know it's supposed to be heat resistant, but it can still melt and leave you with shorts and an icky mess.

[Edited on May 5, 2009 at 1:03 AM. Reason : .]

5/5/2009 1:02:21 AM

really the best way is solder and heat shrink, if you have to, the crimp connectors with the heat shrink on them will work

5/5/2009 7:37:59 PM

Wire nuts are a waste of resources and space. Soldering and heat wrap is a huge waste of time. Just twist the wires and wrap with electrical tape. They call it electrical tape for a reason.

[Edited on May 5, 2009 at 8:01 PM. Reason : l]

5/5/2009 7:59:02 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QznAAwL8rI&feature=channel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-j98tkAbh8

5/5/2009 8:11:15 PM

I didn't unhook the battery before unplugging the stereo. Will that mess anything up?
Do I need to unhook the battery when putting in the new stereo?

I am leaving the car and battery off both times.

5/6/2009 4:17:56 PM

You didn't hurt anything. At worst you might have blown a fuse but I highly doubt it.

For the install it'd be a good idea to unhook the battery. Technically you could probably do it without unhooking it but you run the risk of getting shocked.

Quote :

"So I buy a harness, crimp some shit, plug it in, put the player in the dash kit, slide it in and I'm done."

yeah..exactly. it isn't hard. although honestly i'd probably just pay the $50 to not have to f'in deal with it and waste my time

5/6/2009 4:30:02 PM

Quote :

"Technically you could probably do it without unhooking it but you run the risk of getting shocked"

lmao, how? if you touch the wires to your tongue?

5/6/2009 5:12:33 PM

The Wiring harness came with 20 plastic "nuts" for crimping (not exactly sure of the name)

It looks like this

n
l l = there is metal in this part .5cm diameter
l l
l l = this part is just plastic 1cm diameter

I'm assuming I strip the wires twist them together then insert them up to the "n".
Do I then crimp the narrower part or the wider part (I think narrower but doesn't hurt to ask).
Also which crimp should I use? 22-18, 16-14, or 12-10?
Thanks for the help.

5/7/2009 10:39:56 PM

do they look like this.

also most crimpers are color coded, they have little dots, for each butt size.

5/7/2009 11:36:33 PM

No they are closed at one end then the tube is narrow and gets thick at the end where the opening is. In the narrow portion there is some metal coating the inside (I'm guessing to make crimping more reliable)

5/8/2009 12:54:19 AM

Quote :

"lmao, how? if you touch the wires to your tongue? "

pretty much

5/8/2009 1:18:13 AM

those are crimp caps, and if you dont know how to use them you really shouldn't be doing this on your own.

5/8/2009 1:36:13 AM

Word I have never done this before and that is why I am asking to make sure I do it right.

I assume you crimp the narrower region with metal in it but since I have never done it before I'm going to need verification. I also assume you can just crimp with the tightest crimp measurement but have never done this before so I am double checking.

If I got those two questions answered I do not foresee having any problems.

5/8/2009 2:01:54 AM

Correct, crimp around the metal band, but make sure the portion of the wires being crimped there are stripped and exposed.

5/8/2009 11:12:41 AM

heat shrink and a cigarette lighter go a long way as well. dont forget to bundle and ziptie afterward

5/8/2009 12:12:56 PM

If I ever save up the money to buy a new HU, who wants to help install it? I'm fairly certain I can do it myself, but if there's any tricks/tough spots, it'd be nice to have someone there with experience.

5/8/2009 4:19:03 PM

probably videos and shit on youtube

5/8/2009 4:33:26 PM

F.T.S.

5/8/2009 4:36:38 PM

^ I can if I'm still in town.

5/8/2009 4:47:26 PM

you're not leaving permanently, right?

5/8/2009 5:54:24 PM

not for another year.

5/8/2009 6:26:38 PM

I got all the cables hooked up although a "Illumination" wire didn't have a counterpart and neither did the Amp remote and Antenna remote. On the wiring harness there is also a black wire for ground but on the stereo plug the black wire for ground has a metal "C" on the end of it. Am I supposed to take the "C" off and connect the wires or connect the "C" to my metal chassis like the instruction say so. How would I go about keeping it connected? Are you supposed to put it somewhere then close the "C" shut?

5/13/2009 4:03:56 PM

You should have a blue wire for your remote turn-on lead. Look at the wiring diagram that came with your wiring harness.

The black wire with the "C" is a grounding wire. definitely connect it to some metal on the chassis, a bolt will do.

5/13/2009 4:18:35 PM

I have the 8 wires for speakers connected, the black ground connected to a bolt and the red and yellow 12 Volt wires connected but it is not powering on. There is also a orange Illumination wire and a Blue Power antenna wire on the wiring harness. Do I have to connect one of these to work? The only thing left on the plug is 2 blue wires, one for amp rem and one for ant rem.

5/13/2009 4:40:47 PM

I'd be willing to pay 20$ to someone to get this working. All the wires are already connected and the old head unit is out so it should be pretty easy if you know what you are doing. Please PM me if interested.

5/13/2009 5:45:09 PM

Is the bolt going into metal?

I can look at it, but not till tuesday next week.

5/13/2009 6:03:13 PM

Yea it is going into metal. Alright sounds good I'll send you a pm before then. Thanks.

5/13/2009 6:42:29 PM

http://www.crutchfield.com

all you need

info, gear, tips, tricks, help

5/14/2009 8:58:32 AM

Quote :

"Wire nuts are a waste of resources and space. Soldering and heat wrap is a huge waste of time. Just twist the wires and wrap with electrical tape. They call it electrical tape for a reason."

The fuck? It takes all of 3 seconds to make a solder connection with a decent gun and maybe 10 seconds to heat shrink it with a lighter or heat gun. The "twist and tape" method is pretty much guaranteed to result in intermittent connectivity if used for audio signal connections as an oxide layer forms on bare copper with significant resistance at signal-level voltages (~1V). Amplified signal and power connections won't be as affected, but wire nuts or solder connections are still a good idea.

Quote :

"The only thing left on the plug is 2 blue wires, one for amp rem and one for ant rem."

"amp rem" is the remote power-on signal for the amp -- you should connect this to the ACC/IGN signal somewhere in the vehicle's wiring. It's so the amp doesn't stay on when your car is off and drain the battery, and it won't work without it. If you have a motorized antenna and it's not working anymore, you'll want to connect the "ant rem" signal to the appropriate signal as well. The "illumination" signal is from the dash light dimmer, I don't know what it's called in most harnesses, and the backlight probably won't work without this one

[Edited on May 14, 2009 at 1:35 PM. Reason : .]

5/14/2009 1:17:25 PM

Uh huh.
I'd have that thing wired and back in the dash before you could run an extension cord to the car and get your soldering gun warmed up.

5/14/2009 2:00:03 PM

Quote :

"The "twist and tape" method is pretty much guaranteed to result in intermittent connectivity if used for audio signal connections as an oxide layer forms on bare copper with significant resistance at signal-level voltages (~1V)"

Doubtful.

5/14/2009 4:07:59 PM

Not to mention that electrical tape basically decays after a few years

5/14/2009 4:20:35 PM

^^ Not sure what part of it you doubt. The formation of copper oxides (and other metal oxides) in air is a well-known phenomenon. Most metal oxides, including cupric oxide, are electrical insulators. It would not take a very thick oxide layer at all for the dielectric strength to prevent breakdown at audio signal voltages, which are typically less than 1V.

I can't find a dielectric strength for cupric oxide, but iron oxide has a dielectric strength of approximately 400V/cm according to some Googling. Using this value an oxide layer of 25um would have sufficient dielectric strength to resist breakdown with a 1V signal applied. Thin dielectrics such as an oxide layer tend to have much greater dielectric strength than bulk materials. I'm not really sure if the iron oxide figure was for an oxide layer or bulk material, or how close cupric oxide's dielectric strength is to this figure. I think it's at least close enough to provide some support to my anecdotal account

[Edited on May 15, 2009 at 1:27 AM. Reason : .]

5/15/2009 1:10:27 AM

I have anecdotal evidence too...I've wired a ton of cars by twisting the wires together and wrapping with electrical tape. Works fine for years. Never had a problem. A+, would do again.

5/15/2009 2:22:52 AM

Are you referring to amplified output to speaker or unamplified input to the amplifier from the headunit? It probably wouldn't be a significant issue with amplified signals, or 12VDC connections, as I stated previously.

It would, however, be a problem with line level voltages which are apparently not just <1V but relatively standardized in commercial applications at 447mV peak. I have had several "twisted" audio cables that I can recall develop intermittent connectivity issues requiring the cable to be nudged or twisted at the connection just right to recover what is usually the loss of a single channel. I've also seen similar behavior with tips for soldering guns, where an initially loose connection would allow rapid heating for several uses, appearing to be in good working order, but ultimately reach the point where no significant heating occured until the connection was tightened further. Incidentally, solder guns are generally step-down transformers that step mains to... you guessed it... around 1V.

[Edited on May 15, 2009 at 4:22 AM. Reason : .]

5/15/2009 4:21:12 AM