Wednesday, January 10, 2007 - 12:39 am, by: David Thompson(Mactos)
Hi everyone,
Finally decided it's time to upgrade from the stock cassette player to CD/mp3! Hello 1990's here I come...The rear left speaker has started to 'fart' so I might replace the two 6" rears as well.
Was quoted $150 for the head unit install with pocket and spacer to fill the gap and $60 for the speakers. I am considering doing this myself to save money and to learn more about the car at the same time. Reading the threads on here though it might be more trouble than its worth.
Basically I would like to know: * Can I just install any head unit? (is there any specific requirements that I need in a head unit to run the factory setup properly) * Do I need any special parts other than an Aerpro harness for proper install? * Will 300 watt 4 way speakers work fine or do I need a better amp?
Sorry for the noob questions, any help greatly appreciated. }
Wednesday, January 10, 2007 - 01:28 am, by: Maurice Diggler(Mau_rice)
I am no expert on ICE but if you aren't comfortable I'd pay to have a professional install the headunit, however the rear speakers are easy as.
It's just a matter of removing the back seat which will take a few mins the first time, then lifting the speaker covers off and the parcel shelf, then unscrewing stock speaker and dropping the new one in.
Wednesday, January 10, 2007 - 02:22 am, by: Leon Wright(Techman)
Don't use crimp connectors is my biggest piece of advice!!
If your using a harness it shouldn't be difficult get your wires right, solder and heat shrink. You can use the factory wiring for the speakers, it's not ideal, but will work. If your not going extreme it will be quite ok. I don't know the wiring on the TT's all that well so someone may come along with advice on that.
Mounting head unit's properly would be the part i hate most! Time consuming and fiddly in some cases. (could be very simple though, toyota's are relatively aftermarket friendly)
Have at least a test light handy (or a multimeter is my personal preference) and check everything before plugging it in. Make sure your accessory power is right and the constant power is right. Last thing you want is to have it backwards and have the bastard forget your settings every time you turn it off!!
Read lots of info on the net, one of my mates had never touched ICE in his life and he has one of the cleanest sounding (damn loud too) that I've heard in my life.
Be patient, it will take a lot of time to do it right and you will have many years of trouble free listening. Fry something or set your dash on fire it may cost more, not to be pessimistic, just realistic
Wednesday, January 10, 2007 - 04:54 am, by: Keiran Beytagh(Kezzainc)
I recommend Subaru Din and a half pocket to my customers with soarers. They fit well and its only one piece. Has for wiring the head unit... if it does not have a factory amp then it will be plug and go with harness's. Make sure you power up your aerial and find illumination.
Rears... Also make sure you got the right tools to screw them it. Its not as easy as one thinks with the rear window on the car.
Fronts are 4's and super easy once you have the door off.
Wednesday, January 10, 2007 - 09:46 am, by: Shaun Stephenson(Neonasty)
If you havnt done it before, and dont really know what your doing. I wouldnt take it on. The Soarer isnt a particually easy car to work on. Does your car have the OEM amps? If it does you will need to run new wires for all the speakers.
Know how to use a multimeter?
Done any soldering before?
Pulled apart the interior before?
The last thing you want to do is to break something, if you damage the center consoles it will end up costing you more than $150. What if you screw up the install and blow the output IC in the headunit? Theres another $100 at least.
Im not saying dont do it, just be aware of whats involved.
Maybe Im just negative because all day Im repairing other peoples car audio screw ups. *shrugs*
Wednesday, January 10, 2007 - 12:42 pm, by: David Thompson(Mactos)
Thanks for the advice everyone.
Im thinking at this point I will pay to have it done, particularly if I need new wiring for the speakers? Im just hoping the install guy knows about Soarer's. I dont know if I have a factory amp, or an amp at all. Is there any way to find this out?
If its a simple case of using the harness and slotting in a 1.5 din Subaru pocket then Ive got no issue doing it myself.
Wednesday, January 10, 2007 - 03:51 pm, by: Keiran Beytagh(Kezzainc)
David, if you can buy a Toyota to ISO and then ISO to ... Alpine ? I recon you should do it yourself. If you dont try once you dont know if you cant do it.
1x Phillips Driver 10mm w/ long ext ratchet Few Head Unit Screws Pocket
Wednesday, January 10, 2007 - 04:06 pm, by: David Thompson(Mactos)
I haven't bought the head unit or speakers as of yet because I wanted to know what was compatible.
I was considering Sony CDXGT250. Is this fine?
The only other thing worrying me at this point is the possible need to rewire the speakers. Im not sure why this is required...should I be only purchasing 2 way speakers maybe?
Wednesday, January 10, 2007 - 04:20 pm, by: Avin Luther(Lex_luther)
hahahaha this was suggested in case your existing speakers are running off the factory AMP. With an aftermarket headunit you would lose the functios of the original amp (unless you go to much further measures) and as such it is easiest to run new wires form headunit to speakers. So basically the instal is easier because you just wire teh nex CD player up to + power, -ground and then +ACC . The rest is easy as you run your own wires off the headunit and it saves you working out which is which. 2 way or 4 way speakers etc wont make a difference to the wires required. buy a good set of 6" speakers for the back and splits [4" + tweeters (with a crossover to split midrange and high frequency)] for the front. Run a 4 channel amp, under the seat possibly or in boot, then all speakers off teh amp. head unit runs RCA cables to boot to send signal to Amp and then amp powers speakers.
Easy huh! if you wnat a sub later add another amp and sub. Buy a headunti with 3x RCA / re outs. it will serve you much better when you want to upgrade.
Wednesday, January 10, 2007 - 04:27 pm, by: David Thompson(Mactos)
Im not going to be putting in a sub in the future. I just want CD/mp3 playability as the current setup sounds fine (apart from dodgy rear speaker).
I didn't realise that the new head unit wouldn't work with the current amp (thats if i even have one in my car). I cant see one in the boot so hopefully they all already just run directly from the head unit. I guess when i take out the cassette player I will know for sure by the wiring?
Wednesday, January 10, 2007 - 04:55 pm, by: Vinh Bui(Hyudsjk)
It can work with your current amplifier, but will require a LOT of work and knowledge. That's why you're better off running the speakers off the head unit, or an after market amplifier.
It will be very easy to wire the speakers to the new head unit. You will, however, lose the subwoofer (if you have one).
Wednesday, January 10, 2007 - 08:27 pm, by: David Thompson(Mactos)
After removing the rear speakers (thank god for ratchets!) I can't see an amp anywhere. Given that I have no sub; Id say the amp is just built into the cassette/radio head unit.
So installing a new head unit should be pretty simple then yeah? As in no need for new wiring etc?
Thursday, January 11, 2007 - 12:04 am, by: Benny Gammelmark(Oldfield)
If you're just after easy listening and not too loud then that will probably be fine. Amps can be added later anyway.
My V8 had a system like what you have with no amp. I did get a couple of amps installed but until you get tired of not being able to have clean sound above a certain level, a head unit alone should do the trick.
Thursday, January 11, 2007 - 01:47 pm, by: Will Adams(Draco)
David, I have a TT and did not have a factory amp in my car. This makes things a whole lot easier. I did the wiring outside of the car with the Aerpro harness and simply just plug and play (as the harness fits onto the existing plugs of the car).
The most annoying thing (not particularly as hard as everyone seems to think) is to mount the thing. However in my situation it was a bit different as I have got a double-din deck. But even putting in a single din with a Subaru din pocket would be fairly easy to do. More perserverance than anything else.
I used the existing factory wiring and I like the sound. I also (later) installed a new amp to the car, which again was fairly straight forward.
Gives you an idea of what the wiring kinda looks like with the Aerpro harness. This was then simply plugging it in. All wiring done outside of the car.
The second picture down(the one with the harness) you can see the 2 plugs on the right. These are the ones that plug into the car plugs.
For help with the wiring (as far as the ones on the car are connected) refer to the wiring diagrams as hosted at the Install Doctor (http://www.installdr.com/QuickWiring.html).
Saturday, January 13, 2007 - 05:50 pm, by: David Thompson(Mactos)
I bought Toyota to ISO and ISO to Sony harnesses. But on powering up the headunit I am only get very soft sound from the front speakers, and a lot of static.
The big main plug is fine. But there is also a white smaller plug; and a blue smaller plug. The harness will only take one, and none make the sound system work.
Saturday, January 13, 2007 - 06:23 pm, by: David Thompson(Mactos)
Also not sure of where the two antenna plugs go in the new system. The big plug (orange circle) goes in fine (see last pic) but the other one (blue circle) doesnt seem to go in anywhere.
Maybe I do have an amp in the car somewhere powering the rear speakers? Or have I missed something else. Posted a few pics as an aid. You can see the two soarer plugs but only one bit (white circle) for them to go into.
Saturday, January 13, 2007 - 07:16 pm, by: Darryn Dewar(Mrphreak)
The plug that went into the red circled socket in the top picture (Possibly the one circled red in the second picture) should plug into the socket you've circled white in the second picture which happens to be the rear speakers.
I see in the third pic you've plugged the blue one into that socket. I'm not sure what the blue plug is, but my best guess is that it's the volume control so it's probably not too happy about that idea.
The aerial system is a diversity system, which basically means that it has two aerials and switches between them dependant on which has the better signal so just plug in the bigger one and you'll be fine. Also in the third picture, under the blue circled plug, you'll notice the long silver tube, that appears to be a previously installed band expander that you don't need anymore (Assuming you're installing a local unit), Unplug it or your FM tuning will be pear shaped.
Saturday, January 13, 2007 - 07:53 pm, by: David Thompson(Mactos)
Thanks Darryn. Blue plug is definitely volume control (at least some of the wires are) and small white plug is rear speakers.
I tested the setup with the old cassette in; and the rear speakers would not work unless both the white and blue plugs were in.
Plugging both the main plug and the rear speaker plug into the Sony headunit (via adapters) still results in the same problem. No sound in rear and very soft static sound in front.
Monday, January 15, 2007 - 04:42 pm, by: David Thompson(Mactos)
Thanks to soarer central member, I have the headunit working. But now FM reception is next to nothing. AM is fine however and the band expander has been removed.
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