Thanks GREATLY to Buellwinkle and others who helped me out. This is an easy install but not when you're nervous about your 3-month-old car and when you've never taken parts of a car apart before.

I have the entire thing documented in pictures, from receiving the package to the finished install. When I get back from the beach, I'll make a massive post detailing what I did.

I hope my documentation will make it easier for others to do the same.

 

Congratulations! Welcome to the club!

 

So How Does it sound? Was it worth the $$?

 

it sounds great -- not as good as an aftermarket HU but much better than the stock one. like Buellwinkle said, the audio 10 at bass 2 and treble 5 sounds like the audio 30 at full blast.

it was definitely worth the $$ as it was about 1/3 the price of a new audio 10 and also was incentive to take apart my car and gain confidence doing so.

 

What do you mean - not as good? Did you actually try an aftermarket head with the rest of the MB setup?

 

i suppose i should qualify that statement... i actually assume that the audio 10 sounds just as good as an aftermarket HU with the stock 6 non-bose speakers. what i was thinking of is an entire system overhaul with new speakers/HU/sub... the audio 10 doesn't sound as good as that but it's nowhere near as expensive. that's a mod i have planned way down the road.

i wasn't trying to complain -- the audio 10 sounds GREAT and it was definitely worth my time/money.