richscary

Just finished installing the new head unit... It wasn't as bad as I was lead to believe. Kept the factory speakers and sub (for now) and everything works great. The biggest thing was running speaker wire to the trunk and bypassing the stock amp. There were no existing speaker wires from the head unit, I guess because the sound was run through the fiber. I used a head unit that I found on Amazon and it fit perfectly. It also came with all the bells and whistles like dvd, nav, usb but it didn't come with satellite so I put the receiver in the ash tray... Worked out well. Might add a new amp and speakers down the road but for now I'm stoked! The interior now looks as modern as the car itself.

Gary C

That looks great! Is that a Dynavin unit? How does it sound compared to the stock Bose? Do you still have sound from the sub?

Rudeney

Good job! And I assume you found the wiring channels under to door sills for running to the trunk?

richscary

Thanks! It's from a company called A-Sure that I found on Amazon. It might sound stupid but I was more worried about the look (How it fit) and the functions like Nav and Blue Tooth but was pleasantly surprised how good it sounds without using an amp. And yes... Still get sound from the sub.. You can actually hear it now. So all in all I would say it has better sound than the stock Bose.

richscary

Thanks! Yea... They lift right up and have plenty of room. It was surprisingly simple. I used an electricians fish to pull the wires from the door to the trunk which saved me from pulling out the rear seats and molding. I wanted to disturb as little as possible since I'm not that experienced with doing this type of stuff and wasn't sure how it would affect the soft top.

Rudeney

Perfect - that's exactly the way to do it.

richscary

Cool! I'd be lying if I didn't say I was really unsure how the whole thing was going to work out. But this blog is great for help and advice. Contemplating my next add-on now. Probably going to run a non-switched cigarette lighter to the rear ash tray so I can charge the phone without the engine running. Also.... Saw some pics of wood trim for the glove box handle which looked pretty good.

bheng

nice install! looks stock!

if you like your music to hit the lows a bit harder, consider adding a subwoofer.

richscary

Thanks! Using the stock sub and it's actually doing it's job with the new head unit. But I am taking recommendations for amps. The head unit has a built in one that is adequate but would like to up the system a little.

Djoker04

So you tapped into the speaker wires all together and no AMP at all? Ummmm cause I have an AVIC I want to do mine with...but not sure if I want to go w/o an Amp...and how did you get the sub to work?

Rudeney

I put this one in the kid's C240 with a 10" Pioneer speaker in a cabinet. It sounds good and the amp was a great value (I've had nothing but good experiences from Parts Express):

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/show...number=265-089

Djoker04

Did he have Fiber Optics? If so i know what you ndid......I'll see what a 5CH will cost from them. When I get back from vacation I'm getting a 5ch and will do my thing....

Thanks Rud

richscary

The head unit that I put in has a small amp built in. But other than that I just tapped into the existing speaker wires. I unpluged the connector from the amp and there was not a lot of slack at all so I just put some flat ends (from autozone) on the new speaker wires and "pluged" them into the harness coming from the front of the car. It doesn't look all that stable but worked very well. It also leaves me the option of reconnecting the stock amp if I ever loose my mind one day and want to do that.