Crimping Work on Car Stereos

[Tony]

Originally posted by civic 16valver
if your car has the original stereo in it it should have ISO connectors so all you have to do is buy a connector which will enable you to connect the stereo directly to the car without having to cut any wires and they are like £8.95 here which is about $12 i think

very well put james, but there is still some wires you need to crimp together on that harness. I would HIGHLY recommend going out and buying the wiring harness for it, makes for a much easier uninstall later down the line. All you have to do is buy a set of crimpers and some connectors and go at it. Might take a couple tries to get the hang of it, but on every wire you crimp together, pull on it some just to make sure it has a hold of it. The best way to do this is to solder the wires together, which isn't that hard and a lot more reliable.

[l2ice rocketz]

Hmm... one other question. The back of the stock radio in 4dr's are supported by two screws right? I have the crutchfield mastersheets, but I havent actually seen the back myself yet.

[1990civic]

kenwood makes awesome decks. and some advice dont buy a cheap crimper, buy a nice name brand one the job will be much easier, and cleaner!

[fiercecivic]

ive got a pioneer deh-2300, i love it so far, looks SWEET at night. I installed it in 15 minutes using heat shrink. HS is the way to go, its just like recovering the bare wire with plastic/rubber whatever heat shrink is made of.

[vang]

Hey i have the Kenwood KDC-9020R and its a fantastic CD Player... bought it for $300 brand new... so much features i still dont know what half the stuff does... i dont thinks its available in the USA, although i could be wrong also...



General Features

D-Mask+: Fully Motorized Mask with Detachable Faceplate and Security Code
3-D Fine Dot Fl Display (4-tone/Fine Pitch)
TV Control with '02 New In-Dash TV
New B.M.S. (Bass Management System) with '02 eXcelon Amplifiers
B.M.S. (Bass Management System) with '99-'01 PS Amplifiers
Selectable Key Illumination (Green/Red)
Built-in Fuse, Coil & DC-DC Converter
DAB Ready with Optional Unit (KTC-9090DAB)
Supplied with Remote Control Unit (10-key)
2-way Telephone Mute
Molex/ ISO DC Cable & Jaso/ ISO Antenna Jack

Audio Features

Maximum Output Power: 50 W x 4
Gold Plated 3 preouts with 4.5 V Pre-output Level
Built in Amp mute
System E's+ (Built-in HPF & LPF)
System Q-EX: Preset & Full Manual Sound Control
Separate Bass/Mid range/Treble Control & Source Tone Memory
AUX Input with Optional Unit (CA-C1AX or KCA-S210A)
Dual Zone Source & Volume Control with Optional Unit (CA-C1AX or KCA-S210A)

Single CD Features

WMA (Windows Media Audio) Decoder
MP3 Decoder with ID-3 Tag Display
0-bit Mute (L/R independent)
CD Text Ready
CD-R/CD-RW Compatible

Changer Control Features

Dual CD/DVD/VCD/MP3/MD Changer Control Capability (CH1/CH2 & AUX)
DNPS (Disc Name Presets) with Compatible CD Changers
DNPP (Disc Name Preset Play) by Remote
CD Text Ready with Compatible CD Changers

Tuner Features

FM (RDS)/MW/LW 32 Station Presets (24 FM, 8 MW & LW)
RDS with K3i Clear Reception Tuner Circuit
AME (Automatic Memory Entry)
Stereo/Mono Selector
SNPS (Station Name Presets)

[Tony]

alright, guess ill through my veiw in on stereos since this thread sort of changed to it. My favorite headunits are Panasonic or Pioneers. I had a Panasonic in my car before someone stole it, it was a 2000 model. That thing blew so many different types of speakers in my car, including Kicker 5 1/4" Impulses, it was nuts. Ive heard they do that alot and bass blockers are needed with them, because of how many watts they push. But in 2001 they changed their looks and i didn't like them, but they are slowly going back to their 2000 look. My second fav brand has to be Pioneer, because of all their features. My main thing to make me get a head unit is the sub output, I must have that.

[Civic Rush]

I guess that I should do the same. i am not so much of a Cd player but the WHOLE ENTERAINMENT PACKAGE

[Kunundrum]

Damn,

I have a Pioneer DEH-7300p

Real nice deck works really well, what i like about it is it has 3 set of preouts (and i use em all) Organic display, Changer control (not using it yet)

For amps I have an MTX 4244 4 chan, and a Rockford Fosgate 75.2 powering 2 12" RF Punch.

Front speakers are Infinity 605cs Component system (woffer+ tweet with X-over)

the rears are Pioneer 1661 for ballance.

The 12" will probably get replaced with a 10" MTX in a custom enclosure, and the 75.2 gettin replaced with a other MTX amp.

I'll keep you posted.

K-Drum

[el_loco_civic]

This is the one i was talkin bout earlier - the Alpine thats in my opinion perdy damn sweet heres the perdy damn sweet deck

[audiophile420]

go with pioneer premier if you get a pioneer head unit they are a hell of alot better than the regular pioneer units,, lots of options ,,, igot the 740 with mp3 and love it ,,but rather have the 840mp3 model they look tight and got the sound quality to back it up. :bandit:

[frikkinfaaast]

if u wanna do it right go to radio shack and buy the pimp solder strips that melt with a lighter.

[DarkImportGrey]

i don't mean to insult you in any way el_loco_civic but i think most of your opinions are wrong on deck types, but hey, that's why they are opinions.

I have sold and installed stereos professionally (I am MECP bronze certified) and I would say that you should DEFINATELY go with a wiring kit, it will make your life SO much easier.

and audiophile, the only difference between premier pioneers and normal pioneers of the same model (like 6500 pioneer and the 650 premier) is a 2 year warranty and gold plated RCAs. i sold the things so i know first hand, not to mention i have installed both a premier and a standard pioneer in my mom and dad's cars.

bass blockers are a joke. all they do is block frequencies below a certain level (depending on the type) which keeps cheap ass shitty speakers from blowing. if you get good speakers and don't push your bass to the point of distortion you should be fine.

there is nothing wrong with sony decks except how people treat them. i sell stereos and i have delt with first hand using and installing over a dozen brands and i still chose a sony. i chose sony because you get the most value for your money. 5.5v (peak) preouts, a solid built-in amp capable of solid power output, excellent display, EQ7, DSO (which really does work if you know what you are doing), and factory support. if you maintain your sony (in fact any deck) according to the manufacturer's specs (i.e. getting it professionally cleaned annually) then it should work fine for years. just make sure that the CDs you are putting into the deck are clean and that you keep your interior clean so as to prevent dust from getting into the deck.

the reality is, most any respectible brand of cd player is going to offer you the kind of performance you need for a normal stereo. human ears are not sensitive enough to pick up the differences between the preamp section in something like an Eclipse 8052 and the preamps in a sony es cdx-ca760x. you could only tell the difference if you were building a professional SQ/SPL set up and required every single fraction of a volt of power from the preamps or every single bit of clarity, and not to mention also had a professional ear to judge these things with.

with speakers, i will say that you do get what you pay for. however with decks, unless you are building a professional competition setup you are not going to notice the difference in sound quality on a 300 dollar deck as compared to a 900 dollar deck. it comes down to the features that YOU want.

[Tony]

Originally posted by DarkImportGrey
bass blockers are a joke. all they do is block frequencies below a certain level (depending on the type) which keeps cheap ass shitty speakers from blowing. if you get good speakers and don't push your bass to the point of distortion you should be fine.

Please enlighten me on how my Kicker Impulse 5.25" speakers blew then. I am sure that some bass blockers would have helped. I had a Panasonic DX150U(i do believe) and the speakers never distorted, just one day i start hearing a rattling coming from the tweeters on my speakers. I'm sure some bass blockers could have prevented this. Now I don't get speakers that have both the sub and tweeter in the same thing, I get complete components, and must say they are a lot better than a normal speaker.

I am not trying to argue with you, just would like to know your view on why my speakers blew, or maybe why they blew.

[l2ice rocketz]

I know this is kinda old , but when you crimp. Do you insert the wires in and let them touch? Or just insert and crimp? And do you have to twist the wires together? I just ordered my panasonic mp3/wma cd player and need last minute clarification. Thanks

[Melt]

Originally posted by el_loco_civic
This is the one i was talkin bout earlier - the Alpine thats in my opinion perdy damn sweet heres the perdy damn sweet deck

that my friend is my next deck ... probably gonna get it all put in next week cause imma put my current JVC in my moms car cause her shit was recently stolen as you guys know.