my hats off to all car audio installers

danger boy

Ok first off i have a new appreciation for installers.. my level of car speaker install is basically +1. I swapped out the rear deck 5x7's about a year ago in my 97' Mazda 626. Easy to swap them out.

Yesterday i wanted to swap out the front door speakers.. :eek: for me.. it was and is not easy. I had trouble getting the door panel off. hidden screws were **** with me. THEN, the black gooey adhesive that got on everything, my hands, my pants, my head unit, my seats, my carpet, my window?? Crap, i hate black adhesive.

So i finally get the stock speaker out.. and it has some kind of funky Ford/Maza connection that I've never seen before. i try to remove the wires from it.. no go. I finally get the dang plastic thing unplugged.. but now I will either have to cut the wires and put new ends on them or something. Either way, it's becoming more involved than I though it should be.

Ok, i'm almost done with this story.. to make a long story.. semi short.. i'm having CC finish the install.. at this point I don't mind paying for someone to do the install.

Just though you all would get a nice laugh out of it. Now I gotta spend part of the day removing that black sticky adhesive off of everything. Wish me luck.

exalted512

What we do is cut the factory plug off. Usually, speakers will come with a little bit of speaker wire. You can just butt connect them on to the factory.

In the front door, if my memory serves me correctly, red-green for the driver and white/black-yellow/red for the passenger?

Its not really a big deal by cutting the harness, as long as there is just two wires, there is not really any possible way of shorting anything out unless you tie them together and turn the radio on...lol

I would really advise against circuit city, do you have any regular car audio shops around? They might be a little more expensive (im talking 5-10 bucks) but you are 10x more likely to get a better install.

If you can tell me the wire colors if theyre different from whats above, i can tell you which one is positive and which one is negative. I promise you its not that hard and you wont hurt anything.
-Cody

BaggedLancer

exalted512 wrote:

What we do is cut the factory plug off. Usually, speakers will come with a little bit of speaker wire. You can just butt connect them on to the factory.

In the front door, if my memory serves me correctly, red-green for the driver and white/black-yellow/red for the passenger?

Its not really a big deal by cutting the harness, as long as there is just two wires, there is not really any possible way of shorting anything out unless you tie them together and turn the radio on...lol

I would really advise against circuit city, do you have any regular car audio shops around? They might be a little more expensive (im talking 5-10 bucks) but you are 10x more likely to get a better install.

If you can tell me the wire colors if theyre different from whats above, i can tell you which one is positive and which one is negative. I promise you its not that hard and you wont hurt anything.
-Cody

I'd be furious if i paid 5-10 bucks more and ended up with an install like you just stated above.

When I was installing car audio at circuit city atleast we never cut the factory harness off. We just went up about an inch to 2 inches along the wire and and used insulation strippers to peel back a little insulation. Then we wrapped the new wires around the old and soldered the connection. Tape everything off with electrical tape and that is the way a correct installation is done.

What happens if someone wants to put the factory speakers back in the car if they are selling the car? Eventually butt connectors come loose and they really don't provide as solid of a connection as soldering 2 wires together. And when the person wants to sell the car, cut the solder joint, tape it off and just plug the factory harness plug right back into the factory and it's just like factory. Cutting the harness right off is the easy/hack way of doing the install.

I don't know about the circuit city near you guys but this is how my entire roadshop did installations, never used butt connectors, soldered everything.

danger boy

ummmm. ok, points well taken.. and i truely don't think it's a tough job to install some drop in front speakers like the db5x7's... and they will be using a harness/adaptor on this install.

the wires are colored blue and blue with a silver stripe that was hand painted on. ? no other color of wires going to the speakers.

P.S. no one but CC here selling Polk Audio car speakers. No one. No on here sells the Momo's either. I asked and called around. One place (Car Toys) didn't even have their demo room hooked up? WTF! The dude said he'd have it up and running by Monday.. but he could sell me some today if i needed them? Yeah, i'm going to buy something without first listening to it? I don't think so.

exalted512

BaggedLancer wrote:

I'd be furious if i paid 5-10 bucks more and ended up with an install like you just stated above.

When I was installing car audio at circuit city atleast we never cut the factory harness off. We just went up about an inch to 2 inches along the wire and and used insulation strippers to peel back a little insulation. Then we wrapped the new wires around the old and soldered the connection. Tape everything off with electrical tape and that is the way a correct installation is done.

What happens if someone wants to put the factory speakers back in the car if they are selling the car? Eventually butt connectors come loose and they really don't provide as solid of a connection as soldering 2 wires together. And when the person wants to sell the car, cut the solder joint, tape it off and just plug the factory harness plug right back into the factory and it's just like factory. Cutting the harness right off is the easy/hack way of doing the install.

I don't know about the circuit city near you guys but this is how my entire roadshop did installations, never used butt connectors, soldered everything.

We dont use butt connectors, but he might not have solder and a gun to solder with, most everyone has the tools to crimp a wire.

We leave the harness we unplug connected to the speakers when we give them back. Weve found that is a better way to do it because most people DO cut the factory harness off. So if someone comes in behind what we did and wants to put something new on, theyll cut the factory harness off and put their wiring on and not save the connector. After the 10th time we had to put a car back to factory because they were buying something new and someone else went behind us and cut the plug off, weve found it better to do it and plug it in to the factory speaker then give those back to them. We havent had a problem since.

Not to mention that sometimes when you strip back wiring, you can cut the wires themselves and some cars (especially older models) the insulation can be very tough to strip back properly
-Cody

BaggedLancer

I guess it comes down to the tools.

And i was saying what DB should do. You said that your shop cuts the harnesses off, you guys don't have insulation strippers and a soldering iron/solder?

I just found in all the installs I did it was easier just to leave the harness intact and add wires onto it a couple inches up the line.

exalted512

BaggedLancer wrote:

And i was saying what DB should do. You said that your shop cuts the harnesses off, you guys don't have insulation strippers and a soldering iron/solder?

nope, we cut the wire with scissors, use our teeth to strip back the wire, and use lighters to heat up the solder...
-Cody

danger boy

exalted512 wrote:

nope, we cut the wire with scissors, use our teeth to strip back the wire, and use lighters to heat up the solder...
-Cody

gotta use duct tape in there somewhere too.. Waaaaaaaa!

BaggedLancer

exalted512 wrote:

nope, we cut the wire with scissors, use our teeth to strip back the wire, and use lighters to heat up the solder...
-Cody

I was being sarcastic....and i prefer nail clippers over scissors, thanks.

And actually I've used my teeth before to strip wire, it works pretty good if you are good at it.

1996blackmax

Crutchfiled is nice enough to send the adapters for the factory wiring with the purchase of speakers from them. Plug and connect to your new speakers. Would be nice if those were more readily available.....

pentavolvo

I have to agree 100% with Baggedlance I hate when people say circuit city does bad work maybe some stores did but my store did great work and we pulled alot of higher end cars. We either used harness or soldered everything, cutting a connector off was unheard of.

exalted512

pentavolvo wrote:

I have to agree 100% with Baggedlance I hate when people say circuit city does bad work

Companies dont get reputations like that unless they earn them. I'm not saying that all are bad but I've had to correct a bunch of crap that the local CC has done around here. I usually prefer CC to BB, but the CC here is really bad.
-Cody

MacLeod

Im going to have to come down on the side of Circuit City for this one. I wouldnt trust them for a complex install like and alarm and/or remote start but for a simple drop in speaker replacement or head unit swap out, theyre more than qualified for that.

I just ran a power wire in my new Accord and it was the EASIEST Ive ever done!!!

Honda, being the geniuses they are, put a rubber plug in the middle of the firewall. You pull it out and snake the wire into it and toward the drivers side and them BAM, it comes out from behind the center part of the dash. The only hard parts were figuring out how to take up the side covers in the floor and the bottom dash cover. You always have to take it delicately your first time.

The rest should be pretty easy.

BaggedLancer

exalted512 wrote:

Companies dont get reputations like that unless they earn them. I'm not saying that all are bad but I've had to correct a bunch of crap that the local CC has done around here. I usually prefer CC to BB, but the CC here is really bad.
-Cody

Yea, like you said thats the CC near you but definately not all. We did alot of really nice work at ours including boats and RV's. Man you guys shoulda saw me trying to pull a 40 foot motorhome into the roadshop with the **** end sticking out.

Regardless, like penta said, cutting harnesses is unheard of at CC. It is actually completely against what they train you to do. I guess some places ignore the training....

BaggedLancer

MacLeod wrote:

Im going to have to come down on the side of Circuit City for this one. I wouldnt trust them for a complex install like and alarm and/or remote start but for a simple drop in speaker replacement or head unit swap out, theyre more than qualified for that.

I just ran a power wire in my new Accord and it was the EASIEST Ive ever done!!!

Honda, being the geniuses they are, put a rubber plug in the middle of the firewall. You pull it out and snake the wire into it and toward the drivers side and them BAM, it comes out from behind the center part of the dash. The only hard parts were figuring out how to take up the side covers in the floor and the bottom dash cover. You always have to take it delicately your first time.

The rest should be pretty easy.

Again, its all in the location of the CC you go to. My shop was more than qualified to do alarm/remote starter installs.....they really aren't that difficult if you can see colors.....

1996blackmax

The last time Circuit City did an install on my car the speakers were out of phase, and they did not put in the RCA cables that I paid for (they put in the generic ones)..... this was the last time anyone touched my car for audio installs. I now know of a couple shops here in town that if I needed to, I would take my car to.

exalted512

MacLeod wrote:

Honda, being the geniuses they are, put a rubber plug in the middle of the firewall.

I wouldve killed for that grommet to be in my g/f's civic. Man that was a nightmare...
-Cody

pblanc

Yes, I've installed systems in about half a dozen vehicles over the years, and it can be an adventure. Car audio installation is where Crutchfield really shines. They will include instructions specific to your vehicle for removal of dash components and stock stereo components, removal of door panels and trim panels as needed, as well as adapters to connect your stock speaker wiring harness and your head unit harness to your new components, which really simplifies the install. If you run into problems, their technical support people are very helpful. Unless Circuit City is running a killer sale, their prices are usually at least as good as CCs. Their return policy is also excellent. They are an authorized Polk dealer so you have a full warranty.

MacLeod

BaggedLancer wrote:

Again, its all in the location of the CC you go to. My shop was more than qualified to do alarm/remote starter installs.....they really aren't that difficult if you can see colors.....

I agree with that.

I remember back in the late 80's when I first fell in love with car audio, Circuit City was THE place for installers. They had the best in town. All of the guys there had some kind of formal training or tons of experience. But then the salesmen also knew their products and weren't the $5/hr staple headed teenieboppers they have now.

Still, I would not trust CC or BB to install an alarm on my car. I have one shop in my town that I trust implictly to work on anything of mine.

I wouldve killed for that grommet to be in my g/f's civic. Man that was a nightmare...
-Cody

Unfortunately they werent so wise in providing grommets for the doors. Not only is there nowhere to pass thru speaker wires but the door doesnt open far enough to get in there with a drill!!! I may wind up running my 14 AWG ($12 for 50' at Walmart!!!!!) wire up to the kick panel and then splicing in to the OEM wire. Yeah, I know, most of us are purists and thats blasphemy but I I figure there wont be any voltage loss over the 12" of 18 AWG wire from the kick panel to the speaker. This will also make it 1000 times easier to run the wire up thru the dash for the tweeters!!

Plus, Im wanting this to be as transparant an install as there ever was. The only thing youre going to see in the way of aftermarket gear is when you open the trunk and then youll only see the ampboard with 2 Crossfire amps, Alpine 700 and JL Cleansweep. Oh, and the dist block!

exalted512

How do they get the factory wiring through the door?
-Cody

BaggedLancer

exalted512 wrote:

How do they get the factory wiring through the door?
-Cody

Rubber boots!, they are a pain in the **** to fish a wire through tho because of the accordian style.

MacLeod

Its not only a rubber boot but a harness connector too. Its not a bunch of wires running thru the door, there is a butt connectot mounted to the door and the wires running from the car plug into that. There isnt any space that you can wedge 14 AWG wire thru. At least none that Ive found yet. Its been CRAPPY weather here the last few weeks and Ive not had a lot of time to work on it.

Ive already missed one big show this month and it looks like Im going to miss Carl Casper on the 24th which BLOWS!! Ive been looking forward to that show since last year.

brettw22

There's a step up/down sleeve that the wires pass through, but snaking them through is pretty brutal in terms of fishing the wire if i remember correctly.......

MacLeod

Hmmm. Maybe I missed it then. Ill give it another look tomorrow cause I would prefer running 14 AWG all the way to the speakers. Still may keep the OEM wires for the tweeters tho. That is going to be brutal trying to snake a wire down behind the dash. There aint a whole lot of room underneath there to lie down and work.....especially when youre 250 pounds!!

exalted512

You might want to take another look. Sometimes they still leave a hole in the factory plug(usually the top of the plug) that you can still run wire through. Sometimes its there, sometimes its not
-Cody

1996blackmax

My 5th gen Nissan Maxima is like this. It is a PITA to do the doors due to the bracket/harness that it has. The rear doors are easier to drill through, but not the fronts.

I was able to snake some wire for the tweeter in the A-pillar on the side of the dash. The black rubber gasket that the door closes on to has a good amount of "over coverage" that allows me to to hide the wire.

pblanc

I have found using a speaker cable that is a twisted pair inside a circular clear plastic sheath will go through those accordian rubber boots easier. I usually give the outer sheath a spray with Armor All before snaking them through. This seems to lubricate them and make them slicker and I haven't observed any ill effects from this. This is probably obvious, but if you are removing the factory wires from the rubber boot, tie a string to it before you pull it out, the tie that string to your new speaker wire to help pull it through.

MacLeod

I checked today and no luck on the doors. I may be able to get a drill inside the door and drill thru but I doubt it. It looks tho like I may be going with the OEM wiring.

Ive also decided not to get a JL Cleansweep for no other reason than I just cant afford it.

Ive got 2 Alpine head units here that have the Ai-Net jack in the back thats not as good as optical but still pretty quiet. I can buy this adapter plate for $30 and lose my storage pocket below the AC controls and lose the coolness of using the OEM stereo.



Im going to have to spend over $200 in wires, cables, Dynamat and other supplies to get this install ready (deadling is March 10th) and I just dont have an additional $300+ to spend on a Cleansweep when this method will do just as good a job, actually probably better and the only thing I lose is a storage bin........and coolness factor.

Plus, in case I run across a smokin' deal on an Alpine HU with optical output, itll be a simple swap out.

Im going to order it now from Crutchfield before I talk myself out of it and start holding up liquor stores to come up with $300.

audiobliss

Good deal, glad you're going this route. In my opinion, this method has oodles more coolness factor than going with the CleanSweep.

MacLeod

audiobliss wrote:

Good deal, glad you're going this route. In my opinion, this method has oodles more coolness factor than going with the CleanSweep.

No way! Anybody can wedge an aftermarket HU in a storage bin. Not many people can take a crappy OEM HU and make it win in SQ. Plus it looks cooler.

audiobliss

MacLeod wrote:

No way! Not many people can take a crappy OEM HU and make it win in SQ.

Sure they can. You just fork out all that money Mom & Dad give you and buy a CleanSweep or a 360.x.

Oh, what? A HU hidden in a storage bin? That takes creativity and installation ability. And looks cool. Especially since it's hidden.

See, that's where I'm coming from with it.

But, you're right, the other way would have been cool, too...to an extent.