Stereo Instiallation?

6spdcoupe · 12-18-2010, 11:45 PM

The 2011 models will be nothing short of stellar and a fair step up from previous 9140/9960/8120s. They are certainly out to impress and doing a great job achieving that goal. Anything more, you'll have to wait til Jan. 6th.

Don't get discouraged though, you bought an excellent unit that I am quite sure will keep you happy for some time.

chops · 12-18-2010, 11:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crash1369

Thanks for the help so far guys

All of my stuff is supposed to be here on Tuesday, so I am hoping to install it all on Wednesday morning. Obviously I would like to make the install as easy and smooth as possible, these things seem to have a way of getting out of control and a simple project ends up taking three days... which would be Christmas

Any last minute tips or suggestions, wire routing, etc?

I am still not sure what I am going to do with the antennas, I know they always recommend putting them on the roof by the back windshield. Besides looking stupid I have a convertible so that is not an option. As suggested I am planing on putting them under the grilles on top of the dash, hopefully I will be able to feed the wires through. Obviously they will need a clear line of sight though and the grilles seem like they would be pretty obtrusive or is the plastic transparent to the Satellite/ GPS signal? Do these antennas need any sort of a ground plane, or otherwise need to be stuck to metal or are they only magnetic for ease of instillation?

I'm not to worried about the head unit, that's usually pretty straight forward. But what about the steering wheel control adapter, does that have to be wired separately or does it connect into the wiring harness or something somewhere? I will need to hook up a power and ground right, can I just tap off the wiring wires for the radio? Any chance you know which wires those would be? Any problem with using those fancy vampire taps radioshack has?

Axxess told me there is a problem with some Kenwood radios and I will need to connect a 12ohm resistor in order for the adapter to program correctly? Should I even bother, in reading through other threads it seems everyone ends up programming it manually anyway?

The only other thing I'll need to figure out is where to put the camera I guess and how to get the wires through and up to the radio

i put my gps antenna in the headliner. the front of the headliner covers probably 3 inches of the top most part of the windshield, therefore it has a direct line of sight with the sky with only the glass in between. i experimented with many locations during my 3 day install (car sat in a million pieces in the garage since i could only work on it for a few hours at a time after work). this seemed to work the best for me and is completely hidden and out of sight. wire was then routed down the A pillar.

edit: you have a roadster. haha..guess this doesnt apply, but i guess its still good info for others?

crash1369 · 12-19-2010, 04:29 PM

Thanks, yeah I don't have a headliner so that's out. The glass will actually block the signal, probably more then the roof would. I was talking to one of my friends that works at a stereo shop, apparentlymhe just put one of these in a few days ago. But he was telling me it doesn't really matter where I put the gps antenna, his is in the dash. Be he was telling me a Sirius antenna is actually more important to have a clear line of sight then XM. considering how poorly my xm works now I propably shouldn't risk keeping it under the dash, we'll see what I come up with.

crash1369 · 12-19-2010, 04:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 6spdcoupe

The 2011 models will be nothing short of stellar and a fair step up from previous 9140/9960/8120s. They are certainly out to impress and doing a great job achieving that goal. Anything more, you'll have to wait til Jan. 6th.

Don't get discouraged though, you bought an excellent unit that I am quite sure will keep you happy for some time.

Is there any information on these anywhere?

6spdcoupe · 12-19-2010, 08:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crash1369

Is there any information on these anywhere?

Only most of us direct accounts have any info. So unless someone leaked, then no sir, nothing yet. Jan. 6th Starts CES. I get in on the 3rd, so any info that I *can* share prior to the show start I will surely do so.

crash1369 · 01-04-2011, 09:08 PM

I figured I should update this, I had started to a few times but decided against it... I am much less irritated now

After far to much time spent installing all these damn parts, I'm probably like 63% done now. I finally just got the steering wheel controls working, the phone buttons still don't but at this point I don't want to be bothered anymore. I did get the rest of them working now and they seem to work well, I'll see once I drive it tomorrow.
The radio interface isn't bothering me anymore, I guess I got used to the delay every time you hit a button. But I'm also not pressing them as often now that I have everything set and all the main controls can finally be accessed from the wheel now so that should help as well.

The only thing left is the backup camera, it still doesn't work but I think the camera is bad, seems the "Check your camera" message was a statement not a question. They are sending me a new one so hopefully I can just plug it in and go. Based on the suggestions in another thread I did get the Reverse interrupt turned on, I had to put the car in reverse and then hit the button. It seems to be saved now but it still doesn't do anything when I put it in reverse, I'll try it again once I get the camera to work and worry about it then

12-18-2010, 11:45 PM	#31 (permalink)
6spdcoupe Base Member Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Central Jersey Posts: 34 Drives: '08 TBSS, '06 E55 Rep Power: 14	The 2011 models will be nothing short of stellar and a fair step up from previous 9140/9960/8120s. They are certainly out to impress and doing a great job achieving that goal. Anything more, you'll have to wait til Jan. 6th. Don't get discouraged though, you bought an excellent unit that I am quite sure will keep you happy for some time. __________________ '06 E55, '08 TBSS, '09 CX-7 H900/TRU SSLD6i/TRU Billets/ Dyn 182s~Esotar 110s~430s~1200

12-19-2010, 04:29 PM	#33 (permalink)
crash1369 Enthusiast Member Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Tobyharlem Age: 41 Posts: 474 Drives: C300 - 6spd Rep Power: 728	Thanks, yeah I don't have a headliner so that's out. The glass will actually block the signal, probably more then the roof would. I was talking to one of my friends that works at a stereo shop, apparentlymhe just put one of these in a few days ago. But he was telling me it doesn't really matter where I put the gps antenna, his is in the dash. Be he was telling me a Sirius antenna is actually more important to have a clear line of sight then XM. considering how poorly my xm works now I propably shouldn't risk keeping it under the dash, we'll see what I come up with. __________________ "At no point during your rambling, incoherent response did you ever come close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. We are all now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may god have mercy on your soul." Last edited by crash1369; 12-19-2010 at 04:36 PM.

01-04-2011, 09:08 PM	#36 (permalink)
crash1369 Enthusiast Member Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Tobyharlem Age: 41 Posts: 474 Drives: C300 - 6spd Rep Power: 728	I figured I should update this, I had started to a few times but decided against it... I am much less irritated now After far to much time spent installing all these damn parts, I'm probably like 63% done now. I finally just got the steering wheel controls working, the phone buttons still don't but at this point I don't want to be bothered anymore. I did get the rest of them working now and they seem to work well, I'll see once I drive it tomorrow. The radio interface isn't bothering me anymore, I guess I got used to the delay every time you hit a button. But I'm also not pressing them as often now that I have everything set and all the main controls can finally be accessed from the wheel now so that should help as well. The only thing left is the backup camera, it still doesn't work but I think the camera is bad, seems the "Check your camera" message was a statement not a question. They are sending me a new one so hopefully I can just plug it in and go. Based on the suggestions in another thread I did get the Reverse interrupt turned on, I had to put the car in reverse and then hit the button. It seems to be saved now but it still doesn't do anything when I put it in reverse, I'll try it again once I get the camera to work and worry about it then __________________ "At no point during your rambling, incoherent response did you ever come close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. We are all now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may god have mercy on your soul."

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