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Stereo upgrade update saga
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Posted by Monster (more from Monster) on Fri, 5 Apr 2002 18:44:37 Share Post by Email
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Hello, Everyone

Well, if you've been following my stereo story, here's the latest. Today I took out my 15 year old Pioneer AM/FM/Cassette deck and installed a new JVC AM/FM/CD unit.

It was a bit of a pain in the butt doing it, and as I sit here typing there are band-aids on two of my ten fingers, but that's about par for an afternoon with the Beastie.

To begin with, I had trouble figuring out how to get the old radio out. That's a little embarrassing, because I was the one who put it in there! My wifey, ever helpful, brought me a crowbar while I was fiddling with it. She is SOOOOOOOO funny. Not!

So I got the really stupid idea that maybe I needed to push the thing out from behind. I took the right speaker grill out, and saw the ductwork for the center air ducts blocked access that way. Put the right speaker grill back in, took the left one out. This time, I could reach inside and push on the back of the radio, but it didn't budge. Not the right answer. And while fiddling with that stupid speaker grill, I sliced open my left index finger on one of the retaining clips. Ow. Nothing like adding injury to that good old feeling of knowing you're doing something the wrong way.

I'd pulled the knobs off my old radio, and spent 10 minutes or so looking for one of them that had pinged off under the driver's seat. After the speaker grill exploration, I looked back at the radio and noticed little plastic covers could be opened under the knobs. Ah HA! I pried off the covers, which allowed access to some 14mm nuts, which, when removed, allowed the removal of a plastic faceplate, which then uncovered more 14mm nuts, which loosened a metal plate held in by some metal clips. Piece by piece, I removed each layer.

Triumphantly, I pulled the radio free, and a bunch of spacers that were on the shafts slid down and bounced around the car. Grrrrrrr. While balancing the radio in one hand, I unplugged the antenna lead and the plastic plug harness that held the power and speaker wires. Now I was looking at a dozen wires hanging out of the front of my dash. I managed to find the spacers and washers under the passenger seat.

Of course, the connector plug on the new radio was different, so I couldn't use the one that was already there, attached to the car. Fortunately, I'd spliced little male/female connectors onto all the wires when I did the job before, so all I needed to do was put new male connectors on the new radio's wiring harness, and I could plug it in. I looked in my parts drawer, and I had 6 of them. I needed 12.

I told my wife I needed to run out to Radio Shack, and she said, "Why don't you go to Taco Bell while you're out?" That surprised me a little, but I guessed that meant she didn't want to make me lunch, so I grinned and told her I would. I went to lunch, ate a few burritos, then stopped in at Radio Shack for the connectors.

Here's the thing about Radio Shack. You can't BUY 6 male connectors. You can only buy 5 males and 5 females together in one $1.69 package. So if you want 6 male connectors, you end up with 10 males and 10 females for just under $4. Sheesh. This is how I end up with bins of leftover parts cluttering up my garage all the time!

So I returned home, and my wife looks at me -- one of those looks that tells me I'm either wearing mismatched socks or I forgot to do something important. "Did you go to Taco Bell?" she asked.

"Yes. Ate there then went to Radio Shack."

"Where's mine?"

"Your what?"

"My food!"

"Huh?"

Well, you see, when she told me to go to Taco Bell while I was out, I thought she just wanted me to go forage for my own food. I didn't know she wanted me to bring her anything. And of course, she wouldn't let me get back in the car to make another trip and get food for her, because this way she could hit me with a big guilt trip instead. Well, that's what she gets for trying to get me to use a crowbar on my dashboard....

Oh, yeah, the radio. So now, armed with the baggies of new connectors, I went to the workbench and carefully stripped and spliced and crimped little male plugs on each of the wires of the new radio's harness. Consulting the Saab electrical wiring diagram, I carefully hooked the appropriate wires together.

The new radio came with a metallic sleeve to install in the dash. It wasn't too complicated, actually -- just slipped it in there and bent some little metal tabs to hold it in place. But while bending one of those tabs, my flatbladed screwdriver slipped and lacerated a previously undamaged finger on my other hand. The hand-washing/band-aid breaks were beginning to add up at this point.

I plugged the antenna and wiring harness into the back of the new radio, slipped it gingerly into its mounting sleeve, and smiled with satisfaction as it clicked into place. A plastic frame fit over the face, and then the radio faceplate clicked on, and I was done!

Everything worked perfectly when I turned it on. (There's always that apprehension when power is first applied... and a tremendous rush of relief when you realize you didn't mess it up!) The sound was incredible! I was totally amazed by the difference it made -- the power, the clarity, fantastic! The new front speakers, which I'd replaced a week or so ago, were brilliant. (And hey, the antenna even went up and down!) I pulled a CD from the jukebox in the house (CCR: Bad Moon Rising) and put the disk in. Holy smokes, what I've been missing!

Of course, having this new radio made me realize just how crummy those 15 year old 4x10" REAR speakers are. Well, they work, sort of, but the bass is a little muddy and the fader has to bias rearward quite a bit to get any sound out of them. Looks like I'm going to do the whole shebang, and replace those, too. Heck, I might as well at this point. I'm probably going to order some of those 6x9 adaptors and put a good pair of 3 or 4-way 6x9's back there. I'll let y'all know when I get that done.

...Oh, yeah, and I'm taking the wife out to dinner. Only seems fair.

- = M = -
'87 900T 172K

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