2001 Stereo upgrade

Nitro187 · Feb 21, 2012

Been thinking about doing this for a while now, but every time I decide to do it, I always stop myself because I haven't seen anyone who has actually done this before online.

All the 'how to's seem to have a different harness than I do... so I'll just go ahead and tell you what I have, and I want to know what you guys all did in order to get past this.

I have a din connector that comes out of the back of my alpine unit -> http://www.industrial-toolz.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/din-connector.jpg

This din connector connects directly to the amp in the trunk. If I wire up this din connector, to plug into the back of a regular aftermarket unit, will this be ok? I have the pinout from the back of my alpine stock unit... so that's easy enough... I just want to make sure it's ok to do this... I've heard people talk about 'shared ground' for the outputs... etc.... do I have to use the pre-outs from my deck to the amp, rather than the front\left speaker wires... as they aren't amplified?

Please shed some light... I'd like to do this, this summer. Thanks!

Fatboy 18 · Feb 21, 2012

Short answer, Yes. I have this installed http://www.adflyer.co.uk/electronic...nc510-7-sat-nav-dvd-amfm-mp3-head-unit/108801

We had to get a female Din connector and match up the connections but it worked fine. The factory amp is not great but its good enough for my ears

I was not confident enough to tackle this myself so I paid a radio installer to do it for me, but we have not cut any wires on the stock harness and I am using the factory amp

One other thing we also did was to install a back up camera, this links up to the new Nav receiver

The guy came to my home and did all the work in my garage so no one got to play with my car

LifeIsGood · Feb 21, 2012

I did a complete replacement of all the components and all new wiring in my 2001 RT/10. Let me know if you'd like me to post up some of the pictures here in your thread. I did splice into the existing wiring for the ACC/ILL/BAT connections.

blackandblue01 · Feb 21, 2012

As other have said, it will work. I am currently running my factory amp with a kenwood headunit. I also have 2 alpine 500m mono amps each one running a 12 solo classic kicker. I used an alpine din cable i got off ebay. Spliced it into the headunit harness then plugged the other end into the cable in the dash. http://www.ebay.com/itm/ALPINE-8-PI...t=Car_Audio_Video&vxp=mtr&hash=item2eab96009d. This way I never cut the cable in the car. I can easily put it all back factory. But with that being said, I have already purchased a new alpine flip out. I am seriously condsidering doing away with the factory harness all together and replacing the stock amp with a more up to date model. I can hear some interference if the system is paused with the volume up a bit.

blackandblue01 · Feb 21, 2012

Also if you desire to splice the din cable. I have the wiring written down somewhere in my garage. The cable is not a straight forward 8 wires in a rubber sleeve. There are small wires, large wires, and the casing wire just below the outer sheath is I think the remote wire. But It can be done.

Nitro187 · Feb 22, 2012

Good to hear that this can be done with the factory amp. I prefer to leave it factory, as it's good enough for me... just want a better head unit, cause this one doesn't read CD's fast enough for my liking.... plus I want MP3.

So, the big question I guess is, which wires should I pass through the DIN cable to the factory amp? The pre-out's for left and right, or the actual left and right amplified wires from the new head unit?

Pre-out's being the ones pointed to: http://www.glasswolf.net/papers/preout1.jpeg

MTGTS · Feb 22, 2012

I have all my a bunch of stereo stuff in the classifieds

Fatboy 18 · Feb 22, 2012

Check out this thread, http://forums.viperclub.org/threads/643390-Gen-2-stereo-head-unit-upgrade?highlight=head+units

I posted up some pics of my install and when you remove your stock radio there is a sticker on the underside showing the diagram of the pin outs

JohnnyBravo · Feb 22, 2012

You'll find that the speakers are probably the weakest link in the whole setup. Believe it or not, the amp, wiring and head unit are not all that bad. The speakers, however, are complete crap.

I just had new speakers and a new head unit installed in my GTS yesterday and the difference is AMAZING. I went with the JL Audio C2 series separates in the doors and the JL Audio C2 series coaxials in the rear hatch. However, we basically bypassed the tweeter in the rear and crossed them over at around 120 Hz so they are more like small subwoofers. I put the new Sony DSX-310BTX head unit in at the same time. It's really cool. http://store.sony.com/webapp/wcs/st...10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921666372151

Built in bluetooth, streams Pandora wirelessly, front USB which will play media/charge your iPhone, and has a "tune tray" behind the face plate so you can plug in your USB media/iPhone/iPod and keep it hidden behind the face plate with no wires hanging out.

Left all the factory wiring and used the factory Alpine amp. They're still tweaking the eq settings and tidying some things up today, but it was 99% finished last night when I went by. Just changing the speakers was a HUGE difference. But having iPod controls, blue tooth hands free calling, being able to stream wirelessly, etc was a nice bonus, especially in a $300 head unit.

Fatboy 18 · Feb 22, 2012

So if you dont mind me asking how much are the speakers? Do you have any pics?

JohnnyBravo · Feb 23, 2012

Fatboy 18 said:
So if you dont mind me asking how much are the speakers? Do you have any pics?

Fronts: http://www.jlaudio.com/c2-650-car-audio-c2-speaker-systems-99617

Rears: http://www.jlaudio.com/c2-650x-car-audio-c2-coaxial-systems-99618

blackandblue01 · Feb 24, 2012

If you splice your din cable, (i recommend against cutting the factory one, cut the one you ordered and plugged into your factory one.) All connections are low level. You will need to splice rca ends to them. Black is ground pin 8,,, Bare grey casing is the remote wire pin 4,,, All 4 speaker grounds are shared this is the brown wire,,, Left rear is yellow,, left front is a little white wire,,, right rear is a little red wire,,,, and right front is the larger red wire.. Hope this helps.. jim

GTS Warp · Feb 24, 2012

Hey Ken, I'd like to see your pics of your install, especially the splices. I'm getting ready to install a Pioneer AVH-P5200DVD head unit with 2 BA amps in the back and Polk speakers all around. Stepping up to 6x9's in the back mounted in boxes.

JohnnyBravo · Feb 24, 2012

blackandblue01 said:
If you splice your din cable, (i recommend against cutting the factory one, cut the one you ordered and plugged into your factory one.) All connections are low level. You will need to splice rca ends to them. Black is ground pin 8,,, Bare grey casing is the remote wire pin 4,,, All 4 speaker grounds are shared this is the brown wire,,, Left rear is yellow,, left front is a little white wire,,, right rear is a little red wire,,,, and right front is the larger red wire.. Hope this helps.. jim

And I believe that's exactly what we did. The RCA low level converter gave the fronts a LOT more volume, as well.

LifeIsGood · Feb 24, 2012

Okay, I thought about starting a new thread, but this one is perfectly named...

I put in a new head unit, new door component speakers, a new subwoofer, a new amp and all new wiring in my 2001 RT/10. I have tons of pictures.

Sony DSXS300BTX Digital Media Receiver
Alpine Type-X SPX-17REF component speakers
JL AUDIO 6W3V3-4 - Car subwoofer driver - 6"
Alpine PDX F4 - Amplifier - 4-channel

I removed most of the interior...seats, knee blockers, front console, center console, rear bulkhead, door panels, driver side rear tire and wheel splash shield.
I kept all the OE wiring intact...just added new wiring everywhere. I ran the door speaker wiring in with the bundle that's already there. I did have to do some fabricating to the front door speaker mounts to get my speakers to fit. I had to increase the size of a hole that was in the top of the rear bulkhead so that all of the wiring could fit through it. The sub didn't have enough room, so I had a ring made that makes the sub protrude out of the rear bulkhead.
Here are some pictures...

I needed to keep the mounting brackets from the OE head unit so that I could install the new head unit...