My long frustration with the lack of an Aux input on the stock Infinity radio/CD unit finally ended today, when I replaced it with a new Kenwood KDC-X599 which I purchased from Crutchfield.

My experience with Crutchfield was excellent. Although I was leaning toward buying a German brand, I decided to ask for their advice. My advisor recommended the Kenwood KDC-X599, which was not on my radar. He clearly knew way more than me, because after I compared the Kenwood to other units, I realized that his recommendation was spot on. Plus Crutchfield provided this collection of freebies: installation instructions, MB extraction tools for the Infinity, connection harness, antenna adaptor for the new unit, and 3 day shipping. Good deal. I’m a happy customer and can highly recommend Crutchfield.

The KDC-X599 supports Bluetooth, which was a bonus as it was not a must have for me, so I got to mount the mic and run its cable. I mounted the mic at the top of the A-pillar trim following the guidance in

Kennwood D562BT Replace Oem Infinity w-o Nav Easy Install

The biggest challenge is snaking the mic cable through the dash. Rather than using a coat hanger or electrical fish table I used a 36” cable tie. A cable tie is less likely to do harm.

Useful pieces of information for others doing a swap:

• Removal of the trim on the A-pillar is as described in the aforementioned thread. See pages Interior 23-161 to 23-163 in the 2004 Service Manual.
• The Kenwood has front, rear, and subwoofer outputs, but the connection harness only has front and rear plugs. I initially connected the front and rear plugs, but noticed that the speakers behind the seats were not live. (Those must be the subwoofers mentioned in the Crossfire manual.) So I moved the rear plugs to the subwoofer output. Works fine, but there may be a pair of speakers somewhere not being driven. (Does anyone know for sure?)
• The stock Infinity system has a power amp, so you need to connect the power control wire on the connection harness to the new unit’s harness.

 

I have two questions for the audio gurus on the forum.

Question 1 is about the stock Infinity (no navigation) stereo in my 2004 Crossfire: Does the head unit / receiver or the power amplifier filter the audio frequencies for the subwoofers behind the seats?

I assume that the head unit filters the signals for the subwoofers, but am not sure and cannot find any info that clarifies this point. I did find a diagram in the Service Manual on page 8W-47-3 that clearly shows two separate connections between the radio and the amplifier, one for the front (door) speakers and another for the rear (subwoofer) speakers.

I am trying to understand how to connect the Kenwood’s RCA speaker outputs. The options are: Front & Rear or Front & Subwoofer. Also, the Kenwood provides a number of audio controls for the subwoofer that would allow me to fiddle its filtering, though I doubt that I will.

Question 2: If I replace the stock subwoofers with new speakers should the new ones be run full frequency or as subwoofers?

Since it appears that after 13 years my subwoofers are shot I am considering replacing them rather than repairing them as others have. (Still need to confirm that the foam is shot, but there is a lack of sound and air pressure.)

Thanks for any advice.

 

All your speakers were powered by the head unit as a left and right channel only.. and if you ONLY plug in the harness without surgery at amp level.. they will still only be powered by the left and right channel of the new head unit. "plugging in" the extra RCA connectors does not connect them to anything other than the back of the head unit. Have you looked through the forum on the stereo hookups? You will find plenty.. including amp wiring and how to "4 channel" the setup.

 

Thanks MrM, I do not know anything about radios or too much sparky stuff but I had the feeling that I had not used my RCA connectors in my Kenwood setup. I used the Kenwood that is fully explained in the How To in the Radio Forum.

I am not too pleased with that radio, I find the FM range is not too good. I live near the fringe of my favorite channel and this radio puts me much closer to the limit. The Becker was much better in that regard.
I am thinking of a single din flip up nav radio, but can only find black ones. They look rather awkward to respray black.

 

After spending far more time than planned reading and asking questions about Crossfire audio, I plan to buy a pair of Pyle PLPW6D 6-Inch 600 Watt Dual 4 Ohm Subwoofer from Amazon (Pyle-PLPW6D-6-Inch-Subwoofer) for $13 each, as it seems better to replace OEM subwoofers with subwoofers rather than 2-way speakers.

I considered fixing the subwoofers with the surround repair kit for about the same cost, but the original speakers are now over 13 years old and it just seems better to replace them.

I want plug and play. I don’t need or want to spend time rewiring and/or replacing the amp. I just want audio from a variety of sources, including some critical ones not supported by the OEM Infinity head unit, and all six speakers to work.

Although I had read quite a bit on the Forum’s audio section, after getting onehundred80’s feedback I went back and read some more. Much to my amazement I learned that the seemingly straightforward feeding of head unit channels into the amp does not work as one would infer from the Service Manual’s wiring diagrams.

Specifically, the post new-radio-head-unit-wired-factory-stock-amp-amplifier in which the AlpinetoCrossfireexanple diagram provided the fascinating detail that the
Not sure why it’s labeled Alpine; I recall that my Infinity unit had a Becker label. Will check again later after I get home.

I will report back after replacing the speakers, though that might not be until January. I am curious whether any of the Kenwood's subwoofer filter settings will be needed or make a difference.

 

 

Very nice video! Did you ever create the other parts?

Thanks for it and the comments earlier in the thread.

 

That's another members video.. just sharing so you have an idea about replacing the subs.

At $200 a pair though.. you gotta be real serious about your audio.. LOL

 

Haha, I have alot more than that in my stereo, headunit, door speakers, rear subs, amplifiers, subs in hatch, wire, capacitor.
But hey with my long drives if I start getting tired, just turn the radio up alittle and will wake right up.

 

On the 6.75 inch Kicker speakers deals. I found Volunteer stereo in Knoxville Tennessee. They sell on ebay. The speakers from Kicker are 43 CWRT 672 Comp RT 6 and 3/4 inch speakers. They sell em on ebay for 99.95 each and by calling them at 1 844 3028 3461 And she gave me 10% off for being on the phone and asking for it and free shipping and no tax. I called my local shop and he said can't match that price. Now I'd love to see the second part video of the install

 

I ordered some replacement JVC speakers from crutchfield but they only have one set of wire leads. These are the speakers from crutchfield https://www.crutchfield.com/p_105CSD...520.html?tp=97. I am unclear about what to do with the two sets of wires. Do I use the balck and red? What do I do with the other wires?

Your help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you, Paul

 

i have done this woofer install and be ready to do some grinding on the rear firewall and a lot of grinding on the cages. this is not a quick or easy job. it takes time and the right tools. Not for everyone..

 

also the kicker magnets are much larger and stick out so you will not get the stock grills back on.