Originally Posted by XFireCrazy
Crutchfield is giving me these installation instructions when I add one of their radios to the shopping cart.
Are these steps really necessary?
What you need to know:- The harness does not supply connections for the front speakers, so you will need to run new speaker wires to your front speakers.
- The harness does not supply connections for the rear speakers, so you will need to run new speaker wires to your rear speakers.
- When used in this vehicle, the functions of the yellow and red wires in the Crutchfield harness are reversed. The yellow wire supplies ignition power, and the Red wire supplies constant power.
- You will need to bypass your factory amp by running new speaker wires from the radio to the amp location and splicing the new speaker wires to the factory speaker wires at the output side of the amp.
- If you replace your factory radio, you will need to use an aftermarket amplifier with a low-pass crossover to retain the factory subwoofers.
Number 1 is incorrect - purchase the VW-01B harness plug.
Number 2 is correct - for NEW rear speakers - your existing "rear" speakers (the subs in the wall behind the seats) are wired to the "front" channel so will work subject to number 1
Number 3 is correct
Number 4 is incorrect.
I like Crutchfield - for looking up products and finding out what the list price is, and what I will need for the install (sometimes they're right). But they sell most things at list price.
For that you get customer support for life? Sorry, I saved almost $400 on my head unit alone by shopping at another online site known for books... In total I saved $2K by not buying at Crutchfield. Fact is, the manufacturer will give you customer support for life so Crutchfield support is kind of redundant.
I have nothing against them - bought my Beltronics Driver STi from them because no authorized dealer discounts them and Crutchfield was a dollar cheaper on shipping....
The harness plug is $14; the removal tool is $3, the antenna adapter (if needed) is $20, and the head unit comes with detailed installation instructions. So save the huge price difference, buy the harness plug, install tool, and put the savings into another component you can stash inside the floor or dash.
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