So I've done it ladies and gentlemen! I went ahead and per the recommendations of MrMiata, Rudy, OlDoc and a few others; I installed a new headunit which sounds fantastic.

The unit in question is the :
Kenwood KDC-BT955HD

(in case someone wants a good replacement as well, get this one)


The hassle associated with finding a silver unit proved to be too much for me to want to deal with, so I pulled the trigger and went with a black one. It does have some silver accents here and there, but now that it's in the center console I really don't mind it being black. MrMiata pointed out that because of the black air vents/dials/dash the difference won't be that huge and he is right.



Wanted to thank everyone who helped me out with picking out the parts and harnesses needed to get it done right as well. Because you guys put in the effort to find the correct items, my installation went very smooth.



The quality of the unit is awesome to say the least, and I went ahead and speaker wired it in even though it has 4 volt preouts for the RCA connections too. This thing is very customizable, from lights to bluetooth and pandora profiles. It even has HD radio built in, with iHeartRadio being thrown in there for the hell of it.

Build quality is great, the buttons dont feel cheap, and plastic itself for the faceplate looks great. Overall, it was money well spent and I only paid $130 for it, down from 250. I'll get a picture of it in the console when it's sunny outside so you guys can see it and how it fits in there.

 

Glad the install went well for you! It just sounds intimidating .. but not that big a deal once you wrap your head around it..

 

You're right, I thought it was gonna be a pain in the *** to hook up all the wires properly but the guide at the top of the audio forum area worked well.
The only problem I think I might have from the entire hookup is the fact that I can't turn the unit on without turning the car key to the ACCS or ON/RUN position.
Any idea why that might be?

 

Pretty sure that "on after key removed" was a feature of the oem unit, nothing you missed in wiring.

 

Aha good to know then!

 

Yep. The stock radio had a timer circuit that would allow it to power up when the button was pressed even with no ignition switch signal. Pretty much no aftermarket head unit will have this feature.
I just recently installed an Excelon unit that is a couple 'steps' below this unit. Great unit. I went down the tier a little bit because I wanted the dedicated preset buttons for radio stations. The only real difference between mine and yours is the faceplate, and that mine is from a higher line being an Excelon.

 

Yeah the 955 and 997 are their highest end units in this range. Very good sound, great screens, and lots of options. I got it for 130 bucks lol, great steal

 

Good job on your install!

 

Does this unit allow you to change the frequency of each speaker?

 

I was looking for a silver head unit but they r only in the marine radios and they do not have bluetooth

 

What do you mean frequency of each speaker? If you wire it directly to the amp with the preouts, then yeah you can adjust it independently I believe. It has 4volts preouts, which is just perfect for the amp to play with. It's got all the bells and whistles you'd want trust me.

 

The Clarion M303 seems to fit the bill .......

 

The M303 Clarion unit was an option I looked at, but decided to go with the Kenwood because of the front facing USB and AUX in. Also, because it had custom illumination.

 

Adrian, I must see it when we get together in May.

 

Of course, as long as you dont mind that chipping interior paint the previous owner left me as a gift on the center console arm rest area. Ugh that annoys me to no end when I see it. I really need to find someone who would be able to fix that stuff.

 

What I am trying to learn is does it allow the user to adjust the bass and the treble settings separately for the door speakers and the subwoofers on the back. Haha

 

It allows that, but the built in factory AMP will not allow that since the speakers are wired in series if I'm not mistaken. Basically the left hand speakers are wired as one, and then the right side wired as one again. It does have a built in EQ with great control of the highs, mids, and lows though. Which for me was enough, as I put in new Infinity Reference 6032 speakers in the doors anyway as an upgrade from the stock ones. Lemme tell ya, big difference in sound output, and also range of sound.

 

I have infinities also and the Pyle subs.
So what do you think if I buy this Kenwood HU and run a new set of wires from the subs to the amp?

 

That will definitely give you bass control then, well, better bass control. The stock amp should handle the pyles just fine.

Maxchicon is running the pyles too, I believe.

 

I havent seen what the stock amp look like, if there is a way to separate the subs from the doors without adding an additional amp, I would do that. And a new HU with little bit more power, thn I will be done with the audio mods.