My '04 just got it's second new stereo in two weeks. I started by replacing the factory HU with a refurbished Kenwood Excelon KDC-X997, the top of that model line. I just used the stock wiring, so the subs were sharing the front speaker output. It was a sound improvement over the stock unit, and had a great three line display, and I was all set...until I pulled out of the garage and realized that 80% of the time the display was virtually unreadable.

Back to the drawing board, and back to Crutchfield. Those guys and their return policy rock BTW. Since I was going to redo the job anyway, I decided to make use of the factory amp in the way it should be. And a pox on whomever decided the factory wiring as designed was a good idea. I wanted to use the separate 4 volt pre-outs for the front and subs so I could get the best possible sound. Wouldn’t it have been nice if Daimler/Chrysler had decided to wire this block with pins 1,2,7,8 going back to the amp…

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…so we didn’t have to do this?

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I guess I'm just a visual learner and suffer from attention deficit, but some of the simplest things just escape me. I spent literally hours searching and reading through these forums for the answers on how this should be done to make sure I understood what I needed to do. The answers were there, but in bits and pieces, at least it seemed to me. The best write up overall was this one https://www.crossfireforum.org/forum...tml#post693937. So I decided to write up a couple of the things I’d gotten stuck on in case other dumb clucks like me would find it useful. Thanks to those who laid the previous groundwork for me, and I hope this helps another newbie!

I grabbed a discontinued Excelon KDC-X597 from their outlet store with a much less sexy but infinitely more readable and legible single line display, and installed it yesterday.

Thanks to the person that uploaded this picture, literally worth a thousand words and the most complete and accurate thing you will need to do this job. If you stare at it versus some of the stock diagrams long enough it becomes obvious that the key to separating out the front and rear/subs is cutting and splicing in your wires from the HU to the amp at wires 3,8,9, and 10 on the smaller of the blocks on the amp.

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As I pointed out here https://www.crossfireforum.org/forum/795825-post23.html the nice thing about the Metra 70-1786 harness is that that you can cut the rear RCAs which don't do any good and use them as the basis for the sub pre-out. The best part is that they have already handled the tricky part of stripping and splicing the coax if you cut them off right at the block. Solder a couple of feet of 22 or 24 gauge speaker wire on the end and fish it through the radio opening and you are all set.

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Once you get past cutting into a wire harness deep in the innards of the car, the rest was pretty straightforward. I even found a pretty convenient spot for the mic, once I got the Homelink module pried out and reset.

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It...sounds...fabulous! Stock speakers and amp are much improved and the built in crossover in the HU makes a grand difference. Loving the Bluetooth for my phone, and the AUX and USB in. Maybe I’ll go for some new speakers in a few months after I blow these up by rockin’ too loud with the top down at 75!

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