I have a base Xfire, trying to add some more sound to the crappy stock radio set up. I bought the base for the roadster, didn't want leather because I leave top down constantly, and do not car for the silver accents on the fins, door handles, and around windshield. I screwed myself because the stock radio sucks!!! Does anybody know what I can do? Should I add an amp? Is there a current amp? There are holes for the subs behind seats, but they are more oval than round??? Any advice would be great, thanks, I already added an ///Alpine iPod ready deck, sound quality is good up till volume 22, then no base??? I blew the driver side door woofer??? Are the speakers that crappy they cant handle volume, or did I do something???
Thanks everyone.

 

Thanks Peter, that clears things up!

 

what no one else stock slide locks broke when they were trying to remove the original??? lol i had to use a heavy dental pick tool and hook and stick that inside the cd player hook the guts and rip it out lol. oh btw does anyone want to buy a slightly used stock stereo with a couple scratches, lmfao.

 

Ok, not to sound stupid, but I've searched every which way by sunday and under YOUR user name and can't find this mysterious post you mention about how to run my Clarion's 5 Volt RCA outs to the factory amp...

I want to be able to control the subs independently from the fronts. Could you please post a link?

I have one of these from a previous installation in a Celica with the factory JBL amp. It allowed me to run my Clarion RCA Outputs into the JBL amp. I would guess this would work, just need to know how to wire it.

 

As an FYI... I just purchased a Pioneer Premier DEH-P790BT today... pics forthcoming on how it looks in the XFire

 

You will have to run new wires to your fronts or your subs and add an amp to have control of the subs independently. The stock set up only has two (left/right) sets of wires to the factory amp. The amp sends the lows to the rear (subs) and everything else to the front (door) speakers. You can use the speaker level front outputs of your "new" head unit to the factory amp for the door speakers and install an amp and sub in the rear if you need DEEP base. Install you new head unit, Use the speaker level outputs and check out how it sounds. An aftermarket head unit will make the stock amp/speakers sound MUCH better than the stock head unit.

 

Ok, so what is all this talk about running RCA pre-outs the factory amp then??? Should I just use Line level converters? The ones that convert a speaker lead to an RCA lead? That would make sense to me. And that IS what is pictured above...

 

I don't think you will really gain anything if you use the line converters. Just use the speaker level outputs.

 

peter,

I am doing my install this weekend and am still up in the air as to whether to go with RCA level inputs.

Some basic facts to assist:

Installing Pioneer Premier DEH-790BT (4.0V RCA pre-out), a Rockford-Fosgate 180Wx1 amp and 10" sub.

From what I gather from some of your other posts, the factory amp actually has sets of front and sub RCA inputs. If I got the VW wiring harness with the RCA connections as opposed to the speaker level outputs, I could then utilize the factory amp's RCA inputs for improved sound quality and get control of the factory subs (rear speakers).

Could I send the deck's front RCA pre-outs to the front RCA input of the factory amp, send the rear RCA pre-outs to the sub RCA input of the factory amp, and the non-fading RCA pre-out to the RCA input of my RF amp? Since I am installing an additional sub, is this really better than just leaving the control of all factory speakers joined and just dropping the bass way down?

If I did do this, how easy it is to access the factory amp to do this? Also, peter you mention you think the factory amp is crap and someone else mentions that using the aforementioned set up may lose some DSP features of the amp. Is this really an advisable set up, or if I did want to do this should I buy a new 4 channel amp?

I've seen more than a few folks mention running the RCA patch cables to the aftermarket amp through the center console - but I can't seem to located a thread that actually talks about how to do this. Anyone got insight? Is there a better/easier place to do this?

The lead turn on wire for the amp... this connects from the deck's harness to the amp?

I'm also installing a Sirius Sportster, is there a way to hardwire the power to avoid using the cigarette lighter plug? Would I hardwire to the cigarette lighter, or splice into the power to the deck?

Thanks in advance all.

Scott

 

Ok, to make a long story short. Last night I was installing my headunit in the SRT-6. I wired everything up as described in the how-to and that went fine. The radio works perfect and looks great with the dash. The problem is with the "sleeve" that you slide the headunit into. The sleeve obviously has little tabs that are supposed to be used to secure the sleeve in the dash opening... Well this particular one has NO TABS that line up with any of the of the Dash opening. The opening is COMPLETELY smooth except for where the factory radio locks to it. In the How-To it's mentioned that there is a place at the top of the opening that can be used for these tabs, but no dice here. So basically, the Headunit is just kinda sitting there and wont stay in the dash. Not to mention you can pull it right out with no effort. I took it a stereo shop near where I work, and they couldn't help either. I would try a different sleeve, but it has to be one specific to this headunit because of the way it locks into it...

Has anyone else had this problem?

 

Just wanted to follow up on this for anyone looking to install the Pioneer head units with the iPod control cable. I found that the cable is a bit too thick to fit through the hole the original poster pointed out at the side of the glovebox opening, but I discovered while working on how to route the cable that the opening for the glovebox light also gives easy access to the back of the stereo.

This isn't for the really faint of heart, but it's not terribly difficult and I got a really nice, clean install by popping out the light housing and taking my dremel to the back side of it to make an opening to route the cable through. By putting it on the back side, it doesn't mess with the aesthetics when you open the glove box unless you stick your head in the glovebox to look at it. The added benefit to putting it through the light housing is that the cable drops directly into the glovebox instead of routing around the side and potentially interfering with the closing action. Then I simply pulled the cable over to the stereo, hooked it up, and now my iPod stays securely locked inside my glovebox when I park.

When I first got my XFire I was planning on stripping out the factory audio system and doing a whole new setup. In the past 3 weeks I've done a new head unit (Pioneer DEH-P7900BT), bass blockers in the doors (scosche 200Hz), and the iPod cable that goes with the head unit. I could not possibly be happier with the results. Now I'm not sure I even want to bother with replacing the factory speakers and amp!

 

Ok guys, I'm lost. Here's the skinny:

I picked up an '04 xFire and the factory oem Becker head was replaced with a Panasonic CQ-C8100U (50w x 4, am/fm/cd). It appeared the rear speakers weren't working.

I downloaded the stereo pinouts and the audio diagram from this site, then I tore into the xFire, removing the glove box and looking for the xFire amplifier which I understood was under the passenger floorboard. When I pulled up the passenger floor mat, etc., all I found was a huge aluminum box that looked like it had more to do with airbags and other circuits but not audio. (I should have taken photos in hindsight).

What I did discover was that only the Panasonic head front amplifier outputs were connected to the yellow and yellow/violet wires in the dash which seemed to match the audio diagram pdf found on this site. At this point being frustrated and tired, I buttoned the whole mess back up.

I went back to the Panasonic head unit and poked around all the sub-menus and found a HPF rolloff set to 135Hz so I disabled that and voila - the rear speakers started roaring bass. however, since only the front outputs of the Panasonic are being utilized, I have no way of balancing front to rear volume using the fader control on the Panansonic head unit. (Gee, is this a novel or what?)

I found an OEM xFire radio on eBay with pics and the rear outputs match the stereo pinout jpg I downloaded from this site further confusing me since I thought the stereo pinout jpg was for a separate amplifier under the passenger floorboard, but apparently that is NOT the case at all ???

So the question is: IF the amplifier circuit from the diagram on this site is actually incorporated into the oem becker headunit, what does that amp circuit diagram have to do with the actual speaker wiring and where (and what's the color coding) are the actual rear speakers? Further, are the rear speakers coaxial as well? Four wires to each rear speaker would indicate that: +/- pair for low end and +/- pair for high end.

If I can get a handle on this I could use the rear outputs of the Panasonic head unit thus enabling me to have a front/rear fader control (my lips to God's ears!)

Anybody got a good handle on this?

 

OK, I found a buch of stuff out today by tearing back into the passenger floorboard area today. If you want to see my findings chek this link:

https://www.crossfireforum.org/forum...ht=channel+amp

Let me know if you find anything different or new . . .

 

stupid question...

my pioneer after market stereo harness' black wire has a "U" shaped attachment. do i still need to connect the black wire from the Scosche harness to it? if so should i just cut and toss the "U" shaped attachment?

thanks

 

Spankgo, I tried to reply to your PM on this, but the system said that you had your profile set to not receive PMs. I sold my Crossfire about a year and a half ago (I am now happily modifying an FJ Cruiser and a Ducati Multistrada in my free time), but I will still do my best to help. I am guessing that you read the walkthrough that I put together before. This was on an '04 Crossfire. I doubt the wiring has changed since though. Be sure that you have your wires connected properly. I went over the switches that you need to make in my original post. If I remember correctly I had the same issue which I resolved when I flipped the constant power and the switched power leads. Hope this helps.

Best,
Matt

 

I just installed a JVC aftermarket head unit using the Scosche VW01B adapter. The instructions on this thread state the remote (amp) on/off wire should be attached to the harness' blue wire. The harness I received has no blue wire. The instructions state the aux amp wire is orange/white. I connectted it but don't hear any bass from the rear speakers.

 

Has anyone else encountered a situation where they need two antenna adapter cables?

I've got a Blaupunkt, and it appears I'll need the euro-to-motorola (aka universal) male, and the universal female-to-blaupunkt port.

 

I did - when I was using the factory unit with the Drive+Play. I had to get from the antenna to the Drive+PLay, then from the Drive+Play to the Head Unit. But that was because the Drive+PLay was U.S. antenna connectors (one male, one female).

I would think you'd just need one. Maybe you have two different ones each only has one correct end on it.

When I put in my Pioneer, I just needed one - from the antenna Euro, to the head unit U.S.

Not sure any of this really helps you though...

 

Actually, it did come with that second adapter. I just found it now - one of my kids wandered off with it!
Now if I could just figure out why it is stuck on "telephone".

 

Is there anywhere else in this world where they will sell the keys to remove the headunit besides crutchfield?? Im wanting to install some stuff today and don't want to wait a week to get the keys from crutchfield. But I've looked everywhere and nobody carries them it seems like. HELP!