I just bought a Kenwood KDC-X994 head unit from aphex4000. Wondering how complicated this would be to install myself..I have installed systems in plenty of other cars but am yet to remove an interior panel on my s2k. Would I be better off doing this myself or bringing it to an audio shop?

 

There was a excellent AP2 install guide on S2ki here, but all the images appear to be down now. There is a guide for AP1s on a different site, linked here. If this isn't your first stereo install, you should not have any problems.

 

Definitely better to do it yourself - it's very easy, and you know it will be done right.
Someone who has done it before can literally do it in 10 minutes, so even if it takes you
multiple times that, it's still quick.
If you want your dash controls to work, you'll need a dash control interface (DCI).
Modifry's DCI is the best, and he also sells a plug&play harness for Kenwood which
will make your install even easier (no splicing).

 

^^This. Easy to do, even for a novice. The DCI is something you will have to get if you want to use those controls.

Good luck!

 

The hardest part of the install is getting the wires to lay back enough to slide the deck in. I just used the stock mounting hardware instead of the supplied stuff with the sleeve. Super easy on the s.

 

Screeeeeech. Encountered a couple 'problems'.

Well, my car has aftermarket door speakers and tweeters wired to an amp in the trunk. I was aware of this of course, but thought I could figure things out. Well I got the factory HU out no prob, and pulled out a mess of wires that I couldnt even start to decipher.Its been awhile since I've installed a head unit so I'm hoping you guys could help me out.

Instead of there being only an antenna cord and the factory harness as was expected, there was all kind of nonsense I didnt recognize. A thick purple wire coming out of nowhere spliced into some weird plastic thing which had a small red/white wire spliced into the other side of it, a 'PAC SNI-8'(which I found out is used to convert amperage so an amp can be used with factory HU) that has the two RCA's plugged in one side and the other side wired into the factory harness along with some wires coming from the tweeters im guessing, and also none of the wires on the factory harness seemed to match up with the colors of the wires on the harness that came with the Kenwood HU.

Am I totally missing out on something here or are things really as complicated as they seem? Can anyone shed some light on this?

 

Any chance you can take a few pictures of the mess of wires so we can get a better idea of what's what? The big concern is over whether the factory wires have been cut instead of using an adapter.

 

Seems like the factory wires HAVE been cut. I'll see if I can upload a pic or two sometime today.

 

Posting photos on behalf of OP...





I couldn't find the SNI-8 on the Pac-Audio website, but was able to find the SNI-15. The SNI-8 appears to be a 5:1 converter which takes the amplified signal from the factory head unit down and sends them back out through RCAs. What I don't understand from the photos is why there are two sets of connections coming off the the green/black, green/yellow, etc...lines from the blue factory stereo connector. It looks like the stereo signals from the stereo are going to two separate places, one set amplified and one not. Can you answer the following questions?

1. What model amplifier(s) is/are installed in your AP1?

2. if the amp is multi-channel, are there more than one amplified signal coming out or just one bridged signal?

3. is there a subwoofer installed?

4. do you have headrest speakers installed?

You will definitely need a Honda stereo adapter to connect to the Kenwood plug to avoid cutting more factory wires. A DCI is optional if you want to retain the dash controls.

 

1. What model amplifier(s) is/are installed in your AP1? Kenwood KAC 7251 800w Bridgeable

2. If the amp is multi-channel, are there more than one amplified signal coming out or just one bridged signal? Seems to be one bridged connection but now that I look, this amp seems to be wired VERY different from what I've seen before(I'm guessing because it was wired directly into a factory HU) so I'm not really sure if what I'm seeing is bridged or not. I'll email you a picture of it and you can upload if youd like aphex.

3. Is there a subwoofer installed? No subs. Only aftermarket door speakers and aftermarket tweeters.

4. Do you have headrest speakers installed? No, only aftermarket door speakers and aftermarket tweeters.