For those who would like to keep your stock deck and run an amp and keep your dash controls, this last weekend I wired my stock deck with a 4 channel amp and installed a subwoofer and the car kicks hard. I kept all the dash controls and used the front faders to control the front speakers and the rear fader controls the subs. So I can control my bass, treble and faders to get the perfect sound. Absolute no engine noise or distortion. No cutting off the stock harness. Total cost of entire system: $165
Total time for the whole system: 3-4 hrs

Things needed for the job:

4 channel high/low pass ($40) (don't go cheap!)
Honda male harness part #04320-S84-999AH(99+ Honda) ($30)
Aftermarket stereo female harness (99+ Honda) ($10)
Solder (to connect dash control wire)
4 channel RCA wire (had from old system)
speaker wires (had from old system)
4 channel amp (had from old system)
subwoofer (had from old system)
box ($80)
grill ($5)

I was surprised how easy the job was and I could probably wire a S2000 in about 2 hours with the knowledge I now have. My whole system cost me about the price of a aftermarket deck and I was able to keep my controls and have a stock look. I had a box installed with a 10" sub where my tool kit was and moved the jack inside the spare tire. The box sits flush and speaker protected with a grill. This is a quality set up with a minimal cost. The car sounds clean and undistorted. Best of all, keep your controls without the mess of infared remote. Keep your stock front speakers, don't waste money on speakers. The S2000 speakers sound great. My theory: with a good amp stock speakers can sound great-trust me on this on. If you have an amp, RCA wires, speaker wires, and subwoofer laying around or can get one for cheap, your whole system can be very inexpensive.

 

Sounds like a good idea, but I think the total price is a little deciving... cause when I read it, I was thinking, "man what kind of amp did he use?".

-Shing

 

I used a ADS amp I had in my other system. My total cost of the system was pretty low because I already had some stuff from my old car. As for the hardware to convert your deck, you shouldn't have to spend.

 

hey yunhokim,

sorry i'm a little bit of a newbie with this stuff. i have some equipment from my old integra that i want to throw in the s2k, but i'm a little curious as to how the wiring works with the stock head unit.

i would assume that you would unplug the factory harness, and plug the male into it. at that point, you would plug the female harness into the factory head unit? then, you would solder the dash control leads to the aftermarket female harness? is it possible to connect rca cables ( from the amp ) to the aftermarket female harness?

where did you get the aftermarket harness... can you get something like this at any car stereo shop, or is this something you have to order from crutchfield?

thanks, sorry about all the questions!

 

Ned Wilson:

With an aftermarket deck, you will lose the dash controls. So, it is nice to run your stock deck which will keep your dash control. Here's how it works: You need to buy a Honda harness from the dealership(a 99-01 Accord harness will work)(see part # on first post) this is a male harness. You will need to buy a female aftermarket harness(Honda 99-01, any stereo place). You have a male harness coming out of your car which you plug the aftermarket harness into. With the male harness you purchased, you plug it into your S2000 deck. Wire all the power and ground wires, except the speaker wires. Now that you have the new factory harness coming out of the deck, you now have sets of wires for the front and rear speakers. Since you don't have rear speakers, the subwoofer will act as your rear speakers. You will need to purchase a 4 channel high/low pass which will allow you to have RCA outputs for an amp. So you wire the speaker wires coming out from your new deck harness into the high/low pass and get 2 sets of RCA outputs that would go into your amp and from your amp send the front speaker wires back to the aftermarket female harness that at this time was unconnected. And send the rear speaker wires to you subwoofer. Now from your deck you can control the faders for your front speakers, and you rear speakers(subwoofer). Two things you NEED to do: Your new male harness doesn't come with a dash remote wire, this is where you will need to solder a wire on actual pin on your deck and run it to your original male harness(you can use a wire tap to tap into that wire). Solder a thin wire first and then you can actually plug in the male harness into the deck and run the soldered wire through the empty pin cavity. Next, you will have to do the same with you antenna wire, since the S2000 antenna is powered for cleaner reception, this is done the same way. To turn on your amp(remote), you can run it from the ACC(ignition 12V, with this you amp will always be on as long as you have the ignition on) or like me tap into one of the speaker wires(gives 6V, enough to turn on your amp, this way you amp is only turned on when your stereo is turned on. Tap into one of the rear speaker wires to avoid engine noise). For details to which pin is what and where you need to solder, refer to the wiring diagram on the harness packaging or actual print on the harness. May sound complicating, but with a little stereo knowledge, this process is actually as easy as wiring a aftermarket deck. Hope it was informative, let me know where which part may be confusing.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by yunhokim
[B]Ned Wilson:

 

thanks guys... i'm going to give this a shot this weekend. i'm probably going to run two seperate amps, the ones i have have built in cross overs. and if i get adventurous, i can put some rear speakers in behind the seats, one of the amps i have is a four channel. if i can rustle up a digital camera, i'll try and post pictures of the install.

 

You don't need to lose the dash controls with an aftermarket deck...there are two main options:

1) If you don't feel comfortable connecting several wires to each other, order Pinky's plug-and-play solution. It's a PAC SWI-3 unit and relay pre-wired into your wiring harness...you send him the harness and he wires it up for you (cost $150 + S/H).

2) Look on my webpage for instructions on how to order/install your own PAC SWI-3 and relay (cost about $50).