doh!

at least the savings is a bonus. just make sure it's a 'good' installer and not one of the slackers...

 

It seems to me that most of the hard work is done. Why not just finish it yourself?

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by ruexp67
[B]It seems to me that most of the hard work is done.

 

Good Answer!

 

bump -- did you ever get it all installed?

 

PJK3,

As a matter of fact, everything is installed and working like a champ. I will try to get some time this weeked to take some photos. I want to pull the door panel(s) off to see the job the installer did with the crossovers. Otherwise, the amp is mounted vertically in the trunk, yet there is plenty of room to get to the spare tire.

Now I'm in the midst of replacing the radio in my Avalon. WHAT A PITA!!!! The CD player decided to blow a transistor in the output stage (line-out). The cost to fix it would be between $150 - $200; I could pick up another Alpine CDA-9813 for $336 and be ahead of the game. However, it took me the better part of 5 days to find where Toyota had placed the amplifier (neither my Hayes Service manual or Toyota's computers had it correctly noted). I finally found it sitting behind the glove box, thanks to a simple search through Google.com. Now all me attention is fixing this before I take a trip to Florida at the end of the month; I will be driving the Avalon down, as my Dad is telling me I will have a lot to drive back with, and the S2000 just won't have enough storage capacity.

 

i see you posted in the "Stereo Installs" thread...


and aaaggghh... bummer. those factory systems with outboard amps are always a big hassle to work on... major irritation trying to figure out what they are doing and then working around it...

 

I'm taking the Avalon in to be worked on this afternoon. Looks like they will have to hook up the new head unit manually, as there are no harnesses available for my car. Good news: I don't have to pay for a harness. Bad news: It will cost me more to manually install then the harness would have cost. At least the installer will "tie" into the harness so I can slap the old radio in when I sell it (maybe in a couple of years - I hope longer, as I have to pay off the S2000 first).

 

hrm. -- i thought i responded to this at some point...


did you try contacting Crutchfield?
they sometimes offer harnesses that no one else does, that specifically tie into unusual factory setups...

 

Crutchfield does not carry a harness for this car. Apparently, the "premium sound" (i.e., amplifier) is what is causing the installation issues.

However, as noted in another thread (don't remember which one right now), my installer did find that one of his harness suppliers/manufacturers does have a new harness just for this car, and it is now on order. The only issue is that we will need to tie in the line-out's from the radio (yes, another Alpine CDA-9813) to the factory harness, as we will continue to use the factory amplifier. We will put RCA plugs onto the harness so we can pull the radio out easier later.

Wish me luck, as this is all supposed to happen on Friday, assuming the harness shows up on time.