Quick deck question.

[Sl1dewaysSupra]

Ok, when I bought my Supra it already had an Alpine CDM-7835 installed. I have a Kenwood KDC-X579 that I like much better. Can I just swap them or do I need a harnes or any adaptors? Thanks for the help.

[Clip]

youll have to solder a new harness. easy stuff, wiring harnesses should be at walmart for like 10 bucks. if you were switching from alpine to alpine, then you might have a chance that the plugs would be the same (if they were around the same time period). since you're switching brands, i think you need to change harnesses too.

[Sl1dewaysSupra]

What do you mean? Like extending wires and such?

[Sl1dewaysSupra]

Cool, I will check the Wal this weekend for the harness. Should I just look for one of those "fits Toyota" things?

[Clip]

yeah, fits toyota. as for extending wires, theres no need. your alpine should already have a soldered harness thatll go from deck to wires (alpine-specific plug) to the supra specific plugs. just unplug the alpine-supra harness and wire your kenwood harness to the new (walmart) supra plugs. with the length of wire, you won't need to extend anything.

have you wired one up before?

[Sl1dewaysSupra]

Nope.

[annoyingrob]

Cool, I will check the Wal this weekend for the harness. Should I just look for one of those "fits Toyota" things?
The kenwood radio is going to have a bunch of loose wires hanging off the back. What you have to do is go grab a Toyota Wiring harness from somewhere, which has the Toyota connectors on one end to plug into your stock wiring harness, and has some loose wires on the other half which you wire into the loose wires on the back of your kenwood unit. The reason for this is so you don't have to hack up the stock wiring.

Your Alpine radio probably has a Toyota harness you can cut off, and re-attach to your kenwood unit.

[Clip]

are you saying the kenwood is permanently attached to the wires? all receivers ive seen have separate plugs in the back of the receiver.

just take the plugs out, solder the wires (they're all color coded using the same basic scheme) and make sure to put some shrinktube over your connections before you solder (cut some shrinktube maybe 3/4s of an inch, slide over the wire and as far away from heat as possible)

[Sl1dewaysSupra]

Thanks guys, I will take the stero out Friday or Saturday and see what I can make of it.

[CRE]

It's not a bad job whether you're soldering it straight in or using an adapter. If you need any help let me know.

[Sl1dewaysSupra]

One more question before I start taking stuff apart. Can I re-use the Alpine's mounting brackets?

[Sl1dewaysSupra]

The kenwood radio is going to have a bunch of loose wires hanging off the back. What you have to do is go grab a Toyota Wiring harness from somewhere, which has the Toyota connectors on one end to plug into your stock wiring harness, and has some loose wires on the other half which you wire into the loose wires on the back of your kenwood unit. The reason for this is so you don't have to hack up the stock wiring.

Your Alpine radio probably has a Toyota harness you can cut off, and re-attach to your kenwood unit.

The Kenwood just has plugs in the back.

[CRE]

The Kenwood should have come with pigtails (plugs which slide into the sockets on the back). If you don't have them you'll need to order a pair.

The Alpine should be mounted using the Supra's stock brackets. Yes, you'll need them to mount the Kenwood.

[Sl1dewaysSupra]

Let me look at the Kenwood in a second and see if it has said pigtails.

[Sl1dewaysSupra]

It does have pig tails and plugs, so I think all I need to get is a harness.

[CRE]

The harness everyone's referring to is an adapter which has plugs that connect directly to the stock stereo's plugs... if the Alpine is connected with such a harness you can just reuse it, if not you're either going to be soldering/crimping the Kenwood harness to the bare wires where the stock plugs used to be or you'll need to replace the stock plug first.


EDIT: so, either way, you shouldn't need to buy anything.

[Sl1dewaysSupra]

Thanks for the clarifacation, Only one way to find out right?

[CRE]

Yup! Only takes a minute. Wiring it up should be real quick too.

[Sl1dewaysSupra]

Let's hope so, I'm electricly challanged to say the least. If you cant tell yet.

[CRE]

Well, like I said, if you need any help with it let me know.

[Sl1dewaysSupra]

Will do.

[Sl1dewaysSupra]

OK, I decided that I might as well buy some new speakers(at least the fronts.). The fronts are 4" right? What are the back? My car is an 87. What is the PITA factor for replacing the rears? Any particular OHM setting?(4,8 etc.)

[Clip]

rears are definitely easier than fronts, and i believe the correct ohmage is 4.

if you're talking about the speakers at the corners of the hatch, then yes (not too hard). ive never had to worry about the ones under the rear seatbelts (next to the rear seats).

should be 4" all around, but it made a jump in 90, 91, or 92. someone know the exact year?

[CRE]

The rears are not 4", they're 4.5". 4" speakers will fit, IIRC. Or, if you're feeling industrious, some people have managed to shoe horn in 5.25" speakers.

The fronts are 4", unless you feel like making a couple mounts and dropping in 6.5"s. The front speakers are cake, I think more people actually have trouble with the rears.

Clip's right, the best impedance for you system is most likely 4Ω. Your headunit should be able to handle 2Ω as well, but 4Ω is more common... on occasion you'll find 8Ω speakers in an automotive system.

[Sl1dewaysSupra]

I just got back from Best Buy and the car audio guy looked the sizes up on the comp. They are 4" up front and 5.25" rear, he suggested 6x9. I just bought a harness (just in case I DO need it.) and new front speakers.

Edit: I think the speakers jumped in 91 for Toyotas higher end stero opition.

[CRE]

The 5.25 rears aren't for pre89. That much I'm positive about.

EDIT: Oh, and 89+ had an optional 6 speaker system (I believe that's the one that had 5.25" in spots next to the rear seats.), the 6.5" fronts came later.

[Sl1dewaysSupra]

UPDATE: Installed the deck and speakers with no big problems. The only problem I did run into was the installer of the Alpine hacked the harness to pieces. Other than that it only took me a couple of hours with a few smoke/ cleaning breaks. I just want to thank all of you who posted in this thread for helping me and getting me the info I needed. I really apreciate it guys.

[CRE]

Excellent! Next time you'll get the job done in half the time. ;)

So, which model Kenwood did you install?

Oh, and did the 5.25" speakers fit in the rear?

[Sl1dewaysSupra]

I decided to just get the front speakers this go around. I will either do 5.25's or 6x9's in a box. Here are the specs on the deck. http://www.crutchfield.com/S-cYPk0VghuZB/cgi-bin/prodview.asp?I=113KDCX579&search=Kenwood+KDCX579 It is a couple years old already, I had it put in my old Saturn and took it out when I sold it. It is now in the Supra and it sounds a million times better than the old deck and speakers.

[Turbo. Targa. Life.]

Please, PLEASE, for the love of God do us all a favor and don't put speaker boxes and 6x9's back there! Multiple reasons follow:
1.) They look tacky as fuck
2.) Oval speakers create more distortion
3.) They look tacky as fuck
4.) 6x9's make this fake bass sound *barf*
5.) Did I mention they look tacky as fuck?

:D

[Sl1dewaysSupra]

Please, PLEASE, for the love of God do us all a favor and don't put speaker boxes and 6x9's back there! Multiple reasons follow:
1.) They look tacky as fuck
2.) Oval speakers create more distortion
3.) They look tacky as fuck
4.) 6x9's make this fake bass sound *barf*
5.) Did I mention they look tacky as fuck?

:D

Yeah, I don't like the idea of speakers in a box floating around in my car. I will stick with the 5.25 speakers.

[Turbo. Targa. Life.]

well, generally speaking, the speaker enclosures get screwed down somewhere, so they aren't just floating around; this doesn't change the fact that they look tacky though :D

In all honesty bro, take all the money you would've spent on the rear-4 speakers and put it all into a set of front speakers, preferably components :)

Explanation here, too lazy to type it all out:
http://www.supramania.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33704

[Sl1dewaysSupra]

I already bought decent front speakers. I don't need a killer loud and bumpin system. Mainly because I am not driving my Supra a ton. I just wanted an up grade over the old Alpine and old blown kicker speakers.

[Turbo. Targa. Life.]

Oh, I didn't realize you had already bought the front speakers...oh well, should've bought components :-p

[Sl1dewaysSupra]

UPDATE: My deck died today, playing a CD and the screen just said "Mecha error" so a new deck is in order. Less than a week in the Supra and it's gone. I think it was the crazy temps we were at last night(-20ish). Oh well, such is life I guess.

[Turbo. Targa. Life.]

*cough buy an alpine or a pioneer cough*

[Sl1dewaysSupra]

*cough Kenwood pwns cough* LOL.

[CRE]

I've gotta say that I love my Kenwood. I've owned a bunch of different brands of decks in my time and the Kenwood is one of the few that I wouldn't trade.... Most of the others were okay, and I'll NEVER buy another Sony deck.

Sorry to hear your deck died Sl1deways... I wouldn't be surprised at all if the temps here lately had something to do with it... or perhaps the wicked condensation I've been seeing. If it's a mechanical problem (such as the grease freezing and causing too much resistance for a servo to operate) you may be able to fix it. That is, if it's worth the trouble to you.

[Sl1dewaysSupra]

At this point I think it will be better to buy a new Kenwood and just plug it in to the old Kenwoods plug. I think it is a servo or the infared eye that mabey froze?

[CRE]

FYI, Kenwood changed their plug configuration a while ago and I think they may have done it again just recently... it's certainly worth a look though. The change I'm thinking of could just be for the Aux/extension port.

[Sl1dewaysSupra]

Let's hope so.

[Turbo. Targa. Life.]

yeck...I've hated every kenwood deck I've ever played with. The ONLY decks I would even buy anymore would be the older alpines (7998 w00t), some of the newer eclipses (8v preouts anyone?), and possibly POSSIBLY the 07 lineup of the Pioneers (VERY aesthetically pleasing.

[Sl1dewaysSupra]

Just ordered this tonight.http://www.crutchfield.com/S-C3Ar3QP32BH/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=300&I=113KDCX790 It has all I need.

[annoyingrob]

yeck...I've hated every kenwood deck I've ever played with. The ONLY decks I would even buy anymore would be the older alpines (7998 w00t), some of the newer eclipses (8v preouts anyone?), and possibly POSSIBLY the 07 lineup of the Pioneers (VERY aesthetically pleasing.
I dont know, I'm a Pioneer fanboy myself personally. I run an 02 model Pioneer, and it's a perfect HU for me. Has tons of useful features, plus doesn't have "steal me" written all over it. Although those new DEH-P880PRS units like mighty tempting. I hear you can set them up as active crossovers, and have low, mid, and high rca outputs. That sells me right there.