The SVX Sound Install Experience [Archive]

kastle

01-13-2002, 11:39 PM

If you're reading this page, you're probably aware that installing an aftermarket
stereo in a Subaru SVX is not a prospect to be taken lightly. Don't get
me wrong, it's not that it's a bad thing to do, it's just finding the information
you might need for the install is not that easy to come by. Hopefully I'll
remedy that situation with this page I'm writing to detail my experiences
with installing an after-market stereo in my 95 SVX lately. An install
that, by the way, ended up taking the better part of three days simply
because finding the right information is not easy.

Okay... first a little background. My SVX is a wonderful beastie...
in case you've come directly here you can  <a HREF="../Gavin/car-svx.html">click
here</a> to go to my dedicated SVX page where I wax lyrically about it
for some time, complete with some nice pictures of said vehicle. I'm trying
to keep it relatively up-to-date with the ownership experience to date
as well. Anyhoo... I've said since I got it that the stereo was functional,
though hardly state of the art (Matsushita badged... so probably produced
by Panasonic). The main reasons I wanted to get rid of it were that I wanted
more expandability (preamp outputs for future development) and I wanted
a CD-player rather than the tape I had. Come on, how many people out there
can honestly say they still use tapes for all their music? In retrospect
I probably should've just bought a CD-changer I could interface with the
existing stereo through FM radio... but I find these somewhat annoying
at times when interference occurs. Besides, it wouldn't have been nearly
as much fun <img SRC="../Gavin/Images/little.gif" ALT=":-)" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="16">

Choosing a stereo.. well that's your own personal choice. I personally
chose a  <a HREF="http://www.sony.com">Sony</a> <a HREF="../Gavin/cdx-c760.html">CDX-C760 </a>
that was on sale at Best Buy.
One of its nicer features is an included remote that screws into the side
of your steering column (or wherever you want it) that controls all of
the features of the stereo without having to push buttons on the faceplate.
Nice if you want to keep your eyes on the road too rather than looking
at your stereo all the time. It came with the "stereo-end" of the wiring
harness. "Cool," I figured, "all I need to do now is find the other end
of the harness to go into the existing wiring... splice them together with
some connectors from Radio Shack and I'm flying!" This turned out to be
the bug-bear... but we'll get to that soon. Anyway, when I purchased the
stereo I deliberately checked the parts books for the appropriate wiring
harness. Sure enough there was an SVX listed... even a part number for
the harness. Great. They had them in stock too... fantastic! I paid $15
for it (ouch!), but figured it would make my life so much easier...


<hr WIDTH="100%">
<center>1. The Physical Install </center>

Okay, the physical install wasn't really all that bad, but here's the instructions
for those of you wanting to do this yourself. First a disclaimer though;
this install was done on a 1995 SVX... though the install will probably
be virtually identical for a 94-97 SVX, 92-93 may be slightly different.
Please if anyone has any info on what might be different, please let me
know.

Well, now that's out of the way here we go.

Tools Required
<ul>
<li>
Flat-bladed screwdriver (small)</li>

<li>
Phillips screwdriver (mid-size is best)</li>

<li>
Wire clippers... the sharper the better</li>

<li>
OPTIONAL: solderless connectors and crimping tool</li>

<li>
OPTIONAL: cordless soldering iron and solder</li>
</ul>
Parts Required
<ul>
<li>
Car antenna cable Y-adapter</li>

<li>
2ft antenna extension cable (recommended but optional)</li>

<li>
Insulating tape to clean up the connections</li>

<li>
2x car antenna plugs (if you can't get these, improvise... I did)</li>

<li>
Aftermarket stereo and suitable wiring harness (obviously)</li>
</ul>

<ul>Removing the factory stereo is not that hard. I'll hopefully have some
pictures up here soon detailing the install... but for now just bear with
me and try to visualize.
<ul>
<li>
First open the door covering the stereo housing. Manually pull it up a
little from the resting point, get a firm grip around the black trim-piece
that's inside the door and carefully pull it off. It just snaps on and
off so that shouldn't be too much of a problem.</li>

<li>
Second, you'll see a screw (maybe two, mine had one) at the bottom of the
bezel that goes around the stereo housing. Remove it, then use a pair of
needle-nose pliers to grab the edge of the bezel and gently pull it out.
Apart from that one screw there's nothing else holding it on. It might
get caught on the bottom of the environmental controls... just try to wiggle
it free.</li>

<li>
Once removed you'll see two screws at the top of the stereo housing. Remove
these also. At this point you might want to remove the ashtray as this
will make the rest of this install easier.</li>

<li>
Close the door that covers the stereo... this is important as it's attached
to the physical stereo housing. Reach in through the hole opened up by
the ashtray and gently pull the door toward you. When it moves slightly
forward, stick your keys in the ignition and turn to "ACC". Pull the parking
brake on and put the car in neutral. If you don't then the stereo won't
come out (the shifter gets in the way). You might want to keep the doors
of the car closed with the windows open here... the beeping will drive
you nuts otherwise (unless you pull the fuse). Reach back in through the
ashtray hole and you should feel a metal lip pulled slightly aware from
a cross-bar that the stereo attaches to. You might want to use this to
continue pulling the stereo out as it's more sturdy than the plastic door!
Cautionary note: the mechanism for the door has a tendency to catch
a piece of the grey trim that folds around the main housing. You can use
a flat-bladed screwdriver to push it out of the way if this occurs.</li>

<li>
Once you've got the housing out you'll find that it maybe only pulls about
an inch away from the dash. This is because the antenna cables are pretty
short and don't have  a lot of slack on them. Use the wire-clippers
to snip both antenna cables. They're soldered into the stereo... not my
fault, blame Subaru. Try to snip them as close to the stereo as you can...
you're going to need the length to work with. You can pull the plug out
of the back of the stereo at this point. You should now be able to pull
the entire enclosure free of the car.</li>

<li>
There are four screws that hold the stereo in the metal frame. Remove these
and slide the stereo out. Get your after-market stereo and put this into
the metal frame where the old one used to be... use the same 4 screw-holes
but you'd be better off using any screws supplied with your stereo than
trying to use the ones that were in the old one... they probably won't
fit. You may have to make some modifications to the plastic face so it'll
fit into the space... remember the first plastic bezel you removed fits
rather tightly onto the factory stereo... the new one will have to be the
same size to fit comfortably. If you have an amp or something to install
in the spare space in the frame you can do it now and wire it to the stereo.
Be careful not to let wires work their way outside the frame... the frame
fits rather snugly in the hole.</li>
</ul>
</ul>

<hr WIDTH="100%">
<center>2. The Electrical Connections </center>

Here's where things get sticky. For your reference, know now that there
is currently NO wiring harness available for the 94-97 SVX. 92-93 SVX's
use the same wiring harness as the old Subarus according to what I've read...
apparently the stereos changed between 93 and 94. If somebody wants to
tell me that there IS a wiring harness available, please let me know and
I'll put a note to that effect on this page. I searched for three days
through all the auto-sound dealers in St. Louis, then phoning around a
few nationwide specialists like Crutchfield. It just doesn't seem to exist.
You're going to have to do this the hard way I'm afraid.

I'm assuming for the sake of this document that your stereo came with
a wiring harness to hook it up to the cars wiring. You're also going to
need  the installation instructions and/or color-code sheet of the
wires from the stereo or wiring harness. If your stereo wasn't provided
with one, talk to your stereo dealer, they should be able to get you one
(but it might cost).
<ul> 
<ul>
<li>
Remove the fuse that supplies power to the radio. It's in the fuse-box
by the drivers left leg. It's a 15A fuse.  There's no real risk of
electrocuting yourself... if you're inside the car you're not grounded
so electricity normally won't flow. However, better safe than sorry...
and if you happen to accidentally cross the memory and power wires you
will blow the fuse in all probability. Remove it for safety's sake.</li>

<li>
Compare the pinouts on the connector on the cables to the pinout table
below. If it matches 100% you're flying... if it doesn't I'm afraid you're
on your own. It SHOULD be the same, and the color codes should be the same
too (I got them from a 1994 service bulletin).</li>

<li>
Carefully snip all the wires from the back of the connector and strip the
ends. Take care here not to cross the wires... one of these is still live
and you might blow a speaker. It's only a 12V supply so it won't damage
you, but might damage sensitive equipment. If you're using solderless connectors
like I did, then at this point start crimping connectors on the ends of
the wires too. If your stereos wiring harness already has connectors, compare
with the table below and try to match them up male to female.</li>

<li>
Referencing the following table, plug the wires in according to the instructions
provided with the wiring harness. For example, if your harness instructions
say that the green cable connects to the front-right speaker positive terminal,
then find the wire in the following table connecting to that same terminal
and splice these two together (in this case it's a red wire with a yellow
stripe). Repeat for all the required pins. There are three pins in the
connector that will not be used; a black/red cable, a red one and a pink
one. These can be bundled up together and ignored. The black/red and red
cables connect to the secondary connector that hangs loose in the SVX...
that's meant for the factory CD player and won't be used for after-market
equipment.</li>
</ul>
Table of Connections;
  
  
<center><table BORDER COLS="4" WIDTH="90%" NOSAVE>
<tr ALIGN="CENTER" VALIGN="CENTER" NOSAVE>
<td BGCOLOR="#CCCCCC" NOSAVE>Connection</td>

<td BGCOLOR="#CCCCCC" NOSAVE>Polarity</td>

<td BGCOLOR="#CCCCCC" NOSAVE>Factory Color</td>

<td BGCOLOR="#CCCCCC" NOSAVE>Factory Pin #</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td></td>

<td></td>

<td></td>

<td>
<center> </center>
</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>
<center>Right Rear Speaker</center>
</td>

<td>
<center>+</center>
</td>

<td>
<center>Blue/Yellow</center>
</td>

<td>
<center>1</center>
</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>
<center> </center>
</td>

<td>
<center>-</center>
</td>

<td>
<center>Red/White</center>
</td>

<td>
<center>10</center>
</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>
<center>Left Rear Speaker</center>
</td>

<td>
<center>+</center>
</td>

<td>
<center>White/Red</center>
</td>

<td>
<center>2</center>
</td>
</tr>

<tr NOSAVE>
<td>
<center> </center>
</td>

<td>
<center>-</center>
</td>

<td>
<center>Red/Black</center>
</td>

<td NOSAVE>
<center>11</center>
</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>
<center>Right Front Speaker</center>
</td>

<td>
<center>+</center>
</td>

<td>
<center>Red/Yellow</center>
</td>

<td>
<center>8</center>
</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>
<center> </center>
</td>

<td>
<center>-</center>
</td>

<td>
<center>White/Black</center>
</td>

<td>
<center>19</center>
</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>
<center>Left Front Speaker</center>
</td>

<td>
<center>+</center>
</td>

<td>
<center>Brown/White</center>
</td>

<td>
<center>9</center>
</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>
<center> </center>
</td>

<td>
<center>-</center>
</td>

<td>
<center>Green</center>
</td>

<td>
<center>20</center>
</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>
<center>Earth Connection</center>
</td>

<td>
<center> </center>
</td>

<td>
<center>Black</center>
</td>

<td>
<center>17</center>
</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>
<center>Power Antenna</center>
</td>

<td>
<center> </center>
</td>

<td>
<center>Black/Green</center>
</td>

<td>
<center>18</center>
</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>
<center>Memory Power</center>
</td>

<td>
<center> </center>
</td>

<td>
<center>Blue/Red</center>
</td>

<td>
<center>5</center>
</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>
<center>Primary Power</center>
</td>

<td>
<center> </center>
</td>

<td>
<center>Brown/Red</center>
</td>

<td>
<center>6</center>
</td>
</tr>
</table></center>

<center> Source - Subaru
Service Bulletin circa 1994. Contains updates to service manuals. Converted
to this table 1998 by Gavin Haslett</center>
 </ul>
As we can see from this table (if you're familiar with industry standards
for cabling stereos), this is a far cry from the industry standard. This
is why this has been such a problem install, and what has prompted me to
write this article for those attempting a similar install to mine. Note
that the pinouts are stamped on the plug itself... if the color of the
wire doesn't match the pin listed in the above table then I'm afraid you
may be on your own. These wire colors ARE from Subaru's own documentation
so should be accurate.

You can connect these up in any order you like... it doesn't make any
difference. However, I tend to make sure the earth connection is wired
up first. There's no reason for this... old habits die hard.
<ul> 
<ul>
<li>
Take the two antenna wires and strip them. If you don't know how to strip
coax cable then you might want to get someone else to do this. It's thin
coax so it's also very easy to cut right through without realizing it.
Take the two antenna plugs I mentioned at the top of the document and put
them on the coax cables according to the instructions that are probably
printed on the back of the box. Personally I had trouble finding antenna
plugs, so what I did was get some other coax-connectors (twist type with
strain relief) and got adapters to adapt these plugs to the antenna plugs.
A roundabout way, but it works nicely.</li>

<li>
Get the antenna Y-connector... you can get these from Radio Shack (that's
where I got all the plugs and connectors for my install by the way) for
a couple of bucks, then simply plug the new antenna cables into the Y-connector.
Personally I then put a 2ft antenna extension cable onto the Y-connector.
That was simply because I wanted a bit more slack in the antenna cable
so I could actually get the stereo in there with minimal fuss and bother.
I then used some insulating tape to attach the Y-connector to the back
of the space where the stereo fits. Nice and neat.</li>

<li>
Use some more insulating tape to bind up the cables. Even though your solderless
connections (assuming you used them) probably are already insulated, I
usually tape them up... partly to relieve the strain of the wires and partly
just for safetys sake. You can also use cable-ties to tie the cables up,
or duct tape, or whatever takes your fancy. I simply used the insulating
tape because I had plenty of it. If you soldered your wires together you
might want to get some caps to cover the soldering, or definitely use the
insulating tape to cover them. Personally I prefer solderless connections
because that way it's easily removed and changed out at a later date should
the need/desire arise (for example if your car's wrecked and you want to
take the stereo to your next car). You could then also use some tape to
bind the connections to the back of the space as well if you like... this
keeps them from moving around too much.</li>
</ul>

<hr WIDTH="100%"></ul>

<center>3. The Final Phase </center>

You've completed your physical install in the chassy... you've wired up
your wiring harness (hopefully successfully)... you're now ready for the
fun part; actually putting the stereo in place. This bit is self-explanatory
really... I'm just putting it here for the sake of completeness.
<ul> 
<ul>
<li>
Connect up your cables; namely the antenna cable and the wiring harness.
This should be pretty easy... if it doesn't fit in the back of the stereo
you might have the wrong wiring harness. Also attach any other cables you
need to... such as the cables leading to a CD-changer if you've got one.</li>

<li>
With the car in neutral as described above, slide the housing into the
space being careful not to trap any cables outside the chassy. Personally
I fed excess cable into the empty space below the newly installed stereo.
There's a hole in the bottom of the chassy you can use to manually pull
the cables in while you're installing. If you've also installed an amp
this might be a little more difficult... just improvise. Personally mine
didn't quite fit in perfectly so I had to try a few times. Put the two
upper screws in first. Be careful here... the trim does get in the way
sometimes and it can be awkward. Your needle-nose pliers might come in
handy here.</li>

<li>
Put the bezel back in place. Simply push it on and put the lower screw
in. If it keeps getting caught on the new stereo then you're going to need
to make some minor modifications to the face of the stereo. Personally
all I had to do was break off four plastic pieces designed to hold the
supplied plastic bezel in place. Seeing as the SVX has its own factory
bezel to fit around the double-height frame I didn't need either the supplied
bezel or the mounts. After that it fit like a glove. If you've got a stereo
with a removable face you might want to have it removed throughout this
procedure, it makes it a bit easier.</li>

<li>
Take the little piece you took from inside the door and pop it back into
place. It can be awkward but it will go back on eventually. You can also
put the ashtray back now.</li>

<li>
Your final step is simply to put the fuse back. First put the car in Park,
then turn the ignition off, then you can put the fuse in where you removed
it earlier and close up the fusebox again. Check the manual for your stereo
though; your new unit might need a higher rated fuse than the 15A fuse
already in there.</li>
</ul>
 </ul>
Voila! You have a new stereo system. Next step; simply turn the car to
"ACC" and crank it. If you get sound you're flying... if not then something's
wrong. If you only get sound on one side of the car, chances are one of
your connectors came loose as you were pushing the stereo in.
<ul>
<hr WIDTH="100%"></ul>

<center>4. Notes and memoranda </center>

The following are just some simple notes I made during the installation
that I thought I would pass on to you.
<ul>
<li>
If you complete your install and find that you've got power to, say, eject
a CD, but there seems to be no power to the unit to actually play... then
chances are you've blown the fuse. I made this mistake and thought a connector
had come loose so I pulled the stereo out only to find it was fine but
the fuse was blown. For the sake of experimentation I put a similarly rated
(15A) fuse back in and it's been working fine ever since. I can't find
anywhere in the manual where it says what amperage the unit requires, so
if it blows again I'll just put a 20A in there. If that fails the unit
might be faulty.</li>

<li>
Be careful! Remember that when these SVXs are built they put the stereo
in, THEN install the interior trim... you know, the nice padded dash stuff.
As a result the stereo doesn't come cleanly out of the hole. You shouldn't
have too much difficulty, but the hole with the padded stuff is actually
slightly smaller than the frame and mechanism the stereo's in. A flat-blade
screwdriver is handy here. The entire interior is also painfully easy to
scratch and snag on the metal frame; try not to rip it.</li>

<li>
You probably don't need to replace the speakers. I've found these speakers
to give excellent response for general purpose units. The bass response
isn't all it could be, but is sufficient for most of my listening tastes
(a lot of Seattle-style bands, mid 80's rock etc.). If you really need
deep throbbing bass, install an amp and a subwoofer. You probably don't
need much in that respect, just enough to give it a nice kick. I may install
one at some point, but right now it sounds just fine to me.</li>

<li>
The technically astute among you will have noticed the lack of the tweeters
in the wiring table. They're just spliced into the front-speaker wires
at some point inside the dash.</li>

<li>
There's probably a few optional components you can add that'll make things
better for you. As I mentioned before my Sony came with a wired remote
control that you can put wherever you like in the car. Personally I mounted
it on the right-hand side of the steering column below and slightly behind
the windshield-wiper controls. This puts it in easy reach but stops it
getting in the way of other controls. This was a pretty simple matter of
removing the top of the steering column by releasing the screws on the
underside and popping it off (it does clip as well so don't be afraid to
use a little force). Then I pulled down the section of the underside of
the dash where the coin-holder is (totally useless BTW)... that section
just clips into place BTW. Anyway, I opened that up and there's a hole
right there leading into the stereo bay. Obviously I did this before putting
the stereo back in place. By the way, there's a nice gap in the steering
column where you can run wires through... very handy for this kind of thing <img SRC="../Gavin/Images/little.gif" ALT=":-)" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="16"></li>

<li>
If you don't feel competent enough to do the install detailed here, take
it to a professional who can do it for you. They might charge you a bit
(estimates I got STARTED at $75), but it might be worth it for peace of
mind. However, I'm certain even a professional will cut you a little slack
if you provide them with the wiring table above... sure beats the hell
out of trying to find the right wires by hand.</li>
</ul>

<hr WIDTH="100%">
<center>Subaru's Official Line </center>

Okay, now something I feel obliged to include because this came from Subaru
while I was researching the connections above. Please read it BEFORE you
start working on the install;

<tt>Welcome to the Web site and thank you for your inquiry.  We
are delighted to hear that you are interested in accessories.</tt>

<tt>We do offer a Subaru CD player for your SVX.  The part number
for the CD player is 416E150.  The part may be out of stock because
we stopped producing the SVX in 1997.  You would have to check with
your dealer (where you would have to order the part from).  If the
CD for the SVX is out of stock, we believe that the CD for the Legacy will
work with your car.  Again this information should be checked with
the Subaru Parts Manager at your local Subaru dealership.  We do not
recommend the use of after market products.</tt>

It's that last comment that's key; Subaru neither endorses nor even
recommends the procedures I've detailed here, and doing so on a newer model
SVX will almost certainly invalidate some section of your warranty. My
car is out of Subaru warranty anyway, so I feel I can do this. However,
if you have some kind of extended warranty on your car you might want to
make sure that doing this doesn't invalidate that either (some companies
frown on people who fiddle with their electrical system).


<hr WIDTH="100%">

As it was, in order to find the wiring arrangement listed above I had
to plough through several service manuals at a friendly local dealership,
as well as some service updates. Even upon finding the right circuit diagrams
it took some study to figure out what goes where (wires frequently changed
color between the speakers and the plug!) I wouldn't recommend doing this
kind of research yourself unless you have to... it was time-consuming and
tiring. It was also frustrating to be constantly told that I either couldn't
or shouldn't install an after-market stereo in an SVX, or that a wiring
harness is unavailable for my car.

Was it worth it? Well, I've only had it in for two days now, but I think
so. The stock stereo is good... but you can't beat being able to pick and
choose your own sound system that suits YOUR individual needs. I like the
SVX for this kind of thing because it's obviously been designed for expandability
(dual-height bay; meant for the stock stereo and the factory CD player
but easily turned to a CD/Receiver and an amp). The speakers are damn good
speakers... which is just as well because they're near impossible to remove
effectively, though I'm sure some people will find the bass somewhat disappointing.
As I said it's just fine for me... at least for now.

Please, if this document's been of help to you, drop me a line at 
<a HREF="mailto:thumper@brainfart.com">thumper@brainfart.com</a> and let
me know!

Enjoy the SVX... I still say it's one of the best and most fun
to drive cars in its class, and almost certainly one of the most versatile.
Look after it; it's a rare gem.