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Stereo upgrade

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82K views 244 replies 53 participants last post by  Adam59105  
L
#1 ·
Hi, I'm new to Saab ownership and have a question?

I want to change the stereo in my 02 Aero and wanted to know what to buy?

I've looked through this forum and there's been differing views, so can anyone simplify this for me?

I want to fit a fold out screen, single DIN, so do I need:
1) The radio mounting kit from parts for saabs?
2) Some form of harness?
3) A method to connect to the car's amps?

And any other mods needs to the car to fit the head unit?

Cheers
 
M
#2 ·
I've just put a Pioneer AVIC-Z2 Navigation system with bluetooth, XM & XM NavTraffic, and Peswips(Steering wheel button adopter). Mine is double din but it pretty much the same with single din. Basically you need wire harness, single din kit, antenna adopter, and if you want to keep using buttons on steering wheel you need some sort of adopter(they are radio specific not car). I have the harness(with rca plugs) and single din kit if you want to buy it cheap $25 shipped(I bought the wrong one and never returned it). All you have to do is plug in the rca out(unpowered line out) from the new radio to rca plug on your new harness. Only problem you might run into is little popping sound when you turn off the radio. You could get rid of the pop by putting registers btw the rca plugs, I decided not to bother(it wasn't too loud).
 
#230 ·
masteryong said:
Only problem you might run into is little popping sound when you turn off the radio. You could get rid of the pop by putting registers btw the rca plugs, I decided not to bother(it wasn't too loud).
Click to expand...

I cant figure out why when I just connect the POWER GROUND and REMOTE turn on I get an audible hissing/static. Not a single speaker line hooked up....



Also, What resistor would I have to use?
I have the kits and all that I just need to know what resistor to put in place..
 
N
#12 ·
No sound on speakers

I took the CD/Tape player out of my 2005 Saab 95 Estate and plug in my new DVD player with single DIN adopter. The socket is ISO. The DVD player work and functioning but there is no sound on thew speakers. When I turn the volume in full, I can only hear a little bit sound/music from the front speaker(middle). Why? Is there a amplify in my Saab didn't turn on?
Any help or advise are appreciated!

Thanks a lot!

Nonfee
 
N
#13 ·
No sound from speakers

Hi,
After I research on this forum, I may find the solution of my problem. I didn't connect the antenna to my new DVD player as I have not got the adopter for it. I just order one on the Internet. The ISO pin no.7 is for remote control antenna which also turn on the amplifier. I hope it will solve my problem when I connect the antenna to my DVD player.

I'll get my story upgrade later.


Thanks for reading.

Nonfee
 
G
#15 ·
dont do it

[hi glassman here have you just pluged a after market radio to the iso socket at the rear of your old saab radio in the dash if so stop there the signal for speakers is a low level sig+sig- not amplified sound. single ended that will come out of your new radio the centre part of iso socket in dash needs to go to preouts on hideaway box then put power on wire to amp. dont send too much power to amp you will kill it thanks
 
#16 ·
In order to get sound out of the stock amplifier with an aftermarket headunit, you have to connect the headunit REMOTE OUT (usually blue/white -- not ANTENNA REMOTE blue!) to pin 7 on your harness (see this diagram http://www.mitt-eget.com/saab/faq_audio.shtml#head).

Then you find some RCA ends at radio shack, or cut a set of RCAs up and strip the wires... then you connect them as follows:
Front Red RCA pole: 14
Front Red RCA shield: 10
Front White RCA pole: 15
Front White RCA shield: 11
Rear Red RCA pole: 13
Rear Red RCA shield: 9
Rear White RCA pole: 16
Rear White RCA shield: 12

So basically you connect line output - to the RCA shields (ground outside of the RCA), and line output + to the RCA poles (middle of RCA). This way you can get music out of all your speakers without any adaptors.
 
#155 · (Edited)
So, in doing this, there is no need for a ground loop isolater?

AND, what is the easiest way to get a 6 gauge wire through the firewall?

stipud said:
In order to get sound out of the stock amplifier with an aftermarket headunit, you have to connect the headunit REMOTE OUT (usually blue/white -- not ANTENNA REMOTE blue!) to pin 7 on your harness (see this diagram http://www.mitt-eget.com/saab/faq_audio.shtml#head).

Then you find some RCA ends at radio shack, or cut a set of RCAs up and strip the wires... then you connect them as follows:
Front Red RCA pole: 14
Front Red RCA shield: 10
Front White RCA pole: 15
Front White RCA shield: 11
Rear Red RCA pole: 13
Rear Red RCA shield: 9
Rear White RCA pole: 16
Rear White RCA shield: 12

So basically you connect line output - to the RCA shields (ground outside of the RCA), and line output + to the RCA poles (middle of RCA). This way you can get music out of all your speakers without any adaptors.
Click to expand...
 
#17 ·
It would seem to me that Saab went out of their way to make this difficult. Considering they are using brand name componants (Sony, Panasonic) this should all be standard. There is no engineering reason to have differnent speakers with different impedences. Car amplifiers have been standard since the late 80's.

I think If I were to upgrade my system, I would pull it all out and install my own componants. I know this isn't an option for everyone and that's a shame. You should be able to replace equipment on a piece by piece basis.

I still don't know what I would do about that middle dash speaker though...
 
#18 ·
The speaker impedances aren't that far off standards actually. I noticed when looking at the back of my speakers when I removed them, that they had the nominal impedance stamped on the back. I believe it was 4 ohms for the dash and rear doors, and 2 ohms for the front doors. This is an AS2 system. I think the impedance ratings that they have in the audio FAQ are the DC series resistance of the driver at rest (i.e. hook up a multimeter and measure the resistance). This is different to the impedance of a speaker, which varies based on the frequency it is playing.

The only tricky thing is that the stock amplifier has a built in crossover. This means you can't necessarily replace the dash speakers with tweeters, because they play midrange, which most tweeters can't produce. Because of this, you need a tweet/mid combo to install in the dash, if you want to keep your stock amp going. The door speakers can be easily replaced with midrange drivers. I know I had my 4 ohm mids hooked up off the stock amp for awhile, and they sounded much better than the factory speakers. The greater efficiency of the aftermarket drivers made the 4 to 2 ohm difference negligible as well.
 
N
#19 ·
Hi Stipud & Glassman,
Many thanks for your help. On my new dvd player, I got the blue cable(Antenna) connected to no.7 and white&blue(P. Control) connected to no.6. I am now switch them over. White&blue(P. Control) connected to no.7 and blue(Antenna) to no.6.
I have order the parts(ISO socket pins) and RCA to make the RCA-ISO cable as Stipud suggested for the output from my DVD player. Please correct me if I am wrong.
I have check my amplifier with my old CD/Tape player and it is still working. I didn't kill the amp yet.
It would be a few days before I can install my new dvd player.
Thanks guys for your kindly help!

All the best !

Nonfee
 
#20 · (Edited by Moderator)
Do not hook the blue antenna remote wire to pin 6. Pin 6 is for the phone mute circuit, so you only need this if you have a built in cellphone kit (in which case you connect it to the PHONE MUTE wire on your aftermarket headunit if and only if it has one).

All you need to connect are:
Red - Pin 2
Black - Pin 4
Blue/White - Pin 7
Yellow - Pin 8

And the RCAs I listed above. Leave all of the other wires disconnected!

In order to splice into the RCAs, I bought a set of naked RCA ends from radio shack, like these:
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062472

You can also cut a set of RCAs with a few inches of wire, and strip this wire back to connect it.
 
#21 ·
Hi I am new to this forum and to Saab as well. Just got a 2003 Saab 9-5 Linear with 65k Miles on it. I just purchased an Innovatek 700ts unit (7 inch touch screen dvd/mp3/divx/mpeg) player. I am gonna fit it on and try to send some pics after its all been done and done.
 
#22 · (Edited by Moderator)
The instructions are the same for you...

All you need to do to install an aftermarket stereo in your Saab, while retaining the stock amplifier and speakers, is to hook up these wires (use this guide):
Red - Pin 2
Black - Pin 4
Blue/White - Pin 7
Yellow - Pin 8

Then with some RCA ends (like these) you can tap in to these wires:
Front Red RCA pole: 14
Front Red RCA shield: 10
Front White RCA pole: 15
Front White RCA shield: 11
Rear Red RCA pole: 13
Rear Red RCA shield: 9
Rear White RCA pole: 16
Rear White RCA shield: 12

This will work for all AS2/AS3 systems. For AS1, you just connect the speaker outputs from the headunit instead of RCAs, because there is no stock amplifier to worry about.
 
N
#23 · (Edited by Moderator)
stipud said:
The instructions are the same for you...

All you need to do to install an aftermarket stereo in your Saab, while retaining the stock amplifier and speakers, is to hook up these wires (use this guide):
Red - Pin 2
Black - Pin 4
Blue/White - Pin 7
Yellow - Pin 8

Then with some RCA ends you can tap in to these:
Front Red RCA pole: 14
Front Red RCA shield: 10
Front White RCA pole: 15
Front White RCA shield: 11
Rear Red RCA pole: 13
Rear Red RCA shield: 9
Rear White RCA pole: 16
Rear White RCA shield: 12

This will work for all AS2/AS3 systems. For AS1, you just connect the speaker outputs from the headunit instead of RCAs, because there is no stock amplifier to worry about.
Click to expand...
Stipud-
You should complile an audio FAQ and have it stickied...
 
N
#26 · (Edited)
Image

I found this FM Stereo Modulator from Audiovox (this is not a FM transmitter).
You can add a source like iPod, DVD player, MP3 player, etc. It goes in the antenna line behind the radio
$59.95 at http://www.installer.com/

Image

Then, i believe that's possible to connect this product to the FM modulator and enable your SAAB with Bluetooth capabilities (!!!).
And then, as this picture shows, we are able to connect cell phones (Hands Free Microphone come included in Scosche package) and neverending sources (with 3.5 prong Bluetooth transmitter included) or iPod Bluetooth transmitters (sold separately) with very good stereo quality. But more important, no wires at all when you get in the car and like to listen your iPod tunes or other source. You can, even keep your iPod, with tiny Bluetooth transmitter attached, in the pocket of your jacket during the trip (!!!!).
$160.00 at BestBuy stores. http://www.scosche.com/

My question now: Is it possible to connect that Audiovox FM modulator successfully in a SAAB 9-5?
Is here someone with some experience with this kind os FM modulators?
Thank You, in advance.
 
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