Help with a new Radio please....

[Doug S]

Hi

My daughters first car is a 94 Camry 4dr, it has an AM/FM/Cass factory radio (4skr) and I want to upgrade it to play CDs and I don't know much about them. I've put up a couple of links that show what I'm thinking of installing and need your help.

Crutchfield supplies a wireing harness that you splice into the radio and is supposed to plug into the existing car plugs, do these work/fit?? Is there a better way or set up?

Point me in the right direction please...I'm looking for a painless way to install one of these... Her birthday is in a week so I need to get it ordered...


http://www.crutchfield.com/S-ztKCIny...0&I=070XDMA690

or

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-ztKCIny...0&I=130DEHP390


Thanks
Doug

[pudbrother]

its the easist thing you will ever do. the hardest part of the entire install is geting the trim off without breaking it.

[lenjack]

Be vey careful removing the bezel (trim). It is not hard to break and a dealer replacement will run $26. Ask me how I know! Start the removal from the bottom. I'd go with the first link since it appears the display will be much easier to read on a bright, sunny day...an important safety factor.

[Venom_5]

why dont you just take it to Circuit City or a place like that, buy one + the wiring harness and all that and have them do it

i had my 95 Camry LE done @ Circuit City for about $130 and it was done within an hour

[MIC0417]

You don't go to Circuit City because they have joke ass workers, all you need to do is minimal splicing. Go to autozone and buy an adapter for an aftermarket stereo for your cars year, it will say Toyota and there may be a few, what you do is obviously find the one for your Camry. Then Go and buy a Sony deck (CD player) the one that costs about 100$. You will also need to buy about 15 connectors that you use to splice the wires together, then you just plug in the stereo to what you spliced. The plastic piece is hard to break unless you've had it lying in the sun for years it's fine. You don't want Dual because they are a cheap brand, Pioneer is okay but the Sony is cheaper for essentially the same thing but red and blue display.

[Venom_5]

i would go with Pioneer and probably one w/ an Aux input ... since everyone wants/has an iPod these days ...

and installing it yourself is extra trouble that really doesnt save you a lot of money ... the reason i say Circuit City is because their installation is FREE if you get a receiver thats more than $99 ... which is pretty much all of them ... and ive never met anyone who's been displeased with their service

[cmdrkettch]

I second the opinion to get the Pioneer, but it depends on how important iPod capabilities are to your daughter. The Pioneer head unit is superior to the Dual in most aspects, but does not come standard with an iPod adapter. It would cost another $80 + S/H (look in the accessories section for the Pioneer) in order to bring it up to par with the Dual in that case. For myself, I decided to instead purchase a AUX to 3.5mm cable by Monster and run it to the cabin to plug into my iPod. That way, the iPod can be played through the AUX connection, but you lose the ability to control the iPod by the head unit and the song titles aren't displayed on the head unit's screen. You can install everything yourself in half-an-hour to an hour. The wiring harness is exactly what you need. Just plug it into the purple plug and crimp the free ends onto the new head unit. The following guide was very helpful when I was installing my new head unit:

http://www.installdr.com/InstallDocs...PDF/869013.pdf

I pried my bezel off with a flat head screwdriver and found that it might leave scratches and dents. So it's a good idea to cushion the bezel where it's being used as a fulcrum. Also, you might want to check to see if the head unit works before crimping. Just twists the ends together and use a bit of electrical tape.

Hope that helps!

[Silver Streak]

It's very very easy. Buy the harness and the stereo and you'll be set.

First remove the bezel with a thin butter knife. Start at the bottom and it'll just pop off. Disconnect the cigarette lighter. To remove the stereo, there's four screws. take those off and the stereo part comes out. Unplug it. Unsrew the stereo and screw in the new one. For the wiring harness, just connect it to the new stereo matching up the wires...power, ground, speaker wires, etc. Then plug into car harness and put the stereo back in.

If I was in N.E. I would do this for you, because it's for your daughter...that's a nice present for sure. (My dad woudl never think of doing something like this....)

[denysimo]

cmdrkettch, thanks for posting the step by step pdf instructions on radio removal! It is exactly information I was trying to look for. You helped out another person.

[MIC0417]

Just get this Sony one, it already has the auxillary input for the iPod so all you need is the 6$ cord to connect the two.

[pudbrother]

go to walmart and they have an entire stereo system for 100 dollars HU, 2 6x9's (for the rear of the camry) and 2 6.5 plus a super sweet hat...not so much still a good deal

[Heat]

If you have a daughter who is driving, you are old enough to remember how expensive aftermarket audio was ten or twenty years ago. The days of getting a spark-o-matic and thinking you had some good stuff are over, good quality audio is very cheap these days. And the good news is that changing the head unit on your daughter's Camry is a very easy task - or so I think, I haven't actually done it yet but have read the instructions (and have changed out my head units on four or so previous cars of mine).

Anyway, be sure to pick up at least a couple new speakers for her, I'd recommend a couple good quality 6"x9"s (6 by 9's) that you can put into the back for her - the beauty of 6 by 9s is that it's a pretty common size, so you can take them out when you sell the car eventually and put them into her next car.

As for brand, I personally go with Alpine but Sony is a pretty good brand. Just get something with a knob that she can turn to control the volume. And again, the work to change out this head unit is simple, you can do it. No need to pay anybody else to do it.

[99Camry99]

Originally Posted by pudbrother

its the easist thing you will ever do. the hardest part of the entire install is geting the trim off without breaking it.

x2... But definitely get the Pioneer. Either Pioneer or Alpine. I had an Alpine for 2 years, never any problems. But now my Pioneer is 50 times better. There was an instant quality increase from the Pioneer head unit alone. Well worth the money.

[geoff5093]

Originally Posted by Venom_5

why dont you just take it to Circuit City or a place like that, buy one + the wiring harness and all that and have them do it

i had my 95 Camry LE done @ Circuit City for about $130 and it was done within an hour

I hope that $130 included the hardware! That would be such a ripoff if you paid $130 in labor.

I installed a stereo in my '94 Camry and it took probably 45-60 minutes, the hardest part for me was just the wiring, but even that wasnt too hard.

[Venom_5]

yeah, it included the wiring harness, and all that good stuff

installation is free for radios above $99 @ Circuit City

[otherwise its a $35 charge]