New Receiver and Speaker Installation--Break Out the Dremel!

After riding around with the factory Delco radio and speakers for a few weeks, I decided a change was in order. I purchased the following:

JVC KDHDR60 receiver
Power Bass 4x6 speakers for front
Power Bass 6x9 speakers for rear
Metra install kit
Metra GM antenna adaptor
Dorman 799-130 body panel fasteners

The installation of the receiver was fairly straighforward. I had two "hitches in my giddyup". The first was the removal of the lower dash. There is a screw to the rigth of the ash tray that goes up through the dash that must be removed before the lower dash will drop. The second difficulty with the receiver installation was that the new unit was a bit too long for the baffle into which the receiver is supposed to fit. There was a section at the rear of the baffle that protruded into the area enough to keep the receiver from fully seating. I resolved this issue by dremeling away the offending protruberance. Once installed, the unit looks great. One of the appealing features of the this particular JVC is that both the buttons and the display can be programmed whatever color you like, so the radio color matches my digital dash. The KDHDR60 also provides both a USB and aux input for playing external devices (like my iPhone).

The rear speaker installation was pretty easy and took very little time. The new speakers are quite a bit deeper than the old speakers, so the magnet just touches the pad that sits in the bottom of the opening.

The front speakers were another matter. The speaker pods that hold the factory speakers were too shallow for the new speakers. I had to cut to backs of the pods away to seat the new speakers (say hello, again to Mr. Dremel). I then had to check to ensure that there was no interference between the new speaker backs and whatever else was in the door. The speaker wires in my doors did not match the factory diagrams. They were actually red and black. I traced the red and black wires back to the connectors and found the colors referenced in my wiring chart (no big deal). My door panels had some broken tabs (before I got to them), so I did the best I could to button it back up. Both front door panels are still a bit loose at the bottom (although better than before), so I will need to figure out how to attach clips to the door panel where the tabs are broken off--I haven't quite solved that one yet.

The sound I have now, along with the ability for any family member (I have a wife and 5 kids) to play their iPhones and iPods in the car, is definitely worth the effort I put into the job. My 15 year old son worked with me on the entire project so, hopefully, he learned something as well.

Yeah I did my speakers and head unit a couple of months ago. Pretty straightforward install. Got a link to the JVC you picked out?

Here it is on the JVC site. http://support.jvc.com/consumer/product.jsp?archive=true&pathId=149&modelId=MODL028604

That's not too bad looking!

I hate JVC's remotes though. Bleh.

Stingroo wrote:

I hate JVC's remotes though. Bleh.

Who uses the remote thou, seriously? I dunno where mine even is from my Kenwood deck.

^^ Same thing I was thinking. Mine go straight from the package to the trash can.

I actually use mine in the wagon. Because I am tall, I have my seat pretty far back. I find it distracting to reach for the radio and look at it. With the remote, I can change my audio source, volume and stations without changing my driving position. In my other car, I do not use the remote because the radio is at my fingertips the way the console and instrument cluster sits.

I haven't changed a thing on my radio for 6 months...... OK, I put in a tape adapter when I went to Daytona, but it went back to my radio station when I got back to Jax..

I fiddle with mine all the time. I listen to my music via flash drive in the USB port and constantly change folders (CD's basically). Remote would be nice. My radio didn't come with one, but I plan on ordering it soon

Stingroo wrote:

I fiddle with mine all the time.

Is that legal in florida while you're driving?

nick

phantom 309 wrote:

Stingroo wrote:

I fiddle with mine all the time.

Is that legal in florida while you're driving?

nick

It is legal in Florida, NOT in Georgia.....and the cops here don't care if you have Florida tags or not.....

Everything is legal in Florida - lol.