Kenwood audio install with backup cam - Saab 9-5 2006+

Over the Christmas holidays I found some time to install an aftermarket double din head unit in my 2006 9-5 2.3T.

The 'new' head unit is a Kenwood DDX616 DVD receiver with Bluetooth, 6.1" touchscreen and nav capablity. The back-up camera is a BOYO VTL300C licence plate frame type.

The 2006+ cars have the GM sourced head unit from the factory connected to a remote amp and 9 speakers. I will be reusing the existing factory remote amp, wiring harnesses, and speakers. Excluding the GM head unit the rest of the system as far as I can tell is the same as the AS3 in the older models so any reference info for the AS3 system would apply.

Here is a picture of the factory GM head unit:

http://saabworld.net/images/imported/2016/01/14.jpg

This head unit is really easy to remove. Remove the 4 cap/plugs and 4 screws and the unit comes right out, there is no cage, just un-clip the antenna and the two wire harnesses. The trick to remove the caps without damaging them is to use tape to stick to the caps and then just pull them out.

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The big difference here is the use of two harnesses to the head unit versus the single harness on the 2005 and previous models. The antenna connection is different as well. Here is the back of the GM unit showing the harness clips.

http://saabworld.net/images/imported/2016/01/17.jpg

The good news is that the pin-out diagram for the wiring harnesses is right on the top of the GM head unit. In the picture below I have put star symbols on the terminals that will need to be used to connect the new head unit.

Altogether there are 8 pins used on the 14 pin clip and 4 pins used on the 16 pin clip. The main thing here is that GM used Pin 6, 'RmtEnable', on the 14 pin clip to turn on the remote amp. Do not make the mistake that I did at first by using Pin 8, 'AmpControl', on the 16 pin clip to control the amp. This does nothing! Edit: Also unlike the 2005 and older models the GM head unit uses a separate pin to turn on the car's antenna amplifier. This is Pin 12, 'AntEnable' on the 14 pin clip.

http://saabworld.net/images/imported/2016/01/18.jpg

Here is the into car harness I purchased at a local car audio shop. The shop owner said it is fairly common as GM used this head unit on many of their cars. I think this one was for a 2006+ Solstice and it cost $18. The clips fit the two car harnesses perfectly but the wires are not all correctly configured so I had to re-pin the clip to match the pin-out diagram. I found that using a needle worked OK although I am sure that there is a proper tool for the job. There are 13 wires on these harnesses altogether and 12 are required leaving one spare.

Note: The diagram above refers to looking at the pin side of the clip. IE looking at the pin side of the 14 pin clip, pins 1 and 8 are on the left hand side.

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Here is the finished wiring harness:

http://saabworld.net/images/imported/2016/01/21.jpg

To use the existing remote amp the harness connects to the pre-amp speaker channel outputs (RCA plugs) on the Kenwood through ground loop isolators (the two black 'D' battery shaped parts). The isolators are necessary to stop loud speaker pops when the power is turned off. Connect the LF, RF, LR, and RR speaker wires to the 14 and 16 pin clips as labeled.

On the Kenwood wiring harness the yellow Battery wire connects to Pin 1 (Batt) of the 14 pin clip and the black Ground wire connects to Pin 8 (Ground) of the 14 pin clip. The blue/white Remote Amp Control wire from the Kenwood is shown going to the wrong clip in this picture, it should be going to the 14 pin clip on Pin 6 (RmtEnable)! Also the antenna adapter shown is not the correct one, there is a picture of the correct one in the post below. Edit: The blue Ant.Cont connects to Pin 12 (AntEnable) of the 14 pin clip (not shown).

Ready to install!

The installation was fairly straightforward.

With the head unit out make room to work by removing the HVAC controls and the storage unit/12V outlet by pushing them out from behind and then undoing the harnesses. I also removed the under dash panel on the drivers side, there are three screws to take out and two more to remove the OBD-ll connector. There is plenty of room behind the head unit for all the wires, less factory wiring is in this area on the 2006 than in the previous model years.

The first step is to install the fascia panel adapter, it is a Connects2 CT24SA04. I purchased this from installer.com and it seemed to take forever to arrive. The centre plastic piece needs to be removed for a double din install, I did this carefully with an 'exacto' knife. The piece really fits well and clips in firmly. The pocket is surplus. A standard double din cage fits into this adapter and it is secured by bending the metal tabs on the top and bottom of the cage back.

http://saabworld.net/images/imported/2016/01/22.jpg

^ Note: This is the critical piece to make it possible to do this install! http://www.installer.com/item/displa...hp?it=ct24sa04

Here is the adapter installed:

http://saabworld.net/images/imported/2016/01/23.jpg

The Kenwood wiring harness also requires several connections not on the car harnesses. These are to Ignition wire (red, switched accessory power), a Dimmer Control wire (orange/white), a Reverse Sensor wire (purple/white, for the back-up camera), and a Parking Sensor wire (light green). I did not install the Steering Remote Control wire (light blue/yellow) at this time but that should be the same as in the main thread.

There is also the iPod cable, the back up camera cable and the microphone (for bluetooth/voice commands) all of which plug into the back of the head unit. The Kenwood USB cable also needs to be routed. I plan to install the iPod and USB cables into the glove compartment, for now they are poking out of the storage unit/12V outlet where I removed the filler plug on the left side.

For the Ignition power (ignition 'off' position, +12V), as per the main thread, the best place to connect is at the headlight switch. In the 2006 9-5 the wire to look for is the brown/yellow. I tapped the back-up camera into this power source as well and to the ground on Pin 8.

I chose to connect the dimmer control wire to the fog light switch as here in Canada daylight running lights are the law so the headlights are always on. The blue wire is where to connect. Turning the fog lights puts +12V on the blue wire and will dim the display on the head unit, the amount of dimming is adjustable via the Kenwood head unit itself. Both the headlight switch and the fog light switch push out from behind.

http://saabworld.net/images/imported/2016/01/24.jpg

The Reverse Sensor wire can be connected to the reverse light at the rear of the car but there is a reverse circuit wire going up to the rear view mirror which is located on the passenger side 'a' pillar, a much shorter run. Remove the trim on the pillar and it is the green/white wire. When the car is put into reverse +12V is seen on this wire and the back-up camera in displayed. The Kenwood has another nice feature - a front mounted button which allows you to have the back-up camera displayed all the time for use as an additional 'rear view mirror'.

http://saabworld.net/images/imported/2016/01/25.jpg

The Parking Sensor wire is used to prevent access to playing videos and access to the telephone address book while the car is able to move. To defeat this feature in the Kenwood this wire is just connected to ground. There are two ground connection studs with 10mm nuts directly behind the head unit location to connect to.

The microphone was installed in the center roof console next to the map light. I ran the wire up the 'a' pillar and tucked it in behind the roof liner above the windshield to the center roof console.

http://saabworld.net/images/imported/2016/01/26.jpg

The picture above shows the cage installed and also shows the proper antenna adapter. I had this adapter from another install, a 2010 Jetta I believe, it is a common adapter and should be available at a local car stereo shop.

For the back-up camera I ran the cable up the 'a' pillar and over the doors to the trunk area.

http://saabworld.net/images/imported/2016/01/27.jpg

To hide the cable behind the seat just remove the tab and tuck the cable in behind the plastic trim and then hide the cable behind the trunk liner to get over to the left hand corner of the trunk.

http://saabworld.net/images/imported/2016/01/28.jpg

I ran the cable through the trunk lid wiring grommet hole and tie wrapped it to the trunk hinge. And then ran the cable under the trunk lid liner. This liner is easily removed by taking out the push pin grommets and the interior trunk closing handle.

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I finished by drilling a 1/4" hole in the plastic hand grip above the licence plate and connected the cable through to the camera location on the licence plate.

http://saabworld.net/images/imported/2016/01/31.jpg

The head unit is pushed into the cage and a bezel piece which came with the Kenwood is snapped into place. Trimmable bezels are also available at most car audio shops. Reinstall the HVAC controls and the storage/12V outlet and I was done! :thumbsup:

http://saabworld.net/images/imported/2016/01/32.jpg

I hope that this helps others who might want to upgrade their 2006+ Saab 9-5 with a more up to date audio/entertainment system.

Nice write up. But your asking for trouble using them scotch locks.

Thanks so much aeronaut, I think many 2006+ 9-5 owners were looking for a tutorial like this. Excellent write-up and pictures. :thumbsup:

You are welcome Wulf! :thumbsup:

Also I was able to finish the installation of the iPod and USB cables into the glove box today. I wasn't to difficult, here are a few pictures and notes:

To do this first remove the passenger side under dash panel, there are three screws and the light to take out. Then you can remove the glove box. There are four screws along the bottom and another three along the top of the glove box to take out. Also disconnect the a/c connection and the light.

With the glove box out of the car a hole can be drilled in the side. The hole needs to be big enough to allow the iPod connector to pass through. I used a 1 3/8" hole saw I had which was more than big enough. The hole saw though always makes a clean cut.

http://saabworld.net/images/imported/2016/01/33.jpg

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Route the cables through the hole and reinstall the glove box. I also installed a grommet.

http://saabworld.net/images/imported/2016/01/35.jpg

While I had the glove box out I was able to confirm that the 2006 model year has the Harman Kardon amplifier and speakers as in previous model years (even though there is no Harman Kardon logo on the rear speaker grill!). So other than the head unit no additional GM components were used and the sound system is effectively an AS3.

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I am very happy with the performance and features of the Kenwood head unit.

The sound of the stereo is very much improved over the GM head unit which was obviously limiting the performance of the H/K amplifier. The addition of bluetooth, voice dialing, access to address book, equalizer, back up camera, video from USB or DVD, touch screen, etc are all great features to use and bring the car up to date. The Garmin NAV module may be the next step. :thumbsup:

Hi. I don't get any sound with this setup. It seems like my amp is not turned on. I connected the blue antenna lead to pin 6 (RmtEnable). Should that work? On your picture of all the leads it seems like you have a yellow loop lead. Can that do something to pin 8 (ampcontrol)? Anyway, thanks for a great post.

Hi Holocaust, sorry, the Kenwood harness amplifier Power Control (P Cont) wire is blue/white. Connect this wire to RmtEnable, Pin 6 on the 14 pin clip, to turn on the amp! The blue Motor Antenna Control wire (Ant.Cont) is not used. (I am assuming that you are installing a similar Kenwood unit.)

I have corrected my post above to reference blue/white. Thanks and good luck. :thumbsup:

ps. The looped wire in the picture (on the 16 pin clip) is just a spare wire and is not connected. Pin 8 (AmpControl) on the 16 pin clip is not used.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by aeronaut

Hi Holocaust, sorry, the Kenwood harness amplifier Power Control (P Cont) wire is blue/white. Connect this wire to RmtEnable, Pin 6 on the 14 pin clip, to turn on the amp! The blue Motor Antenna Control wire (Ant.Cont) is not used. (I am assuming that you are installing a similar Kenwood unit.)

I have corrected my post above to reference blue/white. Thanks and good luck. :thumbsup:

ps. The looped wire in the picture (on the 16 pin clip) is just a spare wire and is not connected. Pin 8 (AmpControl) on the 16 pin clip is not used.

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Works like a charm :o) Does anyone have any experience with getting the steering wheel remote to work? I mean using a product to connect to the interface leads from the steering wheel..

That's good news Holocaust!

As far as the steering wheel interface goes I have not installed an interface yet myself but check this thread for the 2005 and older 9-5's, http://saabworld.net/showthread.php?t=84, the PAC SWI-RC has been used. It should be the same for the 2006's. Let us know!

Also I have discovered an issue which will require some more wiring be done, see my next post.

Over the past week or an issue cropped up with the sound quality when using the tuner, sometimes it would be fine and at other times it would be poor. There would even be some intermittent ignition noise. This led me to check the antenna adapter, etc.

The antenna adapter connections were ok. Then I remembered that the car has an antenna amplifier. This amplifier is located in the 'c' pillar on the passenger side just behind the seat belt retractor. Checking the amplifier I found that it had no power when the head unit is turned on and tuner selected.

Searching around to see how the antenna amplifier works I found that on the 2005 and older models the antenna amp was triggered from the same pin as the audio amplifier, pin 7. http://www.mitt-eget.com/saab/faq_audio.shtml

But the 2006+ models do not use the audio amplifier pin to trigger the antenna amplifier, there is a separate wire in the car's harness. The GM head unit pin out diagram does show a separate pin for antenna control, Pin 12 on the 14 pin clip, AntEnable. This pin needs to be connected.

http://saabworld.net/images/imported/2016/01/47.jpg
^ Here is a picture of the antenna amplifier. The trigger wire on the is the first wire, gray, on the bottom left of the amp.

So to turn on the antenna amplifier the Kenwood blue antenna control lead, Ant.Cont which provides a +12V output when the tuner is turned on, is connected to Pin 12 on the 14 pin clip, AntEnable. I did this and testing the the trigger wire at the antenna amp showed +12V when the tuner was turned on and 0V when turned off. This will control the amp.

I will see tomorrow on my drive to work if it makes a difference!