Aftermarket audio head unit installation - Saab 9-5

[DrunkieTheBear]

Just to follow up.

Don't buy the install kit from the LiquidIce2008 ebay seller. He has a tendency to scam those he ships to in the USA or anyone outside of the UK.

I ordered the correct one, but he sent the completely wrong item. I contacted him about it and was told I would have to front the money myself to ship it back for correction. This shipping back was going to cost me an additional $25-$30. He would not even consider going halfway on it. I contacted ebay and they are going to get me 75% of my money back (of their own money, unfortunately not out of this guys pocket) and I am happy to get that at least. I understand that mistakes happen, but when you make the customer pay for your mistake, it is never a good business practice.

Ebay is now going to investigate this seller as apparently I am not the first person to have an issue, in fact I am number 10...for this MONTH alone.

I have ordered another one of these kits from a different UK website, lets hope this one works out. Sadly this set me back $72 for this kit.

[frestylmotox01]

So I found a US vendor that sells this kit and also a direct connect harness, it's a pretty bad ass setup made the install 100 percent easier. The place is called enfigcarstereo, he may not have it listed on his site yet, but if you email or call him he will get you setup with the correct stuff. His harness was direct connect, I didn't have to solder or get GLIs, his harness goes from the stock harness and connects directly to the pioneer unit, best part is he can put whatever harness you need on there and ship it you. It includes a hi/lo converter built in, so no amp pop and no RCA splicing. The connects2 kit fits perfect, I just need to get it painted to match the dash still. Christian is a great guy and he really helped me out. Only complaint is I would have liked some directions, but I tinkered for a little while and it went right together. Only thing needs to be rewired is the illumination wire needs to be connected to the headlight harness. Also the trim ring isn't flush in my photos because I haven't fully mounted it, I'm going to paint hat and carpet my box, so it isn't 100 percent.

[DrunkieTheBear]

WOW That is nice. It has a ground loop isolator built in and everything.

Just a quick question. I noticed that the first picture of the cage looks like the lip edges are only a few millimeters in size, but with the cage installed they look different on the top and bottom sections. Is there something I'm missing?

[frestylmotox01]

Whoops my bad, the cage I posted a photo is the wrong cage, the correct one has a lip like the one installed. I don't have a pic of the cage for our car before install I guess, I was so happy to get it I just wanted to install it immediately.

also got one of the last components today.

[DrunkieTheBear]

That is an awesome install, looks professional and stock! I may have to order that one if my new kit that comes in isn't the same.

[toxicavenger]

http://www.installer.com/
Metra Catalog Download

These guy's might be able help people in the US. I am still wanting to do this install on my both of my 06' Saab's but I haven't yet.

[frestylmotox01]

Enfig Car Stereo - iPod XM and Sirius Satellite Radio & Auxiliary AUX Audio input specialists << EnfigCarStereo.com iPod XM and Sirius Satellite Radio & Auxiliary AUX Audio input specialists sells the setup I got. They are a metra/connects2 dealer

[u2pilot]

Green wire for the Acc wire on the head unit

There are 4 positions for the ignition key:

LOCK
OFF
ON
START

The red wire in the Metra harness is supposed to be connected to the ACC wire on the harness. However, this wire is only powered when the ignition is in the ON position. This means your engine needs to be running in order to be able to use the head unit. You can turn the ignition to the ON position without having the engine running but this bad for the ignition and other engine parts. What we need is a wire that is powered when the ignition is in the OFF position.

That’s where the green wire from the headlight switch comes in. It has +12V when the key is in the OFF, ON and START position and 0V when in the LOCK position. So the OFF position in the Saab 9-5 becomes the ACC position found on many other vehicles.

I'm in the process of installing a JVC radio in my '03 9-3 Conv., and I did not want to lose the ability to listen to the radio with the ignition switch in the off position. If you turn a 9-5 to the lock position, does it keep dinging to tell you that your keys are in the ignition until you remove the key? If so, my 9-3 logic probably applies (though the fuse numbers and connector pins may be different.)

It turns out the required ACC signal for the radio is on Fuse 11 in the panel next to the driver (called "TWICE / DICE", or something real close to that).

This line starts at ground when there is no key in the ignition. Goes to +12V when key is turned on. Stays at +12V until key is physically removed from lock. 12V is continuously being fed to the ignition switch, and the signal of interest in a 9-3 is called +B. The signal needed comes from the ignition switch and after going through fuse-11, goes to DICE / TWICE to ding the chime until key is removed. Voltmeter shows exactly what's needed to almost exactly duplicate stock behavior on 7.5A fuse 11. WIS says that shows wire colors are Bn-Rd in and out of F11, and output is routed through pin-6 on H33 connector (not yet verified).

9-3 will let you turn the radio back on after removing key turns it off, and that isn't duplicated, but at least the ability to continue playing in lock position exists.

[DrunkieTheBear]

I finished mine a few days ago. I bought the F700bt and put the 2012 maps and firmware 4.01 on it, runs pretty good. I may upgrade to one of the newer units down the road but only if they are a significant improvement over this unit.

I bought the metra harness with the RCA's. Just as a note, my harness had the yellow and red wire switched. I just pulled the pin for the Red, left it out and put the yellow one in its place.

I also bought the 4 Ground loop isolator posted a few pages back and I have no popping noise as described by others.

For the Steering wheel controls we are Version #11, in case you don't have the sheet with the specs.

I have the back-up camera (Pioneer ND-BC6) wired in and as is posted in this thread earlier, use the solid Green wire running up the Right side (Passenger US) of the A pillar in the car. This is a 12v signal, so make sure your headunit can either read it by 12v signal or that you can set it to 12v instead of ground signal. I mounted mine on the right side of the trunk lid, probably should have done the left, but they gave me over 25 feet of cable. To do so, pop the trunk lid cover off on the inside and undo the 6 10mm bolts, this will allow you to snake the wire over the license plate trim surround and under the Rear fog/reverse light assembly. I added a bit of silicon where the wire comes in under the light to make sure no leaks ever occur. I choose to run it on the outside of the bundle of cables (Didn't want to add any more wires to that bundle, I already had to redo the wires), used a zip tie where all the hard plastic sections occur, slipped through the slot between the taillight down into the bumper and up in under the black plastic trim in the trunk. Camera is pretty nice to have on occasion, although this unit is a bit slow to show it when you select reverse. I'm also surprised that the quality of it is like those early camera phones, figured for $110 it would be a little better.

I used the install kit that is technically supposed to be for our cars, but it is still a universal kit so its not 100% perfect. My stereo can come out pretty easy and I think wolf is right, if someone wants to steal it, make it easy for them so they don't damage the car.

I went to Lowe's to have them color match the trim. The dab they put on top of the container matches perfectly but for some reason it is now a shade lighter in the car. I may tint it with a little black and try again. The jack in the front is for my XM Satellite unit with Lifetime subscription this was the easier way to do it for now, since I have an Ipod hook up too.

As for the headunit itself, it clears up the audio in the car by a lot. There is definitely more bass and I find myself needing no reason to upgrade anything else as this is completely satisfactory. I would rate the system at an 7.8/10 for sound. Acura ELS sound system would be a 9/10 for me. My dad's Toyota Avalon surround sound a 8.5/10 for reference.



Thanks wolf for the write up, I don't think I could have done it without it.

[chadwick110]

Ok, new owner here. Just bought a 2002 9-5 2.3t this week. I love the way it drives, but am rather turned off by the stereo.

So, I've read this carefully, and don't want to take this another direction, but I have a single DIN JVC head unit and the JVC-SIR1 Sirius radio adapter that goes behind it to integrate the Sirius. Oh, and I'm cheap! So, I realize that I could purchase a new double DIN and corresponding Sirius adapter, but I'd like your thoughts on how I can use what I currently have. (The JVC-SIR1 doesn't work with any newer JVC head units.)

I've put the stereo in and pulled it out of two other cars, so I'm not afraid of the electronics, though the soldering worries me enough... I talked to a local shop here today and he said that he'd be able to set it up as a single DIN installation with a small pocket to fit the remaining vertical space and integrate the Sirius Tuner for $185.

I can buy a cheap double DIN JVC Head Unit and do the work myself for that much, so I'm hesitant. Did I mention I'm cheap? I also have a Sirius dock and play unit that I could just plug in to an aux in port on a new unit and have good sound but control through the dock and play. I'm not willing to do the new JVC Double DIN and the $120 new Sirius tuner though.

I haven't seen evidence of anyone successfully (or with as much detail as this) replace the factory stereo with a single DIN.

What would you recommend? Oh, and just as a reminder, I'm cheap! (Heck, I bought the car because it was less than USD4K--but now I'm falling more in love with it.)