aftermarket CD player with premium sound system

[steinm10]

My radio display, like many other's have probably experienced goes in and out of displaying. I have a aftermarket CD player just sitting around and I want to hook it up, but also want to be able to hook it up to the premium sound system. Is this possible??

 

[manaen]

there is an easy fix for the display, if you know how to use a solder iron, in about 30 minutes you can have the whole thing working as it should. This was the first thing I fixed on my truck when I purchased it. There is a sticky about this here. Basically the power supply for the face was soldered with very weak/soft solder and when it heats up it breaks the joints. All you need to do is remove all the old solder with solder wick. Then re-solder them with a good quality solder. I did mine about 5 months ago and it has been working great ever since.

 

[baseballX]

I think you could hook up your aftermarket without loosing your premium sound system, I believe all that refers to is there are small amps after the head unit to the speakers. I think the speakers are of better quality as well. An aftermarket unit typically has more pre-amp power output per channel (40-55W usually) unless it's POS head unit. It would actually make it louder than what you have right now. If you choose that though, be prepared to buy new speakers if you get volume knob happy : as they are probably not rated for that amount of power. But to install the head unit you'll need a dash kit & wiring harness too. And don't bother installing a head unit that is a POS, you'll end up wanting your OE unit back anyways.

If you're you're not concerned about more power, definitely do the soldering fix. Manaen says 30 mins but if you're proficient in taking off the front dash console it could easily be less than that.

 

[0212353]

make it easy - http://www.crutchfield.com/S-q3qusNUM3vo/cgi-bin/prodview.asp?i=120705517

this setup works great. Get a RCA plug that goes from 2 male to 1 female and you are set.

 

[steinm10]

I already tried to attempt this yesterday w/o any luck. I'm going to try again today and since I already cut the wires, I'll give it a few more tries before I purchase that harness from Crutchfield.

My radio isn't even getting power, so I'm hoping it's something that I've connected wrong.

 

[steinm10]

Alright...I have everything hooked up properly. I must say I'm very impressed with the way it sounds for a stock system.

The only problem I am having is that damn wining noise when you step on the gas. Is this due to the quality of the connections? I was also getting some feedback from the sub when moving the wires around behind the CD deck...not sure what is causing this either...any suggestions??

 

[mikeinri]

Go to the Crutchfield website, and search for noise suppression. What you're looking for is their FREE article on how to troubleshoot noise. Very thorough and methodical, should help you a lot.

Mike

 

[steinm10]

Awesome...I found it on Crutchfield...I'll take a look at it later.

Thanks alot for the advice.

 

[IAmTodd]

With the proper harness adapter hooking up to the '98+ systems is simple as plugging it in.