I recently just redid the entire audio setup in my vehicle, and it took me a few searches here and there to get the proper information needed, so I figure I throw everything together to help those in the future.
This is for those of you who are planning to upgrade your factory deck and amp. For those hoping to get an aftermarket 4-channel amplifier to power some aftermarket speakers, the information here should help you out a lot.
I would recommend removing the passenger seat. It's 4 14mm bolts on each corner. Pry out the bolt covers with a flathead or just carefully popping them out by hand.
You should see the Inifinity factory amp. Unplug the wiring harness from the amp and the 6-pin din cable. If you are upgrading the deck along with the amp you can then proceed to remove the 6-pin din cable and factory amp. The factory amp is secured by 2 screws. Use a phillips screwdriver to remove them.
Now the part that seems to be confusing a lot of people. Unless you are going to track down all the wiring in the car and removing them and wire up all new speaker connectors; this wiring harness is the heart and soul of it all. You could also go from the wiring harness behind the deck, but as most of you know it is only for the door/rear speakers, the tweeter connectors are from the wiring harness under the seat. Not to mention you will find it is easier to route the wires going to the amp from here. Also if you are going to run component speakers with the external passive crossovers.
Below is the factory wiring harness wiring colors (Thanks to Attack Eagle):
Left Front Tweeter
+ yellow/blue
- gray/blue
Left Front
+ white/blue
- black/blue
Left Rear
+ yellow/blue
- gray/blue
-------------------------
Right Front Tweeter
+ yellow/red
- gray/red
Right Front
+ white/red
- black/red
Right Rear
+ yellow/red
- gray/red
**NOTE: THE TWEETERS AND REAR SPEAKERS OF THE SAME SIDE HAVE THE SAME COLORS. Use the 9v popping the speaker technique to tell which is which. I actually just hooked up the speaker to the deck to test it out. Make sure its on very low volume. Take a look at the picture below, for reference. It is PRIOR to installing a component set with tweeters.
The picture above should give you an idea of where all the speaker leads are. This is with NO tweeters connected. Your standard coaxial speakers. As reference you can see all the connections are on the right of the wiring harness.
The picture above is with a component set installed and tweeters installed. The tweeter connections were on the left side of the wiring harness.
Below is the wiring diagram from the service manual. This might help some of you if the above hasn't already.
So if your going to run an aftermarket deck and an aftermarket 4-channel amp just tap the wires from the wiring harness under the passenger seat to the amp. Use the pair of RCA preouts from the deck to the amp. It is definitely worth it. Aftermarket decks still don't have enough power to give to speakers. Also upgrade those stock tweeters, they are trash.
**UPDATE**
Thanks, its in the tech article section.
Also as you see in the pictures I'm using super duper cheap Pyramid passive x-overs. How are they holding up? Still good after how long its been since the date on the article. I'm not using any pyramid speakers, just the crossovers. I have pioneer r-series coaxs on the doors, and silk dome 1" tweets on the dash. I like how more complete the sound stage is with components, so I did that ghetto component set and just got the xovers. You better believe the highs can get extremely high!
Also after some experimentation, if you are not planning to upgrade the stock amp, but change the deck, before throwing out the stock amp, and think that your expensive $300 deck powering the speakers will make the overall sound better, listen again. This seems to be the general case with people.
They upgrade the deck, bypass the stock amp, and claim yea it sounds a lot better. Well perhaps its a placebo effect since you spent $200-300 thinking it will make everything sound that much better, but does it really?
No name cheap decks, up to the most expensive ones, I believe max rms power is 18w? Using the speaker leads behind the deck/using a harness, you lose your tweeters. And dont you notice how the soundstage has shifted to the rear of the car.
Who knows how many rms power the stock amp puts out, but by comparison from your ears, using the stock amp should sound better, esp if combined with an aftermarket deck.
So if you want sound on a budget, buy an aftermarket deck that has 4 channel preamp outputs (seperate non fading sub outs would be nice) (which most people who upgrade do buy thinking if I buy the most expensive it will sound better, not even thinking about getting an external 4ch amp), buy the MITAH adapter. The MITAH adapter is a proprietary connector that allows you to plug in the 4 channel output from the deck to the stock infinity amp. The wiring should be much cleaner behind the deck, the only things you need to connect is the power/ground/remote I believe.
That's just my exp., I'm cheap, but like to see the best I can get for very little amount. Obviously upgrading to a better amp is the recommended by audio gurus. But there are people who don't even consider anything after upgrading teh deck, this is just maximizing that path with only a few more bucks.
----------------------
LATEST UPDATE..
ok so as I noted above using the Mitah adapter and having the amp power the speakers "sounds better" then using your aftermarket desk to power your speakers
You know why? Because if you bypass the amp and just use a harness behind the deck to wire the speakers, guess what... your dash speakers no longer work, so its 2 less speakers.
When you use the mitah adapter, the stock amp is powering the speakers, and the way things are wired, the stock amp has the BUILT IN XOVER for the dash speakers to work.
So thats why I initially said using the Mitah adapter is better..
But is that really a fair comparison? OF COURSE NOT.. To this date NO ONE knows the exact RMS watts that the stock amp is putting out.
So what I did for a sound test to make it an even comparison(WHICH IS WHAT I WOULD NOW RECOMMEND IF YOU ARE NOT GETTING AN AFTERMARKET AMP) is got a component speaker set for the front which comes with passive xovers.. then I wire the deck to the xovers then wire it accordingly so the dash speakers work and the deck is powering it this time.
So from my comparison I will have to say, the aftermarket deck is louder/cleaner power, which probably means it does put out more RMS watts then the old and outdated stock amp. You wire it up the same way as mentioned above, and the best place to tap the wires is still in the stock amp harness.
This is for those of you who are planning to upgrade your factory deck and amp. For those hoping to get an aftermarket 4-channel amplifier to power some aftermarket speakers, the information here should help you out a lot.
I would recommend removing the passenger seat. It's 4 14mm bolts on each corner. Pry out the bolt covers with a flathead or just carefully popping them out by hand.
You should see the Inifinity factory amp. Unplug the wiring harness from the amp and the 6-pin din cable. If you are upgrading the deck along with the amp you can then proceed to remove the 6-pin din cable and factory amp. The factory amp is secured by 2 screws. Use a phillips screwdriver to remove them.
Now the part that seems to be confusing a lot of people. Unless you are going to track down all the wiring in the car and removing them and wire up all new speaker connectors; this wiring harness is the heart and soul of it all. You could also go from the wiring harness behind the deck, but as most of you know it is only for the door/rear speakers, the tweeter connectors are from the wiring harness under the seat. Not to mention you will find it is easier to route the wires going to the amp from here. Also if you are going to run component speakers with the external passive crossovers.
Below is the factory wiring harness wiring colors (Thanks to Attack Eagle):
Left Front Tweeter
+ yellow/blue
- gray/blue
Left Front
+ white/blue
- black/blue
Left Rear
+ yellow/blue
- gray/blue
-------------------------
Right Front Tweeter
+ yellow/red
- gray/red
Right Front
+ white/red
- black/red
Right Rear
+ yellow/red
- gray/red
**NOTE: THE TWEETERS AND REAR SPEAKERS OF THE SAME SIDE HAVE THE SAME COLORS. Use the 9v popping the speaker technique to tell which is which. I actually just hooked up the speaker to the deck to test it out. Make sure its on very low volume. Take a look at the picture below, for reference. It is PRIOR to installing a component set with tweeters.
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
The picture above should give you an idea of where all the speaker leads are. This is with NO tweeters connected. Your standard coaxial speakers. As reference you can see all the connections are on the right of the wiring harness.
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
The picture above is with a component set installed and tweeters installed. The tweeter connections were on the left side of the wiring harness.
Below is the wiring diagram from the service manual. This might help some of you if the above hasn't already.
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
So if your going to run an aftermarket deck and an aftermarket 4-channel amp just tap the wires from the wiring harness under the passenger seat to the amp. Use the pair of RCA preouts from the deck to the amp. It is definitely worth it. Aftermarket decks still don't have enough power to give to speakers. Also upgrade those stock tweeters, they are trash.
**UPDATE**
Thanks, its in the tech article section.
Also as you see in the pictures I'm using super duper cheap Pyramid passive x-overs. How are they holding up? Still good after how long its been since the date on the article. I'm not using any pyramid speakers, just the crossovers. I have pioneer r-series coaxs on the doors, and silk dome 1" tweets on the dash. I like how more complete the sound stage is with components, so I did that ghetto component set and just got the xovers. You better believe the highs can get extremely high!
Also after some experimentation, if you are not planning to upgrade the stock amp, but change the deck, before throwing out the stock amp, and think that your expensive $300 deck powering the speakers will make the overall sound better, listen again. This seems to be the general case with people.
They upgrade the deck, bypass the stock amp, and claim yea it sounds a lot better. Well perhaps its a placebo effect since you spent $200-300 thinking it will make everything sound that much better, but does it really?
No name cheap decks, up to the most expensive ones, I believe max rms power is 18w? Using the speaker leads behind the deck/using a harness, you lose your tweeters. And dont you notice how the soundstage has shifted to the rear of the car.
Who knows how many rms power the stock amp puts out, but by comparison from your ears, using the stock amp should sound better, esp if combined with an aftermarket deck.
So if you want sound on a budget, buy an aftermarket deck that has 4 channel preamp outputs (seperate non fading sub outs would be nice) (which most people who upgrade do buy thinking if I buy the most expensive it will sound better, not even thinking about getting an external 4ch amp), buy the MITAH adapter. The MITAH adapter is a proprietary connector that allows you to plug in the 4 channel output from the deck to the stock infinity amp. The wiring should be much cleaner behind the deck, the only things you need to connect is the power/ground/remote I believe.
That's just my exp., I'm cheap, but like to see the best I can get for very little amount. Obviously upgrading to a better amp is the recommended by audio gurus. But there are people who don't even consider anything after upgrading teh deck, this is just maximizing that path with only a few more bucks.
----------------------
LATEST UPDATE..
ok so as I noted above using the Mitah adapter and having the amp power the speakers "sounds better" then using your aftermarket desk to power your speakers
You know why? Because if you bypass the amp and just use a harness behind the deck to wire the speakers, guess what... your dash speakers no longer work, so its 2 less speakers.
When you use the mitah adapter, the stock amp is powering the speakers, and the way things are wired, the stock amp has the BUILT IN XOVER for the dash speakers to work.
So thats why I initially said using the Mitah adapter is better..
But is that really a fair comparison? OF COURSE NOT.. To this date NO ONE knows the exact RMS watts that the stock amp is putting out.
So what I did for a sound test to make it an even comparison(WHICH IS WHAT I WOULD NOW RECOMMEND IF YOU ARE NOT GETTING AN AFTERMARKET AMP) is got a component speaker set for the front which comes with passive xovers.. then I wire the deck to the xovers then wire it accordingly so the dash speakers work and the deck is powering it this time.
So from my comparison I will have to say, the aftermarket deck is louder/cleaner power, which probably means it does put out more RMS watts then the old and outdated stock amp. You wire it up the same way as mentioned above, and the best place to tap the wires is still in the stock amp harness.
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