hgray14 Posted November 6, 2008 Report Share Posted November 6, 2008 I am looking to replace my factory head unit in my 1993 850 GLT with a Pioneer. I have done stereo swaps on other cars but never a Volvo. I have had two of my 850's upgraded at a shop but want to learn to do them myself since I have lots of Volvos.On Crutchfield's website they list this as the mounting kit but I have a question or two.http://tinyurl.com/5o6phm1) This unit seems to get pretty bad ratings from users. Any suggestions of better places to buy a higher quality unit?2) This unit seems to just be a pocket... other than the wiring harness that I see for sale on Crutchfield what else is need to install a new stereo? My stereo has a metal mounting sleeve already on it...is that it? Does that fit universally into the stock stereo hole or is something else needed?3) With a wiring harness adapter will I be able to reinstall my stock stereo when I go to sell the car or is there wire splicing involved?any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated.Houston Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonutsDemise Posted November 6, 2008 Report Share Posted November 6, 2008 the crutchfield thing is just a pocket. I haven't had any problems that glue didn't fix. the volvo harness you get from them needs to be spliced to the aftermarket HU wiring harness and then just plugs into the car so you won't have to hack any of your car's wires. the stock unit will go right in if you want it to in the future. the Din sleeve for the aftermarket hu is all you need for it to slide into the slot where the volvo hu was. the pocket fills the empty space left.so other than this harness and the pocket, all you need are some terminal connectors for the wires you're going to splice together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chilled man Posted November 6, 2008 Report Share Posted November 6, 2008 ? I love the kit I have used it in every volvo I have owned. sure its not amazing but theres nothing else out there and it works perfect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdimag Posted November 6, 2008 Report Share Posted November 6, 2008 double-din dvd/hdd/gps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hgray14 Posted November 7, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 7, 2008 the crutchfield thing is just a pocket. I haven't had any problems that glue didn't fix. the volvo harness you get from them needs to be spliced to the aftermarket HU wiring harness and then just plugs into the car so you won't have to hack any of your car's wires. the stock unit will go right in if you want it to in the future. the Din sleeve for the aftermarket hu is all you need for it to slide into the slot where the volvo hu was. the pocket fills the empty space left.so other than this harness and the pocket, all you need are some terminal connectors for the wires you're going to splice together.I am looking at their wiring harness and it appears to only support 4 speakers. What is up with that? All the years of cars that kit covers have 6 speakers. How hard is it to splice in the extra speaker wires to the aftermarket harness? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdimag Posted November 7, 2008 Report Share Posted November 7, 2008 it goes to an amp first, so thats front left/right and rear left/rightyou don't need to do anything extra Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonutsDemise Posted November 7, 2008 Report Share Posted November 7, 2008 yeah, there will only be four speaker wire couples coming out of the aftermarket hu harness anyway. you'll still have sound from 8 speakers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hgray14 Posted November 7, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 7, 2008 yeah, there will only be four speaker wire couples coming out of the aftermarket hu harness anyway. you'll still have sound from 8 speakers.So they must couple the two fronts, which shouldn't be a big deal since one of the front sets is speakers and the other is tweeters. Coupling the back two sets of speakers together sounds kind of like a waste. On my turbo I have high end back speakers in both the doors and the back deck but the back deck's set can handle a lot more sound than the doors. If the wiring harness is delivering a split signal between both back sets of speakers it means you can only go as loud as your weakest speakers (which are the ones in the doors) so really good, high watt deck speakers aren't going to get you anything extra, anything above what the doors can handle. I wonder if it might not be a better idea to just disconnect the door speakers in the rear and let the deck do all the work for the rear balance of the sound.Actually, now that I look at one of my Pioneer stereo instructions I see that they have a seperate rear outlet if I want to run an amp. Sounds like that would get me the most for the way the speakers are set up in my turbo. The '93 850 GLT can just live with a split rear signal since the sound is good enough and the only reason I am changing the stereo is because the girlfriend wants a bluetooth stereo (plus USB).thanks for the help; I appreciate it. I wasn't going to do this myself but it looks doable now that I have gotten some advice from you guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonutsDemise Posted November 7, 2008 Report Share Posted November 7, 2008 as previously mentioned the wires go from the HU to a stock amplifier which sends separate signals to the separate speakers. they do not ride the same wires to both speakers on either side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hgray14 Posted November 7, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 7, 2008 it goes to an amp first, so thats front left/right and rear left/rightyou don't need to do anything extraooops, I didn't see your response. Well, there Volvo goes thinking ahead...again.I just had one of my aftermarket stereos pulled out so that I could see the wiring to see if I could figure anything out. What I did figure out is that if the stereo comes with a mounting bracket than you don't need anything other than a wiring harness. I thought $75 for installing a stereo in the new car was cheap (which it will be if I end up running into problems doing it myself) but now that I see that wiring harnesses are cheap and I already have everything else I need I am definitely going to try it myself.thanks again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Betty Posted November 7, 2008 Report Share Posted November 7, 2008 i really wouldn't buy a wiring harness adapter of the net. I'll explain i bought an adapter at an audio shop it didn't fit it said it was for all 850's 93-97. Now i know not every 850 will have the same harness. I brought it back and they handed me every volvo harness i went out the car and found which one it was. Much easier then mailing it back and waiting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hgray14 Posted November 7, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 7, 2008 i really wouldn't buy a wiring harness adapter of the net. I'll explain i bought an adapter at an audio shop it didn't fit it said it was for all 850's 93-97. Now i know not every 850 will have the same harness. I brought it back and they handed me every volvo harness i went out the car and found which one it was. Much easier then mailing it back and waitingThanks, I think I read that in a post of yours from another thread and took it to heart. I am going to go to my local shop tomorrow and see what they have. If I can't find it locally THEN I will order online but I agree; it is much easier to not have to ship back the wrong ones over and over again. thanks againHouston Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Betty Posted November 7, 2008 Report Share Posted November 7, 2008 Thanks, I think I read that in a post of yours from another thread and took it to heart. I am going to go to my local shop tomorrow and see what they have. If I can't find it locally THEN I will order online but I agree; it is much easier to not have to ship back the wrong ones over and over again. thanks againHoustontweeter is where i bought mine same price as online Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonutsDemise Posted November 7, 2008 Report Share Posted November 7, 2008 Thanks, I think I read that in a post of yours from another thread and took it to heart. I am going to go to my local shop tomorrow and see what they have. If I can't find it locally THEN I will order online but I agree; it is much easier to not have to ship back the wrong ones over and over again. thanks againHoustoncrutchfield is good. i use them whenever i upgrade. the harness works fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdimag Posted November 7, 2008 Report Share Posted November 7, 2008 tweeter is where i bought mine same price as onlinetweeter was sold to a liquidation firm ....deal time :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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