Stero Q

Hey Guys,

I have a Kenwood cd deck with the mask security that was in my cavalier, and I am considering if I should put it in the Alero or not. I really like how the stock one looks in the dash and I am afraid if I put an aftermarket one in it then it will look stupid. Will it sound much better? I am happy with how it sounds stock, the main reason for doing it is so that I can hook up my Ipod to the AUX jack on my Kenwood. It's a good deck, it was like $350 bucks about 2 years ago.

Also what is the best wiring harness to use? I dnt have to have to relocate my stock deck anywhere, I dont care if I lose the door chimes, that would be kinda nice anyways for when i'm cleaning the car and want to listen to the radio.

aaaaaaand would the wiring harness and mounting kit out of my 97 cavalier work in the Alero?

Mike

[VCguy85]

The aftermarket cd player will sound better then stock in most cases :P

i just bought all of the stuff on my lunch break, I bought a mounting kit, antenna adapter and mounting kit, all this so I can use mainly so that I can use my ipod lol.

The first place I went to said they didnt make a flush mount kit for the alero, so I bought theres and then I was postive I had seen several aleros on here with flush mount kits so I went to another place and sure enough they had them in stock. So I bought the flush mount from them so i'll try and return the other one tomorrow. The deck slide in fromt the rear and I dont think it would have worked with my deck anyways since the face is motorized.

What are the chances of blowing the stock speakers with an aftermarket deck? I am betting pretty good...

not that good if you know how to control your volume knob, and know what distorted speakers sound like....I generally keep my system cranked to the point where I can hear the music CLEARLY inside my house, with the car windows/doors closed, and I'm still running stock component speakers, all I have is a sub woofer setup, and my deck...I'm still saving up for my new components that I want <_<

thanks cwm, just wanted to make sure, the ones inmy cavy blew within a month and I never once had them to the point of being distorted, they where just crap haha.

I have a question about the wiring harness, I know i'll lose the chimes, but the dash lights remain right? like if I am running out of fuel, it wont make a chime but it will still say on the dash low fuel? same for the tire pressure, etc?

my lights are still there yes...and are you talking about the chimes that bitch at you when you're low on fuel, need an oil change...etc?

cause I still have those too...I'd like to get rid of them too...they irritate me greatly issed:

yes you lose those if you just use a basic wiring harness but I want to make sure I wont also lose my dash lights.

well I just recently installed an alpine deck in my alero and I had the option of running the cheap wire harness for 15 bucks or the good one for 95 bucks. Im cheap so I bought the $15 one and I lost my door chimes,abs light(never seen come on before),and my airbags(hopefully I dont hit anything too hard head-on). But it didnt seem to affect anything so far.

On the speakers side....Ive got all stock speakers that I use with my two 12'' subs and I always have em cranked, yet controlled. And they're fine. As long as you know what you're doing you'll be okay. But maybe in the future sometime you might want to save up for some decent speakers just in case

airbags dont have anything to do with the radio

In the newer alero's the airbags are run through the CD player. which is why the really expensive wiring harness has a little processor thinger in it.

can anyone else confirm this? the guy at the car audio place told me they where not, and several threads on here say they are not too... My harness is for an 2004 Alero and has no chip or anything in it.

well mine is an '03 so I'm not sure when they started running the airbags through the cd player. But every car audio place in town that I went to told me I'd lose them....not like I know for sure if I did or not, but hey....

and I dont know about the chip....how much did you pay for your wiring harness? I might be wrong, but Im guessing the expensive one for like $90 might have a chip with it. :unsure:

from what I can find the only thing you lose is the chimes that go off when a light comes on the dash.

The air bag thing is the biggest myth ever. Radio has nothing to do with the air bags, all you will lose is your chimes unless you get either the factory relocation harness (not worth it / recommended) or the metra class2 serial data retention harness, it comes with a speaker too.

thank you for clearing that up! I had heard it wasnt connected but nothing pertaining to the 04's so I wanted to make sure they didnt change anything.

[b-spot]

Originally posted by iceman@Sep 29 2004, 02:29 PM
The air bag thing is the biggest myth ever. Radio has nothing to do with the air bags, all you will lose is your chimes unless you get either the factory relocation harness (not worth it / recommended) or the metra class2 serial data retention harness, it comes with a speaker too.

:rolleyes: good avice. What if one of these guys crashes and dies because of your idiotic advice when you no nothing on the topic?

For sure on a 2004 your headunit is sitting on the databus and IS involved in correct airbag funcion. A local cav had his bags blow on the expressway for no reason cuz he went with the cheap harness. DUMB DUMB idea.

And dude... you'll risk your life to save $70? Jeez... how much do you charge for blowjobs if thats the case?

any proof that the air bags are run through the cd player? what if my stock cd skips? will that cause the air bags to blow too?

[mikegett]

I work for a OEM radio manufacturer. We are currently doing testing and programming on some of the GM radios. The deal with GM is that some vehicles use a "CAM" system to communicate certain signals. This CAM is a brain box that runs a bus or data signal via the stock radio. The radio then sends the signal to the desired sources. The main reason for this is that as your car becomes more intelligent the manufacturer needs more intelligent sources to communicate. The radio is ever advancing and becomes a very powerful tool in some situations. The problem is that not every car make, year, or even model have the same signals running through the CAM. I have a 2003 loaded with xm. After removing the radio I only lost chimes. The easiest way to find out what is running through the HU is to disconnect it. Turn the car on. Your dash lights that flash on at start up are a diagnostic tool. If the ABS or SRS light fails to come on then you have lost the signal. I can verify that the chimes, check engine light, oil light, and ABS are used in some CAM's. I have yet to see a SRS in any. The ABS does not mean that you loose your brakes, just the computer pulsing your brakes. I realize that this is pretty annoying to all of us. Unfortunately, it is only going to get worse. The new models of HU for 04 and 05 allow a programer to alter what is going through the cam via serial ports. The neat thing is that it allows a firmware upgrade. Meaning a unit without mp3 could be upgraded to Mp3 via software. I predict that the next step will be placing dvd drives in place of cd. The only difference between a 500 dollar cd HU and 1100 dvd HU would be a simple software upgrade.