Replace the stereo in a 97 (1 Viewer)

[perk]

Yo StressPuppy, Glad to hear you are going with the 6.5". IMHO they blow away any 5.25" (fine for lesser systems) when installed with a upper echelon amp such as the one you have listed. Here is what I did just to give you another angle on possibilities. My setup: Alpine 7892 HU, Adire Audio's Koda components up front, CDT cl6x in 2nd row, 2 JLAudio 12WO's in cargo along with a Alpine V-12 5 channel amp hidden under cargo mat to power everything.

The part that may be of interest to you is my front component install. Basically, I removed the magazine-map compatment on the door. I then carpetd that whole area with some tan rear cargo carpet from a '99 4runner so the carpet runs at a slight angle with the vynil on the door. Where the carpet meets the vynil I used some darker brown tube-like trim from a fabric store (used for borders when sewing) to give it a nice finished look. Then used 3/4" MDF cut into an elongated triangle shape with rounded corners to mount both my mid and tweet. The crossover is mounted inside the door. This install looks like factory. I am very pleased with the results and get compliments all the time on the install. Oh, I did have to cut a bit of metal on door frame to get the magnet to fit.
Wish I had a digital camera. Will definately post some pic's when I can. You do the same.

Good Luck, Vince

Vince,
Very nice setup, it must sound amazing. Would love to see those pics. Been researching system upgrade. I was thinking Koda's too until I saw they've got a 3" mounting depth. I think I'll be going with CDT CL62i's for the front, these have similar depths as the MB's Stresspuppy put in, so no metal cutting. Those CDT's you put in the rear doors have a mounting depth of 2.25", what did you have to do to fit those?

Thanks
Perk

 

[CougarCruiser97]

I found the stereo installation in my '97 LC to be easy. I replaced all the door speakers with the Eclipse versions... 5.25 up front and 4'' in the back. I hooked them up to the stock wiring and deck for a week or so. Stage 2 was getting the Kenwood deck installed. I had a shop here in Seattle do it for me and they had no problems. Charged me 100 bucks for installation since they had to bypass all of the amp stuff and get into the wiring which sits right behind the passenger side dash speaker. Took them a few hours to do, but no problems.

Stage 3, as you can see from the pics (hopefully I attached them correctly), I built a custom enclosure to fit a small amp and a 10'' woofer on the rear passenger side of the cargo area. Fits like a glove and doesn't take up any space at all.

The LC's have such tight tolerances that the sound is fantastic... and aside from spending so much on the head unit, satellite radio, etc... The speakers and sub amp were CHEAP.

No fiberglass... No 26 amplifiers and re-wiring the car... just some good, basic installation techniques that any qualified shop can handle or a DIY wrench...

 

[dubyehnel]

is there any reason any of the wiring would be different on a 96 because when I go to crutchfield.com and search for the head units, like that kenwood, it says they fit for the 96 but require modifications when I select 97? any ideas why that would say that or is just not correct?