Experience with Crutchfield and installation

[JonD25]

So, I've been in the market for a new receiver for my car stereo. I know there are plenty of threads to search through for advice on what to pick for my needs, but that's not what this thread is about. My question is about Crutchfield.com. How easy is it to use their installation kits?

Let me first give some context. I have a 1997 Toyota Corolla and all I really want to do is to be able to plug in my iPhone through an aux input. I don't need USB input, I don't really need bluetooth (though it would be nice), or anything else fancy. My brother owned the car before me, and he had some Kenwood CD player installed years ago, but it doesn't have an aux input. So it's already an aftermarket receiver.

Since my needs were simple, I was planning on getting the Pioneer DEH-11E. But here's where I'm at a dilemma. I've never installed a receiver myself and don't have the slightest clue how. So I was going to get a professional to install it and was looking at another $50 or so for that. But I noticed Crutchfield offers free installation gear and instructions if I buy a receiver that costs more than $129. If I were to buy the DEH-11E from somewhere else and got it professionally installed, my total would be about $120 or so anyways. So I'm thinking, if I just go ahead and do the install myself and get it from Crutchfield, I could get a nicer receiver for the same price as I'd be paying for a cheaper one and pro installation.

So, back to my question, how easy is it to install a receiver with what Crutchfield gives you? Will it require me to do things like soldering? (I've done a very small amount of soldering, and I don't even know if I can find my iron or if I have any extra solder around) Is the fact that there's already an aftermarket receiver in there going to help?

 

[Arn1499]

Crutchfield's install guides are actually quite detailed and they will help you alot - especially if you don't have any experience installing car audio...

Also, you don't need to solder anything. You'll probably need either wire nuts or just some black electrical tape, just joining two wires is all you'll need to do.

 

[calvy]

Of course if you know how to solder, then doing so would be much better than using wire nuts or electrical tape.

Crutchfield is usually not the cheapest place you can buy from, but it's often very competitive and they give you EVERYTHING you need to get the job done in your vehicle, including instructions and support. I haven't bought or installed a car stereo in quite a while, but I know I always loved them for this in the past.

 

[JonD25]

Since there's already an aftermarket receiver in there now, will I even need a wire harness? Should there be already one in there, and can I just use that?

 

[calvy]

Since there's already an aftermarket receiver in there now, will I even need a wire harness? Should there be already one in there, and can I just use that?

You can, but if the wires aren't labeled you can run into a nightmare trying to figure it out. If you can figure out what wire goes where, you can do that.