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2008 Saab 9-5 Aftermarket Audio  7 Saabers Like This Post!
Posted by bobc [Email]  (#473)  [Profile/Gallery]
(more from bobc) on Wed, 8 Jul 2020 09:27:08
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TL;DR; use the installation kit from Incartec!
My ‘08 SC is a wonderful car but I’ve always hated the GM “Chevy Malibu” radio. It’s ugly (to my eyes) and sounded awful (spoiler alert: I discovered that that OEM head unit does not sound nearly as bad as I had thought). So I decided to upgrade the The head unit and the speakers.
I'm not sure of the origin of "Angry Kitchen Appliances" but it has tons of good on Saab audio systems. It’s worth taking some time to look it over. http://z90.pl/saab/Angry%20Kitchen%20Appliances_%20Saab%209-5%20Audio%20FAQ.html
Using this I was able to identify my audio system as the AS3/ESS53 Prestige 200 5 Door.
Amplifier:
I decided to keep the OEM amp. The OEM amp is not stellar but it’s good enough for my ears, and keeping it made sense for me and my budget. With some study and some trial and error I discovered that the amp does double duty. It takes 4 *balanced line level inputs*. It then amplifies and filters the signal and sends output to each of the 8 or 9 speakers.
Speakers:
First step was to replace the speakers. I will say that the OEM speakers in this car look and feel crappy. They have paper cones and smallish magnets. My ‘00 and ‘01 Aeros are particularly good sounding even after 20 years but the ‘08 SC sounded pretty bad.
The stock speakers have a variety of unusual impedances. I found that I could easily go insane looking for the right combination of size, impedance, and sensitivity. I decided to ignore the issue of impedance and sensitivity and just get decent replacements of the right physical size. I’d match the impedance if I could, and deal with it (perhaps by adjusting the balance/fader) if I could not. Note that going up in impedance (say to 4 ohm speakers) will not harm the head unit or amp (going down, say to 1 ohm, could)
I got my speakers from Skar Audio https://www.skaraudio.com/ and I'm quite happy with them.
The OEM speakers have a connector, and aftermarket speakers have spades. To connect them I used this:
- Metra 72-6512 2 Pin Rectangular Speaker Connector for Select Chrysler Vehicles Metra 72-6512 2 Pin Rectangular Speaker Connector
They come 2 to a pack, you don’t need these but they’ll make your day much easier.
The speakers I used:
- Subwoofer: On the wagon there is only one subwoofer. It is in the
far rear of the car on the right side (US Passenger side).
- Original specs: 6.5” 2ohm, dual voice coil, 22W.
- Mine was rattling.
- I replaced it with Skar Audio EVL-65 6.5" 400 Watt Max Power Car
Subwoofer, Dual 2 Ohm (dual voice coil)
- This replacement speaker is quite “beefy”. It was an exact fit.
- Dash right and left: These are small speakers and receive only
midrange and treble. They will not receive any bass frequencies.
- Original specs: 2.5” 2.5 ohm, 16W
- The original speakers were functioning just fine.
- I replaced with Skar Audio SK35 3.5-Inch 2-Way Coaxial Speaker, 4ohm
- The replacement was larger but was a direct fit. However, The tweeter
interferes with the speaker grill and I had to cut a hole in the grill
to make it fit.
- Front Door left and right: These speakers receive only midrange and bass
frequencies. They will not receive any high frequencies.
- Original specs: 6.5” 2.4ohm, 22W
- I replaced with Skar Audio TX65 Elite 6.5-Inch 2-Way Coaxial Speakers,
4ohm
- They were just slightly too big to fit the plastic mounting ring. I cut
the mounting ring to enlarge the opening and made a foam gasket.
- Rear door, left and right. These speakers receive only midrange and treble
- Original specs: 2.5” 2.5ohm, 16W
- The originals were very weak sounding
- I replaced with Skar Audio TX4 elite 4” Coaxial speakers, 4ohm
- They were too big for the plastic mounting ring. I cut the mounting
ring to enlarge the opening.
- Dash center: This is a small speaker and it only receives midrange and
possibly high frequencies.
- Original specs: 2.5” 5.9ohm, 16W.
- Mine was rattling.
- I replaced it with one of the 2.5” speakers from the rear doors, direct
fit. The lower impedance of this speaker made it louder (pleasingly so)
Results of phase 1: pretty good! It made me realize that the OEM radio was not so bad after all. If your audio is sounding tired and uninspired, replacing the speakers is an easy and affordable upgrade.
I still hate the look the unit so on to Phase 2
Phase 2: head unit
There is a bewildering array of aftermarket head units. In this car you can choose double or single DIN and spend $30-$3000 on the unit. All I wanted was bluetooth and HD Radio and there are plenty of good single DIN options in the $100 range. Going with a single DIN meant I could have a storage slot. I went with the Kenwood Excelon KMM-X518BT~$100. I'd say that you cant go wrong with any of the name brand units, but I'd avoid the weird cheap chinese stuff out there.
I'd strongly suggest using the harness and components from Incartec, they work. If you are replacing the head unit the components from this company are the best way to go.
The kit I used for my '08 ("9-5 facelift") https://incartec.co.uk/product/FK-310-1 which includes:
- Facia plate, suitable for single or double DIN head unit.
- Wiring harness that plugs into the car.
- Plug and play Steering wheel control interface
- Amplifier interface that provides
- CAN interface for power to the unit, amp and antenna booster.
- Conversion of audio output to balanced line out
- Antenna adapter
You'll also want:
- Patch cord, head unit specific. I got the Kenwood patch cord:
https://incartec.co.uk/product/Kenwood-Patch-for-UNICAN-Steering-interface
Results: Excellent! Sound is a vast improvement over the OEM Head unit. Bluetooth capability is great to have. I like HD Radio and the tuner is great. Steering wheel control worked right out of the box.
Full disclosure: Before ordering the Incartec harness I built my own harness. It took a few hrs:
- I used RCA outputs for audio. RCA output from most head units are unbalanced line level (the
Saab/HK amp wants balanced line level. The RCA outputs worked OK but three was some background hum
during quiet periods ... Im sure this could be filtered.
- I used use ground loop isolators to eliminate the POP at power on
- I used power that turned on with key-on and off with key-off. This is not as Saab intends. It's
not a big deal but Saab intends radio power as follows:
- key-on: radio has power
- key-off: radio still has power, until you remove key.
- This is only available through the CAN bus.
- If you want steering wheel control you still need the steering wheel control interface from Incartec. The others simply do not work on the '06 and up models.
- PAC does not support '06 and up. Some Saabers have gotten it to work by hacking into the
steering wheel harness. (which I did not want to do)
- Axxess claims support of '06 and up but they do not, I tried everything including
working with their tech support via email and on the phone. I found no one that
got the Axxess interface to work on the '06 and up models
disclaimer: no affiliation with Skar or Incartec, just a happy customer.
_______________________________________ '08 9⁵ 2.3T SportCombi, Polar White '01 9⁵ Aero Midnight Blue (benched) '00 9⁵ Aero Midnight Blue (rescued) '99 9⁵ Base model, Cosmic blue '00 9⁵ Aero Silver (RIP - transmission )
, Wed, 8 Jul 2020 09:27:08 <-- Viewing This Message
7, Wed, 8 Jul 2020 21:28:55
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