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Re: Stereo Install
Posted by Gene Kaufman (more from Gene Kaufman) on Wed, 15 Jan 2003 22:16:11
In Reply to: , Kok Chen, Sat, 17 Dec 1988 12:00:00 

I, too, have a 1990 900 and for Christmas santa was kind enough to bring me a
CD player. I've never installed an auto stereo component, and was somewhat
hesitant about doing it myself. However, someone on this or another mailing
list recently posted a note along the lines of 'Saab uses industry-standard
wire colors, so it should be pretty easy'. that was enough for me. I went to
wal-mart, bought a replacement stereo puller ($3.98, as also mentioned), and
then ripped it out. Getting the frame that it fits into out was only slightly
more work, but easy enough. Now, I found out that while there is, in fact, a
wiring harness that connects the stereo to the rest of the system, the wire
colors did NOT match my new stereo. So obviously, one or the other was NOT
standard. Even though I had the original Saab stereo manual (with wiring
diagram), I decided to see if I could find a Saab wiring harness. I knew that
it was a long shot, but decided to try. Eventually, I made my way to Circuit
City. I walked in carrying the frame so that I could verify that the harness
fit. The salesman recognized that it was from a Saab which I took as a good
sign, and then he said that if the car has an equalizer in it (which mine
does), then i'll need to rewire the whole thing, even if I don't plan on
using the existing equalizer, because 'that is an amplified system, and you
won't even be able to use the speakers unless you rewire.' Needless to say,
he didn't have a wiring harness, either. I was getting a little discouraged
by this point, but decided to try it myself any way. I went home, cut the
harness off the frame, and utilizing the wiring diagrams from the old and new
stereos, as well as a dozen or more twisty wire caps and a whole lot of
electrical tape, I got the wires all reconfigured. Oh yeah, I also noticed
that my Saab stereo manual described my radio as an 'amplified radio'. I'm
certainly not an auto audio enthusiast, but I took the Circuit City
salesman's advice to indicate that the system was amplified outside of the
removed stereo, but the manual seemed to contradict that. I was very
confused, but didn't let that slow me down. I hooked up the new stereo,
started the car, and the new stereo started right up. The sound was actually
louder than my original stereo, and in fact, the right side speakers were now
working again. The antenna was even hooked up right. So basically, the
Circuit City IDIOT was trying to scare me into bringing it in to his shop. I
feel like going back there and punching that sucker. My total cost to
install: a package of wire nuts, and the loss of use of my old frame (since I
had to cut off the wiring harness). It took me about an hour to manually
match up the wires (i'm even color-blind and had no problems) My new stereo
has a built-in equalizer, so my factory installed one is just taking up space
until I decide to remove it. And everything works and sounds great. Don't
ever go to Circuit City.
(My wife (santa) bought me the unit at walmart. It's really cool, plays MP3's
even. I specifically wanted a cheap, no-name brand, as my 900 is a
convertible, and I didn't want anything worth breaking (or even REACHING)
into to steal. All I need is functionality, I don't care what the name is.)
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