Some audio shop wanted $500 for my system install and $350 for my navigation install. Looks like I saved myself $850.

 

500 for the install of ur system? what did that include? hope not just an ampsub install. ur ampsub installs ok.. good have looked better. was the vss wire easy for u to hookup? that wire is usually the pita. good work

 

Looks good, but hide the wires for the sub/amp and it will look really clean.

 

Still kinda messy since I just finished yesterday.

$500 installation included:

-Front & Rear Components
-Power/RCA runs
-2 ch. & 4 Ch. amp

Instead, I built my own box, ran the cables (4 gauge & quality RCA's), xover, added power cap, retrofited 6.5" components into 4" stock panels, bypass factory system, etc.

$350 installation for navigation - I completed it myself in 1.5 hours. I hooked up the unit without the VSS and everything worked perfectly, in 3D model and all. It detected my speed, direction, etc. before I even hooked up the VSS. VSS is just behind the cluster, so that was easy.

 

What kind of car? a toyota? Clean up the trunk and you will be good to go. Good looking out on the diy

 

Nice job

 

oh i can see why they wanted so much. 2ch,4ch, ampsub, front and rear components. what type of vehicle and how did u bypass the factory amp? did u run your own lines thru the doorjams and what not or did u tap the lines to the output of the factory amp? i wanna see some pics of ur retrofit as well. might give me some ideas.

 

I thought you don't have to bypass a factory amp if you're hooking up a 4ch. amp.

 

Car is a Lexus GS. I tapped into the factory wires. The factory system no longer have anything to do with this one, I completely unplugged everything. No pics of the retrofit, but I used speaker ring adapters and insulated the back.

 

nice

 

Nice job. Hooking up that VSS wire will make sure your nav doesn't get "lost" when it doesn't have GPS signal.

 

There are several ways to bypass a factory amp.

Replace all wiring (no shops do this)

Loop OEM amps inputs to the outputs (shops prefer this)

Run speaker wires from behind deck to OEM amp outputs (shops are often forced to do this)

Find speaker connections in the individual B pillars and front kicks (last resort)

Which method is chosen is based on how the OEM amp is wired. If it's individual speaker wires from the deck to the amp, you can just loop it at the amp. But a lot of shitty companies have line level outputs mimicking RCAs, or common ground, or something else stupid.

Going rate in so cal for an in-dash navigation assuming no serious custom work is required is $180.