Installing Pioneer AVH-3300BT
by kavdawg » Thu Sep 15, 2011 6:10 am
Hey Everyone,
I'm a periodic lurker and now first time poster to this forum. I've been a proud owner of a 2004 Silver SE Sport since October 2003. It has served me well over the last 8 years and is going strong with 100k miles and I hope it will continue to serve me will for another 100k+ miles. The car is completely stock with no modifications whatsoever. Gone are the days of good FM radio programming and burned CDs. I have decided after all these years to finally upgrade my stock JBL 6 disc headunit with something a bit more modern. I have never done any car stereo installation work and my only real technical experience is minor speaker wiring work for my basement home theater system. So in essence, I'm a total newbie. I've decided to start this thread to post my install experience so maybe someone down the line can benefit from my successes and blunders along the way.
After some research the last few days I decided on the Pioneer AVH-3300BT.
What appeals to me this head unit is it meets my needs: hands-free phone, iPhone integration with navigation capabilities, nice touchscreen and a reputable name-brand. I ended up purchasing this unit from Crutchfield. While I found a cheaper price on Amazon (by nearly $100), I decided to go with Crutchfield due to its reputation and tech-support. I figured since I'm a novice at this, I'll probably end up using their service during the install.
My order from Crutchfield will include the unit and a Scosche dash kit. Doing some research on this forum, it seems that from the Scosche silver color is a bit off from the OEM color and that the Metra is a better match. While this is a concern, I'm going to stick with the Scosche and see what it looks like to me. I figure if it looks bad, I can always replace it with a Metra kit later.
Crutchfield also recommended that I purchase a wire harness that will connect the Pioneer to the factory JBL amp. I ended up not ordering this opting to bypass the JBL amp based on past experience of other users with JBL amp integration interfaces. Instead, I purchased a Metra 70-8117 from Amazon for around $10. I'm hoping this does the trick. I recall reading on an old post, that one user stated that by using this harness one will lose their center speaker? Is this true? Is there anyway I can bypass the JBL amp and not lose my center speaker? Should I have just gone with the recommended amp integration interface?
I also purchased an PAC-SWI PS to use my steering wheel control. Hoping that this part of the install goes well.
Finally, I'd like to bypass the parking break so anyone I have in the passenger seat can watch movies while on the road, but I understand doing so would violate the factory warranty. So I guess I'll hold off on that for now and maybe save that project for down the road.
I'll be doing this install on Saturday, so I'll be sure to post pictures later this weekend. Let me know if you have any suggestions or tips before I go through with this. Thanks in advance!
I'm a periodic lurker and now first time poster to this forum. I've been a proud owner of a 2004 Silver SE Sport since October 2003. It has served me well over the last 8 years and is going strong with 100k miles and I hope it will continue to serve me will for another 100k+ miles. The car is completely stock with no modifications whatsoever. Gone are the days of good FM radio programming and burned CDs. I have decided after all these years to finally upgrade my stock JBL 6 disc headunit with something a bit more modern. I have never done any car stereo installation work and my only real technical experience is minor speaker wiring work for my basement home theater system. So in essence, I'm a total newbie. I've decided to start this thread to post my install experience so maybe someone down the line can benefit from my successes and blunders along the way.
After some research the last few days I decided on the Pioneer AVH-3300BT.
What appeals to me this head unit is it meets my needs: hands-free phone, iPhone integration with navigation capabilities, nice touchscreen and a reputable name-brand. I ended up purchasing this unit from Crutchfield. While I found a cheaper price on Amazon (by nearly $100), I decided to go with Crutchfield due to its reputation and tech-support. I figured since I'm a novice at this, I'll probably end up using their service during the install.
My order from Crutchfield will include the unit and a Scosche dash kit. Doing some research on this forum, it seems that from the Scosche silver color is a bit off from the OEM color and that the Metra is a better match. While this is a concern, I'm going to stick with the Scosche and see what it looks like to me. I figure if it looks bad, I can always replace it with a Metra kit later.
Crutchfield also recommended that I purchase a wire harness that will connect the Pioneer to the factory JBL amp. I ended up not ordering this opting to bypass the JBL amp based on past experience of other users with JBL amp integration interfaces. Instead, I purchased a Metra 70-8117 from Amazon for around $10. I'm hoping this does the trick. I recall reading on an old post, that one user stated that by using this harness one will lose their center speaker? Is this true? Is there anyway I can bypass the JBL amp and not lose my center speaker? Should I have just gone with the recommended amp integration interface?
I also purchased an PAC-SWI PS to use my steering wheel control. Hoping that this part of the install goes well.
Finally, I'd like to bypass the parking break so anyone I have in the passenger seat can watch movies while on the road, but I understand doing so would violate the factory warranty. So I guess I'll hold off on that for now and maybe save that project for down the road.
I'll be doing this install on Saturday, so I'll be sure to post pictures later this weekend. Let me know if you have any suggestions or tips before I go through with this. Thanks in advance!
- kavdawg
- Just Licensed SolaraGuy
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