Ok so I've laid everything out to help visualize all the connections I'll need to make. There are a few connections that I'm not sure where they're supposed to go.

I've attached some pictures with labelling to help show what I'm referring to:



1) I have the front speakers RCAs entering the amp and have identified the correct wires for bridging the amp just the front 2 speakers (Left F+, Left R-, Right F-, Right R+). I'm not sure where those speaker wires are supposed to attach to? I'm know that they're supposed to bring the amplified signal towards their respective speakers, but I'm not sure who to tie them to.

2) Also exiting the amp there is a yellow wire which is going to be running straight to the battery and a black wire which is the ground. Is the black wire supposed to be connected to any of the other black wires or is it supposed to be somehow grounded to a piece of bare metal in the car?

3) What would be a good place to connect the amp's blue/white remote turn on wire? I have read other posts where they suggest connecting it to the 12V accessory socket.

4) For the Power Antenna plug, there is a blue wire running alongside it. For our Accords, does the blue wire need to connect anything in order to provide power to the antenna?

5) I'm assuming that the head unit's harness will get connected with the matching colors of the Crux harness that was designed for my Accord. However, I'm not sure where the SWC 3.5mm cable is supposed to connect to? I've attached a pic of the Crux's instruction manual as well (option B is the correct cable that I need to use in order to be compatible with the Pioneer head unit):

 

1. you will need to find a schematic online for your radio telling you which color wire goes to what. The12volt.com is usually a good source. You want your right positive to go to the right positive, right neg to right neg, etc.

2.bare metal is best. clean it with sand paper or a wire brush. use a bolt and nut instead of a self tapping screw.

3. going out of your new radios harness there will be a remote wire. it is either going to be blue or blue and white. it will be in the same plug as the speaker wires and the power wires. use that remote wire. when your radio turns on it will turn your amp on. anything else and you risk getting a pop and damaging your speakers.

4.I have never had a vehicle with a power antenna. Do you know your car has a power antenna?

5. yes your colors will match up. except the blue which is an amp remote turn on. The orange will be for dimming which I dont think you will use. there may be some others. I didnt pay attention to whether or not that was a dvd unit. . Like I mentioned earlier, I dont like those things and have never had much luck with them. the few times I have installed them I was very meticulous before ordering to make sure it was plug and play. Meticulous as in called the supplier to make sure they would work. I have never put one in a honda. In short I dont know the answer to that.

Maybe Keep_Hope_Alive can help more with that. He is smarter about a lot of things than I am.

 

Thanks I really appreciate it, I'll check out 12volt to see if they have any diagrams!

I don't think that my car has a power antenna which is why I was a little unsure if it was just one of those "extra" wires that I wouldn't need to connect.

I spoke with a rep at Crutchfield before placing this order and it seems like with this Crux harness it should be fairly plug and play, and yes it can play DVDs as well.

Also based on some other threads I don't think that my '08 Accord (LX-S) comes with crossovers. I don't know if anyone would be able to confirm that or I would just have to wait until I pull off the door panels. If that's the case would I have to run the car's wires to the crossover and then run brand new wire from the crossovers to the woofer and to the tweeters? This is what I have already, but I'm not sure what else I would need (speaker wire?, terminals?, etc.):

 

I didnt think it had a power aentena. that should just be extra. if it plays dvds there should be a light green wire in the harness. that one is important if you want the dvd player to work. you are supposed to attatch that to the parking break so that you can watch movies only when parked. Most people bypass that. (it is illegal to drive and watch movies, but people still do it.) Some of them you can by pass by simply grounding that wire, others you need a momentary switch to bypass, and others you actually need a module that bypasses it. just food for thought.

Your can doesnt have an external crossover. the crossovers are built into the factory speakers. what you will need to do is to cut the ends of the harness in the pic above. instead of plugging them into the speaker plug them into the crossover. then run new wire out of the crossover to the speaker and tweeter respectively.

 

Yup, I've already purchased the recommended bypass module that was designed for the Pioneer HU.

I looked at 12volts and I think I was able to figure out the wiring! There's also a picture from Crutchfield where they have removed the head unit/dash.




Sorry this may be obvious, but I still don't see how I'm supposed to connect the 2 pairs of speaker wires leaving the amp to one of these gray plugs that are supposed to be going to the speakers. I'm guessing that the largest of the gray plugs (b) is the one that will connect to my Crux harness. However, I'm not sure what those other 2 plugs (a and c) are for and not sure where I could find that out.

Am I supposed to cut that gray plug and expose the colored wires within the sheathing and then follow the wiring diagram from 12volt?

 

I dont have a reference for that picture to know which dash that car has. one of those plugs is almost certainly climate control. I am not sure what the other is. I would imagine somewhere there is a legend to go with that picture. but you will plug the one that comes out of the back of the radio (you will see when you take your dash out that the radio is just a unit inside that will seperate from the rest of the dash) and plug it into the new radio harness you bought.

I will draw a diagram (a bad one probably) give me a minute, but there is an easy way to do it. It wont match your diagram above but it will work and you wont have to cut factory wire.

 

 

If you do it like that you wont have to cut your factory wiring. I would highly suggest soldering and heatshinking any wire connections. if you use caps for them all that is gonna be a lot of caps. Not that they are expensive but for the sake of clean install and ease for you to put it back into the dash.

Edit ignore the little crosshair thing right at the left edge of the HU. thats my mouse and when I use the snip tool it froze there.

 

Wow that diagram is incredibly helpful, thank you so much for taking the time to draw that out! I was completely overthinking how to connect the amp to the speaker wires, that's way simpler than what I was picturing. I just have a few other questions about the other wires that I read about in the head unit's manual.

1) The Crux wiring harness came with a wiring table (it's on the details page - https://www.crutchfield.com/S-UuaXCd...Interface.html) and their is a Red/White wire that is supposed to be for VSS. There isn't a VSS cable coming out of the head unit. I couldn't find much info on people connecting the VSS in their Accords, but I did find some posts on Civics and Ridgelines. It seems that the VSS isn't near the radio harness and is usually elsewhere in the car (ECU?). Do you have any experience with this or is it something that doesn't need to be connected?

2) I know you mentioned that the black wire leaving the amp should be connected to bare metal, but I was wondering if it also could be tied into the black wires of both the head unit/harness?

3) Exiting the Pioneer head unit there is a Reverse Gear wire (Violet/White). I'm planning on installing a backup camera, but I'm not sure if I'm supposed to connect the camera to this wire. I watched these 2 Pioneer videos where they describe the wire, but if I don't connect the camera to the reverse gear wire how will the head unit know to switch to the camera when the car is put in reverse?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bF3uzzaT30&feature=youtu.be&list=PLw63zJRQbCNiS5nB fCP3GWdmKflIZNNTZ

 

1) I have no experience with the VSS. As I understand it, it connect to the vehicles tach essentially and provides data to the GPS when the GPS is not getting sufficient data from the satelite. I dont believe it is a necessity and will only cause a problem in the rarest of occasions. But that is not first hand experience.

2)It could be I guess physically. But that is going to cause potential issues. the ground wire is the most important wire and can cause really weird problems if it is not right. In the picture you posted you will notice two metal pieces on the inside of the dash running verticle on the sides of the center console. Just put an eye terminal on the end of the wire. sand the paint off of one of those pieces of metal. drill a hole. and then put a nut and bolt through there holding the wire on. Its fairly quick and simple. And this is something that will save you a lot of headache from having to go back into the dash. so you want to make sure it is done well.

I used to do some work on the side for a little bit of cash doing some install here and there. Well I ended up with one client who had 7 cars. all of them with stereos with problems. One by one he had me go through and fix them. I would say 50% of the problem was grounds and another 35% were from people making ****ty connections with wires. only a little bit was broken or worn equipment.

3) its been a long time since I have done a back up camera. so here it goes from memory I believe this is right but you may want to do more research.

the purple white wire will go to your reverse gear signal. that tells the stereo to switch to the camera screen. it acts completely autonomous from the back up camera.

the back up camera will also need to be tapped into a switched power than only comes on when the car is in reverse. that can be the reverse wire, the reverse light, or the fuse box. the most common is the reverse light because of its relative location to the camera. If you tap here be sure and do it cleanly and insulate well. it is on the outside of the vehicle and exposed to more weather. Probably the best way would be to cut the wire. solder all the wires together and use two pieces of heat shrink. one to cover the connection, and one slightly longer to add an additional layer of protection.

the two systems work independent of each other. the camera just sends an image to your head unit via whatever cable (usually rca) just like your dvd player and your tv.

Edit: also I am not sure if I answered your question about the crossover sufficiently, earlier. If you need more clarification on how to hook it up just let me know. I can do another diagram if need be.