Thanks Keep Hope Alive. Would you suggest then that I spend a little more on the head unit and then forego the amp? Looks like I could get a pretty decent Alpine for $140ish. Or go with a lower priced Alpine and get the amp? I don't need a huge improvement in the sound, but I don't mind going to $250 if the difference would be that much better and reasonably safe with the stock speakers.

 

Just curious, what negative comments have you seen ? I always take product reviews with a grain of salt... especially the negative ones as they're usually user-related vs product-related !

 

The sound quality will be about as good as it can get from the iPod when you use the proprietary iPod connection. It inputs through the factory system's CD-changer or satellite-radio input too.

One piece of advice: Buy an iPod extension cable (female on one end, male (at the iPod end) on the other) and add it to the Blitzsafe cable. Our cable broke at the connection and the silly cable is only available from Blitzsafe and is around $30. With the extension, that special cable is left untouched and unhandled. The one that is touched on a daily basis costs ~$5 and can be bought locally.

 

I just completed my own solution to this issue.

I installed a jvc head unit in my 2005 EX 4 Cyl. Best way to do this is to disconnect the blue wiring harness and use a din kit (20 bucks on amazon) to put it in the cubby hole. You keep the A/C & radio head unit in the dash but redirect all the wiring to the new radio. Do not unplug the green connector. That is for the A/C controls.

 

Nice! Did it make the stock speakers sound better? I figured I would need to buy a new harness.

 

Mostly intermittent use issues. Some complained about noise. I generally do take them with a grain of salt, but when you have multiple people complaining about the same issues it causes concern. Most had positive things to say mind. i would probably still try it, but thinking of going the deck route more now.

 

I went ahead and got the JVC head unit and installed it last night. Crutchfield supplied the kit and the antenna extension for free for orders over 119 so I upgraded to the unit with a CD player and got it all for 130 shipped. Worked out to be about 10 bucks more than Amazon, but worth it as I ended up calling them twice and they were very helpful. The install was a bit more of a pain than I'd hoped, but not too bad. Had to pull the stock unit out a bit to get the blue plug back in.

Overall I'm happy with the decision. The deck seems way more powerful than the stock unit and after some EQ adjustments sounds better. There is a little gappage on each side of the kit, but I think it looks pretty cool.

One problem I'm having is the clock flashing on the stock unit. The time change feature seems disabled. Anyone know how to fix this?

 

you need to turn the head unit on. hold the sound button to access the clock. use the number keys, I believe 3 and 4 to adjust it, then push the sound button again to set it.

 

Ah, think I may have been trying to do it with it off lol. Thanks!

 

Would this be a good idea for my rears, and would I need two?

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/show...number=266-444