The speakers will be whichever come stock in a honda accord 2005 LX (6 speaker system, I believe. 4 in front (2 on dash, 1 on each door), 2 in the back).

I honestly thought the power to the speakers was supplied via the car's main electrical system itself - the battery, I guess. I guess that's why this has been so confusing for me this whole time.

I just want to clarify that I am still in the dark as to what I am supposed to do with that speaker power cord (Metra Part # 70-1721 | Honda wire harness | Acura wire harness | Metra Online) - my understanding now involves that piece having no place within the setup. I'm okay with that - I just want to be sure that's correct.

 

correct, you don't need the 1721 harness at this time. i'm not sure why i recommended it to you since you needed to keep your factory unit. if you didn't keep the factory unit, that harness could be used.

speakers are powered from an audio amplifier that lives inside the head unit (factory or aftermarket). 8 wires total, 2 per speaker location (front left, front right, rear left, and rear right). the black stripe is "negative" but nothing gets grounded. all 8 wires must be connected independently and fully insulated from each other and any metal.

here are some basics
Head Unit

 

Thank you!!

I think I'll be able to pop everything in tomorrow, now that I understand how it all works.

The only other thing I can think of: You see in the picture I provided how some of the wires are already connected to that blue piece? Does that matter? You said I don't have to connect the ground wires, so I would assume that I don't need to take those wires out of the blue connector and solder them to anything - right?

That post you linked is incredibly informative - you should add it in your signature!

 

no no, you do connect ground wires, you just don't ground the speaker negative wires!

don't take any wires out of either connector. every wire should be connected somewhere (except orange illumination wires - cap them off).

 

I'm talking about, for instance, the red wire in the picture which I provided. It was installed into the blue connector by the factory and shipped that way to me (along with a couple others, as you can see there). Do I need to cut those / take them out of that blue connector and solder them to any of the wires which are connected to the radio?

That's what I meant. And thank you for clarifying the grounding wires.

 

no. don't cut/remove any wires from the blue harness.

the wires in the blue harness allow the factory radio to turn on for climate control and other data. the factory radio won't function other than that.

 

I'm sorry, I feel like I'm poorly wording my question for there seems to be misunderstanding. I just need to know because I feel like those wires need connecting somewhere.

http://imgur.com/yy8wnHD

Referencing that picture - you see how some of the wires are already connected to the blue connector (This is the harness which I will be soldering to the head unit)? That came like that from the factory. My question is, do I need to remove those wires and solder them appropriately? Or are they just left untouched? Also, some of those wires are not connected on the other end (the part which the radio harness of my vehicle plugs in to), are they to simply be capped off as well?

Again, I really appreciate your patience here, I just don't want to start soldering wires together and have something go wrong and thus be in a sticky situation. Thanks so much.

 

no worry about asking questions, i'm glad you want to be sure. that's why i'm here. i need to make a diagram for this process as it is asked a lot.

the blue connector plugs into the factory radio. the wires in that connector remain as is. you do not cut or change any wires in that connector. do not add anything to that connector.

the wires in your adapter harness that are loose (ends not connected) are what you connect to the matching wire colors on the aftermarket head unit wire harness. all of the wire colors will match between the aftermarket head unit wire harness and the adapter harness you have.

you will have the 8 speaker wire connections, a blue connection, a red, a yellow, and a black. a total of 12 wires will be connected. those are the only wires you will solder and heat shrink/tape. any other loose wires at the head unit should be capped and insulated separately.

NOTE: do not connect the spare orange wire that comes from the blue harness. that is illumination and even though there will be a matching orange wire on the aftermarket head unit, it only seems to cause problems for people. the illumination wire should tell the aftermarket head unit to dim the display at night (when lights are on). i will cover this in a future sticky on head unit wiring.

in the picture you can see that there are also loose red, yellow, and black wires available (ends not pictured but the blue connector has two of each - one goes to the other harness that connects to the car and the other goes to the new head unit.

 

Edit: Thanks very much, I understand now.

So, I began the soldering but it's not going so well... I've never soldered before, but I have looked up how-to's and have tried multiple times, but I don't seem to be doing it right.

Do you have to have soldering wire? You can't just melt the two wires together? I went out and bought flux and it seems to be helping slightly, but the wires just don't want to melt together.. I hope a 30W solderer is strong enough.

This is becoming a headache haha.

 

good time to learn.