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Sound System Upgrade on 2005 Subaru Forester XT

('03-'05) 
6K views 2 replies 2 participants last post by  broadbean 
#1 ·
This is my first ever auto DIY upgrade and first ever after market radio install, so I thought I'd share my experiences for others...

My 2005 Subaru Forester XT Premium came with the premium sound package that included 6-disc CD changer, door tweeters, and rear subwoofer. The CD player has been giving me issues lately and it had to AUX inputs of any kind, so I decided it was finally time to upgrade. I did some research and discovered the issue with the factory head unit having a built-in amp for the faux factory subwoofer in the rear. I researched adding a mini amp to power it or just using a new under the seat subwoofer. In the end, I decided to go with the following:

Jensen 6.2" Navigation Receiver DVD CD Touchscreen Monitor VX7020 (Amazon)
Scosche SU03B Wiring Harness (Amazon)
Kenwood KSC-SW11 Subwoofer (eBay)
Backup Camera (eBay)

I debated for awhile on which head unit to get, but so far I am EXTREMELY pleased with the Jensen VX7020. First of all, it looks great. Huge screen, nice menu button, and the volume knob is just about where it was on the factory unit. The unit has very little illumination since it is mostly screen, but the illumination it does have is great which matches the gauge and other dash illumination in this year and trim line of Forester. It looks fantastic. I am so excited to finally have USB MP3, AUX input, Bluetooth for phone, and navigation. The navigation isn't as complete as the upper end units, but for less that $300 for the entire unit, I'm really impressed by what it can do. The fact that it can play DVDs is just a nice extra bonus.

I decided to go with the powered under the seat amp to keep it clean and easy. Maybe someday I'll hook up the rear factory sub, but I'll probably just leave it so I can revert, if necessary, when the time comes to sell.

Getting the trim off around the shifter and radio was a massive pain in the butt. It took some time, but I managed it with no visible damage. At this point, the head unit is temporarily in and hooked up. I soldered and shrink-wrapped the wiring harness connection and all is well. It looks very clean and professional. Right now I just have the H/U mounted with 2 screws and the main trim around it hanging in place and hooked up loosely so that the turn signals and air controls work.

The GPS works great; I ran the wire up the driver side pillar and stuck the antenna up by the rear view mirror. I am still trying to determine best place for microphone as the first place I put it does not work well. I am waiting for my sub to arrive this weekend. I am trying to decided whether to put it under the driver or passenger seat. The backup camera will take longer since it was a cheap one coming from china. I also got an extension cable for the rear A/V inputs to make them accessible from the glove compartment.

So far, so good! The trickiest part will be mounting the rear camera and running the video cable from the rear to the front. I also plan to get replacement rear view mirror since my original one is going dark.
 
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#2 ·
2 years, 1 month, and 1 day later... I finally finished this project! I have been using the new head unit for the past 2 years, but never finished the subwoofer or backup camera installations because it got cold and then a whole bunch of life stuff got in the way and all of a sudden it's now. I made it a goal to get this finished. For anybody interested, this is how I wired in the subwoofer and camera:

SUBWOOFER (under driver's seat) -- I ran all wires into the center console and up the the HU that way. The power wires run under the dash over to the fuse panel behind the change cup by the hood release. The Jensen VX7020 has RCA out for subwoofer, so that was easy. For power, I got a couple ATM Add-A-Circuit Kits from eBay and ran the yellow battery cable from the subwoofer into the Mirror/Cigarette Lighter fuse with 10 amp fuse for the new circuit. I ran the blue/white P-Cont wire from the subwoofer into into the Radio/Audio fuse with a 5 amp fuse for the new circuit. The subwoofer remote comes from under the driver's seat to the left side of it near the seat adjustment controls. Nothing fancy since I don't mess with the settings much anyway.

REAR CAMERA -- This was definitely trickier and way more time consuming. The rear backup camera I had purchased has a 170 degree waterproof one similar to THIS ONE on eBay. I mounted it above the license plate on the rear driver's side using one of the screws for the license plate illumination on that side. My plate stands off from the car a bit, so I ran the wired behind the plate and into the tailgate through the bottom driver's side license plate screw hole. The plate screw goes into a plastic holder in square hole. I took that out, shaved the connectors so that they would fit through the existing hole and then carved a grove in the plastic plate screw holder and put it back. It's snug, but it's still possible to use all 4 screws for the plate and no drilling to put the camera in! The camera has RCA connector for the video with a red wire for power. I ran those all the way to the from under the doors bottom kick plates. The RCA went directly to back of HU. I extended the power wire back over to the fuse box and crimped on a connector to plug it directly into the other side of the subwoofer P-CONT wire. I also ran a wire from the HU green/white reverse wire behind glove compartment down to wiring harness behind the front passenger kick plate. I cut the tape for the big bundle of wires there and the brown/yellow reverse wire was right on top and a spliced into it there. So, the camera is always on and can be used whenever the car is on (even while parked or driving forward). If the car is put into reverse, the camera picture will also automatically be visible.

So far, everything works great. I move the GPS receiver to the lower corner on the drivers side since the double stick tape stuff melted off during the summer and the thing would fall down and bang the mirror. I also moved the microphone from the wiper control bar to top of the driver's side door pillar near the left side of the visor. Not sure if this is a better spot yet or not though. The mic seems to be the trickiest thing of find the best spot to pick up good audio. Oh, I grounded the pink parking brake wire to the back of the HU so that DVDs can be watched without putting on the brake.

I finally have all the trim put back together after 2 years. I only have 2 black screws left over, so that's pretty good! Now I'm thinking about adding some footqell lighting just for kicks, but that might take me another 2 years!
 
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