[ebiii]

I recently bought a used '09, new to Subaru. The sound from the stock stereo isn't great, so I want to upgrade it. I'm confused about what parts I actually need to do so.

Today I put in the door tweeter upgrade, that sounds great. (I also changed the cabin air filter to a Bosch HEPA, that sounds less great).

The alternator/battery died recently and a rental car had Apple CarPlay in its stereo. Well I need that, I realized. I was already going to get a Pioneer, so I chose one with CarPlay. I need:

- Mounting rack/faceplate
- wiring harness to convert from the stock?
- An interface device to keep the steering wheel controls? Or just another harness?

And...to get a USB port in the cabin (plugs into the rear of the head unit, no USB port on the unit face) I would need to cut a hole to mount somewhere in the cabin, I guess. Any suggestions where is best?

I suppose people just use bluetooth, but I like the plug and charge USB that also connects data with a Pioneer I put in my old Jeep (USB port on its face). Would I have full audio fidelity via bluetooth?

Thanks for any help!

 

[schain]

Wiring harnesses for aftermarket head units are pretty standard, but you will need an adapter that is made for a 09 Subaru. You will need to connect the wiring which I found simple as the colors of the wires between the wiring adapter and the new head unit were matched, blue to blue, green to green and so on. This required a bit of soldering and some shrink tubing or you could use wire nuts. I bought my head unit from Crutchfield. They will supply everything that you need to install the new head unit if you tell them the make and model of car. There prices are also very good. The new wiring harness should take care of the steering wheel controls if you new head unit is compatible.

 

[skirbykat]

I ran usb input to my glovebox as not to involve any interior panel cutting. Works great, and my device is tucked out of plain sight.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

 

[Miker104]

Go to Crutchfield.com and they will show you what fits your car and what parts you will need to install it including a patch harness to connect the new head unit to the existing wiring in your car. You don't have to buy the parts from them but this will tell you what you need to buy.

Go to ae64.com to find the wiring pin out for your car

 

[ebiii]

Go to Crutchfield.com and they will show you what fits your car and what parts you will need to install it...

Thanks, all, for the replies. I did see the parts suggested by Crutchfield, but was confused about the Maestro idatalink and whether it is needed. I found some threads here to help understand that. (Oddly, the on-site search wasn't very good, but Google found a lot more posts).

Crutchfield is about $50 - $100 more expensive for the Poineer head unit than Best Buy or some smaller car stereo websites, so hard to buy the unit from them. But I can for the idatalink and mounting hardware.

The locating of the USB will be interesting. The glovebox might work, as mentioned, I just removed it for the filter replacement--easy. I'll have to see if a cable can make it out to the cabin without pinching. It could work where the AUX and second power port is, in the center console cavity, but the wire would have to be traced through to there, not sure how easy that would be.

The upgrade to the little tweeters on the A pillars was surprisingly huge in sound quality, even with the stock stereo.

I'm really excited for the upgrade in sound and CarPlay.

 

[frijoles]

the harness will depend on if its a single or double din head unit (the radio, assuming pioneer).

To have the stock steering controls, you will need a separate interface to adapt to the new head unit.

wiring harness can be purchased, but like schain said, if its not available, you should be able to figure out the colors and where everything is.