fresnelly

My car: 2001 Ford Focus Wagon.

The stock CD player in my car self-destructed yesterday and I'm in the market for a modest replacement.

I'm not looking for a debate on different models and brands, but instead about standards and the basics of installation. You know, so I don't feel like an idiot when I go in to buy a new one.

In the stores you only ever see a display of the faceplates. Are the boxes that house the player inside the dash all a standard size, or do different brands require special mounting brackets based on the make of your car?

What about the dimensions of the faceplate? The stock Focus one is huge compared to the sleek aftermarket faceplates available. How do you fill the gaps and get it to blend neatly into the dash? Are masking kits available for relatively cheap, or are you at the mercy of an expensive customizing job?

What about the electrical power? Again, are all models standardized or is extra work often necessary?

I'm not interested in adding speakers or components. How does this limit my choices?

In more general terms, what costs should I expect besides labour and the stereo itself? What will the salespeople try to push on me that I can ignore?

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DaveOrion

Most car stereos come with a cage that surrounds the stereo. The stereo slides into this cage and locks into place. It will come with a set of 'keys' that slide down the sides of the stereo to unlock it if removal is ever required. You should buy a wiring harness & installation kit thats made for that model car. You unplug the original stereo from its adapter and plug the new wiring harness into it. The new harness has all the wires marked with a label, which cuts out the guess work. You can then the unplug the wires from the back of the stereo and attach them to the new harness. Its just easier that way. Soldering and heat shrink tape is recommended, but I have often just twisted the wires together the taped them with electrical tape. If you twist them together have at least an inch stripped back on each wire and dont skimp on the electrical tape. The installation kit will allow the standard size stereo to fit in the opening of your vehicle. All models are different but they come with instructions. They usually bolt back into the holes your stock stereo used. The cage slides into the new opening and you bend the metal tabs up to secure it. Try a google search for car stereo wiring adapters and installation kits and you may find some diagrams and extra info.

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Syriana...have you ever tried liquid MDMA?....Liquid MDMA? No....Arash, when you wanna do this?.....After prayer...

Redlemon

We were going to replace my wife's car stereo, but figured that it wasn't worth it -- instead, we got an iPod radio adaptor. (Just another option if you hadn't considered it.)

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soundmotor

You have a very easy car to do an upgrade into. Another vehicle might not get the DIY recommendation but a Focus surely does. First ask yourself this: Were you reasonably happy with the performance of the stock system? In other words, did it do pretty much everything you needed it to? If the answer is yes, it will take you about 3 hours to nicely upgrade what is in there and possibly less if you leave the stock speakers in place.

Some stats -

The Focus uses a double-DIN sized headunit. This means that behind the trim pieces you will find a standard sized component. Any double-DIN will fit into that space.

There are many companies selling exact Ford-style trim kits that you would use to retrim the opening to match your aftermarket replacement headunit so everything looks neat afterwards. Scosche, Metra, & Tsunami are 3 that should have what you need.

You can also put a single-DIN headunit in there and add a storage pocket below it. That is useful if you want a place to put your sunglasses. Again, the above companies will have that kit too.

You can get plug-in adapters for the factory wiring harness that will let you splice an aftermarket headunit right in without cutting anything. Once more, look to the companies above for those parts. With the adapters, you don't need to run any new wires, just graft to the old ones via plugs & sockets. New wire is on the ends of the adapters that you will attach the new headunit harness to.

I know you don't plan to do this but should you change your mind, the speakers are 5x7 in size and nearly every manufacturer makes them such as Boston, Alpine, Kenwood, and they will fit perfectly into your Focus.

Back to the adapter companies once more, they make speaker harness adapter plugs so you don't have to cut the factory ones out to wire in your new speakers.

The greatest issue will be getting the headunit out of the dash. IIRC, that vintage Focus has 4 holes on the front of it but maybe not. You will need to remove the factory trim panel that surrounds the stock headunit to get at it. I would go to www.focaljet.com and post your questions as to how to do that there in their car audio forum.

Once the headunit is pulled out, you would unplug it from the factory harness. Then plug your adapters into the factory ones and wire the new headunit to them. If all your speakers are good, you should be able to turn it on and hear them now. Do so, verify that they work, and close up the dash with your new trim kit. Pretty easy so far.

If you decide to change the speakers too, you must remove the door panels to get at the factory speakers. However, there may have been a version of the Focus where you only needed to snap-off the factory grille to get at the speaker. Again, check on focaljet for specifics to your model year.

Like the headunit, remove the factory speakers and plug the adapters in. Then, wire your speakers to them and reinstall them into the doors. The 5x7 will bolt right up to the factory holes. Be sure to use the supplied gaskets if the speakers came with them or create your own with gasket tape from Lowes or similar.

That's it for a quick refit. I did not go into wiring separate amplifiers, dynamatting the doors, or adding a subwoofer. Dynamatting the doors is straightforward and easy to do if the door panels are off. You will benefit by having a less lively door & door panel which will translate directly into better sound. So will external amplifier(s) and a subwoofer but those will be far more involved.

So, replacing the headunit (and adding new speakers) will give you an easy upgrade over the stock system and should be well within your capabilities. If you take it to a car audio shop, figure anywhere from 1.5-3 hours labor cost on top of the equipment. If you decide to DIY it, I would likely source everything through Crutchfield as they will make it easy for you and can supply all the needed adapters.

Good Luck!

fresnelly

Thanks guys! That's just the kind of advice I was looking for. Thanks also for the Crutchfield link. Most of the dealers online tend to focus on high end pimping or come across as pretty sketchy, so I'm thankful for Crutchfield's pragmatic approach.

I've already pulled out the player to have a look (by fashioning DIN tools out of coat hangers) and I can see that the install should be a snap.

Now all I have to do is pick the player itself. Audio quality really isn't the most important. It just has to play a variety of formats, have an Aux jack at the front, and intuitive operation is crucial.

After a bit of quick browsing, I think I can get what I want for around $160-$200. What do you think? Any thoughts on brand?

__________________
Building an artificial intelligence that appreciates Mozart is easy. Building an A.I. that appreciates a theme restaurant is the real challenge - Kit Roebuck - Nine Planets Without Intelligent Life

DaveOrion

You might want to check eBay, some units are brand new and come with the wiring harness and install kit. Just be sure to check the seller feedback rating and take shipping into account. My daughter just bought one there, great price, brand new. All she had to do was get the harness and install kit, which are available at radio shack, circuit city, etc, etc, or any car stereo place. Cruthfield is a class act but a bit pricey, you can get a great stereo on eBay and save big.

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Syriana...have you ever tried liquid MDMA?....Liquid MDMA? No....Arash, when you wanna do this?.....After prayer...

Tech

$160-200 should definitely get you a nice player, nicer than you probably need if audio quality isn't too important for you.

as for brands, many brands are good, and crutchfield is going to have pretty much all good brands. if i were to put good brands in a *ROUGH* hierarchy, i'd say
alpine
clarion
panasonic
eclipse
blaupunkt
pioneer
sony
kenwood
JVC

what it will really come down to is, like many electronics, interface. if you can find them in a store where you can play with them, do so. make sure how they want you to do things is what makes sense to you. nothing sucks more than a stereo that you can't ever figure out.

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Manic_Skafe

Fresnelly, this is a little weird since I was about to make this same thread myself - I just replaced the stock stereo in my Ford Focus about three days ago.

I've got a 2003 Focus Sedan and while I bought the stereo, harness(es), and trim panel with the intention to install it myself, I found it to be much better to go with a professional installation.

Since we've got different models from different years it'd be hard to say that you'd run into the same issues as I did, but my stock stereo was assembled in a careless fashion from what seemed to be an amalgam of assorted wiring harnesses...

I'm not sure if this is typical of cars made in Mexico or if it's just a Ford/Focus issue but I'd check and make sure that once you've pulled the original stereo, all the wires and such are exactly as they should be.

I didn't want to cut any of the wires since I may resell the car so I had to pay for 2 different wiring kits just to get my new stereo installed.

All in all, it was a little pricey considering the cost of the stereo and the accessories but I went with Circuit City and got a good discount on the stereo , free installation, and a 2 year warranty. And if I ever decide to sell the car then Circuit City will reinstall the stock stereo for free.

I think the stereo sounds great, it plays a variety of formats, has a removable face plate, and has an aux jack located on the face of the unit.

Now I'm not sure if there are Circuit City locations in Toronto but a Google search brought up positive results for The Source By Circuit City in the Toronto area and a few Best Buy locations as well.

And as a side note, if you haven't already, you'll probably want to change your factory speakers as well.

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fresnelly

Thanks again everybody. In the end I went with a Sony CDX-GT410U from Crutchfield Canada.

Their price matched Best Buy's and they threw in the dash kit, wiring harnesses and Din tools for free and the shipping cost was all of $4. I looked on ebay and I found that the savings just weren't there when you factor in shipping (mostly from the states and generally high) and dubious customer service.

Anyways, it came today after about a 4 day wait (including weekend) and I had it installed within an hour. It would have taken less time but I was being exceedingly cautious and must have read the competing instructions about 4 times each.

Even with the stock speakers I can hear a positive difference. I chose sony because their interface suited me and this specific model because of its USB port, something I hadn't originally considered. It's great because I can just slap in a memory stick full of music or my wife's Ipod Shuffle and it immediately starts playing. That's ten shades of awesome!

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Building an artificial intelligence that appreciates Mozart is easy. Building an A.I. that appreciates a theme restaurant is the real challenge - Kit Roebuck - Nine Planets Without Intelligent Life