Replacing Stereo in 2002 Sebring Convertible

[darizonah]

It has been a while since I have done this and am contemplating doing this myself. (replacing head unit). The factory system has the infinity amp and 6 speakers. The Head Unit I am looking at is the Kenwood KDC-X679. Manual says the pre outs are 5V. Question is can I hook up directly (by getting a wiring harness) to the infinity amp in the car or am I going to need to replace the amp also?

Site for the kenwood is here

http://www.kenwoodusa.com/product/product.jsp?productTypeId=178&sortBy=price&productId=2562

Thanks in advance!

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[Apoc 10+ year member]

if you are replacing speakers and putting in subs, you will want another amp, otherwise you will be fine with just a wire harness

 

[darizonah]

Actually I am thinking of replacing the 2 front speakers ( the ones in the door) I believe they are just mid range not full range though. Can;t tell. The guy at audio express thought they were full range speakers. However, after looking at them they do not have the dome around the middle as the ones on the rear do. So I may replace them with full range boston acoustics. Any thoughts?

THanks

Dave

 

[Berry47 10+ year member]

You will want another amp and mount it in the trunk. an 8 gauge wire can be hid along the door jam and then around all the rear paneling. Any bigger then 8 asnd it will show. THe most challenging part of my wifes sebring was figuring out the passages that go from the interior to the trunk.

If you want any sort of bass go big becasue the unit body construction puts some steel support structure between the interior and trunk. Good Luck you'll need it.

 

[darizonah]

Appreciate the comments. Any ideas on a one stop shop to get all the wiring needs assuming I put in a new amp? Also ideas on how to do this so I can use the existing speaker wires that are coming from the factory amp that is located under the passenger seat?

Thanks

Dave

 

[Apoc 10+ year member]

Walmart should have everything you need.

 

[darizonah]

Seriously? Wal Mart should have everything I need?

Comments on how I can utilize the existing wiring I mentioned?

Thanks

Dave

 

[Deamonicus3 10+ year member]

Yes Walmart. They sell amp wiring kits. They are actually really good kits. The come in different gauges of wire for different power amps. I know for sure they sell 8 and 4 gauge kits for like 20-30 bucks. The kit includes power wire, ground wire, remote turn on wire, rca cables, speaker wire and an assortment of connectors.

 

[darizonah]

OK, Thanks I will check out walmart. Now the real question and please don;t make me do more work than I should. DO you believe in all honesty //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/confused.gif.e820e0216602db4765798ac39d28caa9.gif that I need to replace the factory speaker wires ? //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/veryhappy.gif.fec4fed33b4a1279cf10bdd45a039dae.gif

 

[crhye250r 10+ year member]

You can run the factory speaker wires unless you are going very extreme. I am pretty sure the front doors are a 6x9 and they are a midbass driver. The last sebring convertible i did was with the infinity system and had 6x9 mids in the front doors, full range dash speakers, and full range 6x9s in the back as well. All speaker grills pop off. Pretty easy replacement on that one. Yours may be similar, it may not, i wish i could remember what year that car was. Egghhh been a month and dozens and dozens of cars ago...I do remember the way it was all set up though.

 

[Berry47 10+ year member]

You don't want to use the wires from the infinity amp. trust me. It is actually pretty easy to run speaker wire throught the grommet holes in the front doors. Fishing the wire through the doors was a little annoying (I have big hands) but i would definately run new wire.

 

[darizonah]

First, I believe you are correct the infinity system has a mid bass in the front doors, seems like a tweeter/ midrange ( 3") in the dash and I have know idea how to get to that. The ones in the back are full range.

I am thinking of going with boston acoustic fx93's in both the front and rear and diconnecting the 3 inch ones in the dash.

I have pretty much decided to go with harmon kardon head unit ( the kdc-679) because I REALLY wanted to play mp3's by hooking up their KEG mp 3 unit.

I know I need an amp to go with this so I was looking at their KAX-x541. This amp is huge and probably is a lot more amp than I need, however I liked the idea of being able to use the AMS feature to adjust equalization of the amp from the head unit

I am concerned whether I will have enough bass without a sub ( really don'twant to have to put one in)

Also I am concerned about fishing all these wires through all the tight places that have been mentioned for the Sebring.

What are your thoughts about speaker choice, Bass capabilities of the Bostons I mentioned, and whether I need an amp that has the AMS capability to control the frequencies of the amp?

I went to audio express today and was quated abot $1900 for this installed. I can buy most of this on ebay for about $650 so I will either do it myself, or not at all.

Any thoughts by any of you would sure be appresiated, thanks in advance //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/handclap.gif.0c301076f534e244f0460706894f19e0.gif

Dave

 

[Berry47 10+ year member]

just disconect the wires at the stock amp. great idea on the setup

 

[crhye250r 10+ year member]

Good choice on the fronts. You can use the factory wires, and grab them at the output side of the infinity amp with it disconnected. Regardless of what others may say, the factory wiring is adequate. If you were to run 150+ rms into the doors, i would reccomend replacing the wires, but unless you are just dead set on it, the factory wiring will work great.

 

[darizonah]

If I decide to replace and use the speakers in the corners of the dash. Anybody have any ideas how to get to these or what procedures are used to remove the parts of the dash ?

Appreciate your help as always, Thanks

Dave