Unless the deck says "McIntosh" on the front, it's not McIntosh. Those only came in the VDC trim cars from what I recall.

Harness is easy to find. $5 free shipping on Amazon. .

Amazon.com: Stereo Wire Harness Subaru Impreza/Outback 00 01 02 03 04 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 (car radio wiring installation parts): Everything Else

Subwoofer is wired on its own dedicated plug. You can leave it unhooked or run it off an auxiliary amp if you're so inclined.

 

Unless the deck says "McIntosh" on the front, it's not McIntosh. Those only came in the VDC trim cars from what I recall.

Harness is easy to find. $5 free shipping on Amazon. .

Amazon.com: Stereo Wire Harness Subaru Impreza/Outback 00 01 02 03 04 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 (car radio wiring installation parts): Everything Else

Subwoofer is wired on its own dedicated plug. You can leave it unhooked or run it off an auxiliary amp if you're so inclined.

Hi when I went to the local audio installer ,he thought that it was a mckentosh or clarion,I`ve seen my deck on ebay listed as the mckentosh 6 disc player ,but more than likely it`s a clarion with 8 speakers, amp, and subwoofer . I`ve called half a dozen audio installers , because this apparently was a higher end option on the outback nobody thought it was worth developing an adapter ,I`ve found it by searching mckentosh deck on google it has 3 seperate harness inputs on the back ,the white one as you found on amazon and 2 more for the amp and subwoofer , might just keep on using the aux fm transmitter Ihave conected to my phone,it`s just a pain to change the music that way thanks

 

here is a place to look up descriptions of exactly what you have.

2003 Subaru Outback options, prices, colors, all other years also. Seattle

getting your old CD's out will require chopping the old changer to pieces. (but so what).

in your upgrade getting some 2000-20004 subaru front door tweeters out of a parts yard is a nice thing if you don't already have them. (reasonably good quality, and a really really nice install).

 

Even the McIntosh units used the same plug at the radio, trouble is it's functions are different as it has an external amp under the passenger seat. You can still hook up an aftermarket head unit to a McIntosh-equipped car, but you have to grab the speaker outputs under the passenger seat and route them up to your aftermarket HU. Easy enough to do as the McIntosh amp uses the same connector as the HU. . . so you just buy 2 of them. . . one for power/etc. in the console, the other for speakers under the seat.

But all of that is irrelevant as unless you have a VDC trim (it'll say VDC on the fender and have a VDC OFF switch under the radio), you don't have a McIntosh.

For reference:

McIntosh:

Not McIntosh, but head unit commonly used with 9-speaker Outbacks:

And McIntosh was owned by Clarion, so saying it's "either a McIntosh or Clarion" . . both are technically correct.

Lots of ambiguity surrounding the McIntosh units. . they're really not that bad to work around, but most installers don't see enough of this vintage Outback to care to learn how to work around them.

Point of all this is, unless it's a McIntosh, an aftermarket HU is only a handful of screws and a $5 harness away from being installed in your car. You will lose the factory sub unless you hook up an external amp to run it (pretty easy). Even if it is a McIntosh, it's still very much possible to replace the HU. A couple of guys on here have even written up the process.

 

Hi all ,I beleive I`m onto somrthing ,after much toiling on the internet I was able to find that Mitsubishi use`s a deck very similar to the outbacks, ordered the amp harness from auto toys .com ,found the antenna adapter on ebay, will do either a video or some digital pics during the process ( if sucessfull ) will be back with more info about fit and functionality .

 

Good luck with that, I'd be surprised if it works. Most adapters I've seen are Subaru specific.

Also, the McIntosh unit is actually made by Clarion. Here is some required reading for your project, it has a ton of helpful information.

McIntosh EF-1080I Information | My Blog

 

Your avatar info says you have a 2003 2.5L Outback.

If you have a 2.5, you do NOT have a McIntosh system. . .or an external amp. Use the $5 stereo harness I linked to in the 2nd post.

You do NOT need an antenna adapter. It uses the same Motorola style plug used by 90% of cars on the road since 1970, and every aftermarket HU.

 

i have a 2003 outback with a 6 CD player and radio. It plays two to three tracks then there.s popping sound from the speaker and the player stops playing. Is the radio CD player controlled the computer with a code reset or does the have to be reset everytime you disconnect the radio player. Does anyone out in subaru land that can help me or refer me to someone who can. A car radio expert repair shop Is there a replacement radio CD Player for this year model subaru.