Great post!! The radio looks good. I'm an android user so I won't be changing over to the app radio but I'm glad it's working great for you, and I'm glad that David was able to help you out. He was a great help to me as well. I put my Kenwood mic up in the OEM spot but would rather have just put it on the console like you did. I've got a camera on the way but it will be a couple of weeks before I can get around to installing it. The OEM one in the mirror stinks!
Pioneer Appradio 2: Installed in 2012 Outback
Got it all done last night!
I gathered a lot of info on the web trying to make the install[ation] of my new head unit as smooth as possible. Special thanks to lashlee and svxdc (www.ae64.com) for all the help! Also, thanks to Taiguy for his epic car stereo intallation thread.
I had some of my questions ansered in my initial thread:
http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums...5i-premium-stereo-installation-questions.html
I used svxdc's 20-pin harness. This is THE harness to get if you're installing in a Subaru. It has all the wires needed to hook up steering wheel controls. Plus, svxdc's wisdom and guidance are second to none.
I prewired the master harness to include an ASWC (steering wheel control) and PAC TR7 (controller to mimic the parking brake on-off-on sequence). The mistake I made was to make all the connections for the TR7 ahead of time. When it came time to program it, I realized that only power and ground should be hooked up. So I had to clip a few wires and reassemble the harness after the programming was done.
Parts list:
Pioneer Appradio 2 - $388 on eBay brand new
svxdc 20-pin harness - $18
Axxess ASWC - $40 Amazon
PAC TR7 - $18 Amazon
12V relay (for TR7) - $3 Amazon
Antenna adapter (Nissan style for 2012 - not Subaru style!) - $6 Amazon
Silver dash kit: $15 Crutchfield
back-up camera (to be installed): $18 on Amazon!
All that for about $500! I already had a soldering iron, and the tools necessary.
This head unit is mostly good. Sound quality is better than stock even with the stock 6 speaker setup. It's better than the stock head unit in terms tunability too. I wish the EQ was better, as it has a 5-band from 100Hz-8kHz (how strange!). It does have bass boost, which I'm sure is centered lower than 100Hz. I would consider that the "6th band". This thing will always be updatable and I read that there will be a major update around September. this probably coincides with the release of iOS6, which includes Apple's new Maps app with FREE turn by turn navigation. For now, I am using NAVfree, a free GPS app. It's pretty good for the price
.
On to pictures.
Here is the radio in the dash kit:
![]()
The mother of all harnesses:
![]()
The open dash. The white wire dangling in the driver's foot area is a run I did from the Reverse gear wire to the only place I know where the reverse wire is - in the kick panel (brown/yellow wire). I tested it first and made sure it gets 12V when the car is put in reverse.
![]()
Close-up of the harness shoved in there. It's actually quite spacious behind the dash!
![]()
Testing it out. You can see the GPS antenna stuck directly on the top center of the radio. It's magnetic and works fine there. No need to mount it on top of the dash.
![]()
Trim in place:
![]()
Phone mount that I cannibalized from my old car. I don't remember where I got it, but it fits an iPhone perfectly and is very low profile. It's stuck next to the shifter using 3M double sided tape. You need to have the phone in plain sight as it's required to press a button on it once in a while.
![]()
I prewired the video cable for the backup camera. but I will tackle that on another day. I tested it and it works great. Compared to a $200 Pioneer camera, I think I did pretty good! I'll post more pics when I get that taken care of.
Shot of the bluetooth mic. Overall, it works better than the stock bluetooth system, which would cut in-and-out more often than not. I originally planned to install the mic in the stock location in front of the sunglasses holder. But I found it very unobtrusive to mount on the plastic map light/sunglasses holder assembly. It's stuck (with the 3M tape) far forward close to the windshield with the mic aimed straight at my face.
![]()
I gathered a lot of info on the web trying to make the install[ation] of my new head unit as smooth as possible. Special thanks to lashlee and svxdc (www.ae64.com) for all the help! Also, thanks to Taiguy for his epic car stereo intallation thread.
I had some of my questions ansered in my initial thread:
http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums...5i-premium-stereo-installation-questions.html
I used svxdc's 20-pin harness. This is THE harness to get if you're installing in a Subaru. It has all the wires needed to hook up steering wheel controls. Plus, svxdc's wisdom and guidance are second to none.
I prewired the master harness to include an ASWC (steering wheel control) and PAC TR7 (controller to mimic the parking brake on-off-on sequence). The mistake I made was to make all the connections for the TR7 ahead of time. When it came time to program it, I realized that only power and ground should be hooked up. So I had to clip a few wires and reassemble the harness after the programming was done.
Parts list:
Pioneer Appradio 2 - $388 on eBay brand new
svxdc 20-pin harness - $18
Axxess ASWC - $40 Amazon
PAC TR7 - $18 Amazon
12V relay (for TR7) - $3 Amazon
Antenna adapter (Nissan style for 2012 - not Subaru style!) - $6 Amazon
Silver dash kit: $15 Crutchfield
back-up camera (to be installed): $18 on Amazon!
All that for about $500! I already had a soldering iron, and the tools necessary.
This head unit is mostly good. Sound quality is better than stock even with the stock 6 speaker setup. It's better than the stock head unit in terms tunability too. I wish the EQ was better, as it has a 5-band from 100Hz-8kHz (how strange!). It does have bass boost, which I'm sure is centered lower than 100Hz. I would consider that the "6th band". This thing will always be updatable and I read that there will be a major update around September. this probably coincides with the release of iOS6, which includes Apple's new Maps app with FREE turn by turn navigation. For now, I am using NAVfree, a free GPS app. It's pretty good for the price
.On to pictures.
Here is the radio in the dash kit:
The mother of all harnesses:
The open dash. The white wire dangling in the driver's foot area is a run I did from the Reverse gear wire to the only place I know where the reverse wire is - in the kick panel (brown/yellow wire). I tested it first and made sure it gets 12V when the car is put in reverse.
Close-up of the harness shoved in there. It's actually quite spacious behind the dash!
Testing it out. You can see the GPS antenna stuck directly on the top center of the radio. It's magnetic and works fine there. No need to mount it on top of the dash.
Trim in place:
Phone mount that I cannibalized from my old car. I don't remember where I got it, but it fits an iPhone perfectly and is very low profile. It's stuck next to the shifter using 3M double sided tape. You need to have the phone in plain sight as it's required to press a button on it once in a while.
I prewired the video cable for the backup camera. but I will tackle that on another day. I tested it and it works great. Compared to a $200 Pioneer camera, I think I did pretty good! I'll post more pics when I get that taken care of.
Shot of the bluetooth mic. Overall, it works better than the stock bluetooth system, which would cut in-and-out more often than not. I originally planned to install the mic in the stock location in front of the sunglasses holder. But I found it very unobtrusive to mount on the plastic map light/sunglasses holder assembly. It's stuck (with the 3M tape) far forward close to the windshield with the mic aimed straight at my face.
8
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installed the backup camera
Just another update to this super popular thread. Hopefully it can be of use to somebody in the future...
To complete the head unit installation I installed the backup camera this past weekend ($18 on Amazon!). Considering this camera is less than 1/10 the price of a Prioneer, Kenwood, etc. I think it's great.
I used this write-up as a reference. It helped a lot!
http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums...eration-back-up-camera-install-diy-guide.html
The camera plugs barely made it from the camera location to the grommet where the tail light & power lock plugs come through.
![]()
Not super exciting, but here it is mounted up:
![]()
The view from the monitor:
![]()
Next will be a small subwoofer under the seat and that's about it. The next project will be leather interior...
Just another update to this super popular thread. Hopefully it can be of use to somebody in the future...
To complete the head unit installation I installed the backup camera this past weekend ($18 on Amazon!). Considering this camera is less than 1/10 the price of a Prioneer, Kenwood, etc. I think it's great.
I used this write-up as a reference. It helped a lot!
http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums...eration-back-up-camera-install-diy-guide.html
The camera plugs barely made it from the camera location to the grommet where the tail light & power lock plugs come through.
Not super exciting, but here it is mounted up:
The view from the monitor:
Next will be a small subwoofer under the seat and that's about it. The next project will be leather interior...
3
Replaced the back up camera with a Crimestopper SV-6818.EM. I like this one because it's very small and mounts into a hole you have to drill. My previous camera was screwed to a hinge that was surface-mounted. The old camera would move in the car wash.
The camera is small enough to fit in the small space between the rear hatch handle and license plate light. It's a very tight spot to drill.
I removed the plastic piece from the larger body panel for more accessibility.
![]()
After I installed the camera I siliconed the perimeter (not shown) just to make sure it was water tight.
![]()
![]()
The camera is small enough to fit in the small space between the rear hatch handle and license plate light. It's a very tight spot to drill.
I removed the plastic piece from the larger body panel for more accessibility.
After I installed the camera I siliconed the perimeter (not shown) just to make sure it was water tight.
3
1 - 20 of 44 Posts
