I've searced the forums and found something similiar, but I need some more details that weren't involved in that one. I have a Pioneer Head Unit that will fit my car but I'm wondering if it's possible to do the instalation myself, and how would I go about doing it? From what I've heard from the local audio dealers I might have to re-wire the whole car because the Head Unit won't connect to the amplifier that came with my car. This sounds shady to me, especially since they decided that they would charge me $100 instead of the usual $35. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Chris

the installation on that is VERY easy. all you need is an allen wrench to pop out the old radio, a wiring harness and an antenna adapter. all you have to do to integrate the amp is put a switched 12v on the power antenna wire on the wiring harness, it's ridiculously easy.

if you are going to do it yourself, which i strongly recommend, i'll walk you through it. just holler.

I've searced the forums and found something similiar, but I need some more details that weren't involved in that one. I have a Pioneer Head Unit that will fit my car but I'm wondering if it's possible to do the instalation myself, and how would I go about doing it? From what I've heard from the local audio dealers I might have to re-wire the whole car because the Head Unit won't connect to the amplifier that came with my car. This sounds shady to me, especially since they decided that they would charge me $100 instead of the usual $35. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Chris

Easy. You'll need to get a harness adapter, which basically replicates the socket on the back of the factory radio. You splice this to the Pioneer harness that comes with your new reciever, which is pretty much an exercise in matching the colors of wires. Then you just plug it in and that's that.

You may want to get a product from Pacific Accessories Corp. called an OEM-2, which goes in line between the factory harness adaptor and the Pioneer harness. This is cigarette box-sized device that allows you to adjust the speaker-level output of your new reciever so that you don't overload the input section of the factory amp and cause signal clipping. You may or may not need this, but if the new head unit is constantly pushing the factory amp into distortion (which is likely, as the output of your new reviever will likely by 2 to 3 times the output of the factory radio) you WILL blow out your speakers.

But, yes, this is an easy job. If you've never done it before, budget a Saturday afternoon and take your time. It will go smoothly.