legacycentral bbs

I was wondering if anyone knows which if any stock radios from newer subarus will fit (I'm assuming the wiring harness will plug right in, the size and mounting was what I was wondering about0

Seeing as our dash opening is 2.5 DIN, just about anything from any newer Subaru should fit. I'm not too sure about the harness being directly Plug and Play. Ciper has a WRX 6-disc in-dash head unit in his BF. I'm sure he'll be chiming in sometime.

-Brian

Speaking of the stock stereo... This thing says "80W" on it. is that "80W" as in "80 watts"? isn't that, like, a wicked lot? I see "55W" on most of the nicer stereos. what up? this thing will go pretty loud, and it does sound like the distortion that comes is a function of the poor speaker material and not the amplifier.

The stock stereo is 25w x 4 max power. continuous rms power is around 7-14 watts most likely.

The front speakers are a clarion speaker with paper cone & dome tweeter. The rears are clarion as well, with a paper cone & tweeter.

The stock setup is pretty good for a stock stereo.....but lacks if you are an audiophile.......however if you're an audiophile....anything shy of 1000 bucks is going to be lacking....hehe

The harness connector is different from the newer Legacies and Imprezas.

I believe my '97 Impreza L and my '97 Legacy GT both had the same connectors on them, but my '93 Legacy Turbo is different.

I also agree that the stock stereo is very good in the 1st-gen's. But I needed a CD player, so I put a head unit in that pushes twice the factory wattage. As I expected, a speaker or two is starting to rattle. So, my question is, what good speakers bolt directly into the doorframe and are hidden behind the same speaker covers? I want some decent sound, but I don't want to enter a lowrider contest !

Hey guys......As you may or may not know I was a proff. stereo installer for almost 10 years (until I got a real job lol) To answer your question: A newer gen radio will still fit as long as its an ISO din size like Brian said. The harness is deffinately different through different generations and I'm not sure about the models. I know that the Loyal models do differ from the legacy's but I cant recal if the legacy's are different from the imprezza's. What ever the case, if you have a radio that WILL fit in ok all you need to do is purchase 2 harness adapters. (keep up with me here) One harness is called "Into OEM radio" and basically will look like the harness that was in the car that you took the radio out of. (lets say a 97 legacy for example) This plug will fit into the back of the radio and will have all the wires labeled for you. The other plug is for the car you own now and this one plugs into the one hanging in your bare dashboard. All you need to do is wire the two together with "butt" connectors or solder and heat shrink if you want to get fancy. I hope that made cense, if not PM me and I'll try to explain it better. Also, my 2 cents on watts real quick. It doesn't really matter what it says for watts. If you want better sound replace the factory speakers First. The reason they sound so bad is because they are a Bi-cone design which is basically a midrange speaker. Raplacing these with a decent quality apeaker like a pioneer or mb quart or something with a little tweeter on it will improve your sound dramatically. After that think of a small subwoofer, bass is the only thing lacking from there. I hope I could help, good luck

Mike

magicmike wrote: If you want better sound replace the factory speakers First.

do you happen to know if there's any speakers that will fit right in?
what would you recommend?

Good advice. I've been through many different stereo setups and have finally arrived at a setup that I enjoy. I definitely agree with replacing the stock speakers. Once you get them out you will realize why. If you're going to go with some sort of bass, be it a box or tube, I would suggest getting a head unit that has 3 sets of pre-amp outputs. This will give you control over your bass from the head unit instead of at the amp, which could be under a seat or in a trunk. These are just the few things I've gathered over the years, I hope they provide some helpful direction for anyone looking to do some stereo "mods".

-Brian

Oh, and it helps to know people that get tired of stereo stuff quickly and are always upgrading. That's how I got my head unit/amp/sub. Woohoo!

legacy 777 where did you find the 25x4 info. my stereo says 20x4. just curious. I thought my legacy stock stereo had better sound than my wrx. more bass responce and louder without distorting. that is partly because the wrx has 5 1/4 vs legacy's 61/2

Ya, I gotta replace my speakers in my turbo too. The 2 front ones are blown (wasn't me). Any good direct replacments?

Mark,

guys, anyone have an answer for what are good replacements for the front speakers? (is 6 1/2" their size?)

kelley wrote:legacy 777 where did you find the 25x4 info. my stereo says 20x4. just curious. I thought my legacy stock stereo had better sound than my wrx. more bass responce and louder without distorting. that is partly because the wrx has 5 1/4 vs legacy's 61/2

Sorry.....I'm an idiot :p It was early and my brain wasn't working.

You're right...20x4


Gus, The fronts are 6 1/2" Only issue you have to watch out for is the mounting depth. The stock speakers are on an angled metal piece to keep them away from the window. So if you get speakers that are deep.....you'll need some spacers.

josh, don't be so hard on yourself. I just thought I missed something.

yup, they're 6 1/2" too.

You'll need to take the rear deck lid out to replace them.

Take the back seat out.......go in the trunk, take a needle noise pliers and gently squeeze the plastic clips that hold the deck lid down.

It helps if you have a friend that can lift up on the areas you have unclipped and keep them from getting clipped back in. Once you get them all out, just slide the deck lid out.

Or if its a wagon, just lift up the speaker covers and put the new speakers in (I dont like the sedan design, ever install a rear strut brace!!)

I seriously doubt you will find speakers that will just fit. Dont waste time. Instead find the best speakers you can at a good price and buy some spacers.

I got some pretty good 3 way kenwoods. After replacing them I saw that the front speakers had fairly good sound for stock but the rear speakers sucked.

Now with the combination of 4 new speakers, WRX 6 disk and a WRX sub under the passenger seat it sounds really nice. I just need to replace the stock wiring some time.

I just need to replace the stock wiring some time.

Honestly Ciper, dont waste your time. The factory wirering is more than adequate. I know what your thinking........thicker wire good, thinner wire bad....that is true but for running a 6.5 inch speaker the 18 AWG is plenty good. Being from the installation business I can tell you that speaker wire upgrading is only a ploy to get more money out of you. If you told me that you had 8" midbasses in your doors then I'd say yes that sounds like a good idea. But given our situation where we have to fit a small magnet speaker in the doors we dont need it. Just an inside note for you: when stereo shops do an amplifier install they wire the amplifier outputs to the plug in your dash and that intern feeds all the speakers through the factory wireing. Sad but true. If you do descide to do it, dont waste too much time trying to see if it sounds any better......it wont

Being a retired installer has its ups and downs. I hate it when a friend askes me to do some work for him (mainely cause I'm "retired") but I really enjoy talking about it and offering advice. So please everyone feel free to ask me questions if you want. Hope I can help
P.S. I also did, custom boxes, custom amp racks, fiberglass kicks, fiberglass pods, remote starters, alarms, navigation, video, moniters, things like that. If I ever have the free time I'll make a site with all my photos on it.

Thanks, Mike

I agree with mike on the wiring issue.

I've got the wiring running up to the factory plug behind the stereo for the front speakers because i just didn't feel like re-doing stuff through the doors. Plus, I've got the 6 1/2's cross over, so they're not really getting much bass.

The rears I did run new leads, but only because it was easier and shorter to just run them from the amp.

Its actually pretty cool that a couple of companies make speaker cable that is sutable for doing this amp install trick. Monster cable and a company called Isotech make stuff called "16/4" and "14/4". The 16 and 14 being the gage of the wire and the 4 being the number of wires in the cable. Essentially you only need to run two of these wires from the amp to the plug in the dash to get 4 pairs of speaker wires there, its very neat and very simple. Run this with the rca's and remote turn on and your done! Dont forget to run the main power cable along the side of the car that has the most electrical wiring on it (typically the left side on our car) and the "signal" cables down the right or down the middle if you have the interior already out. I am a photo freak when I do custom stuff, so this summer when I do my 94 legacy wagon up you guys will have plenty to look at.

take care,
Mike

ciper wrote:4 new speakers, WRX 6 disk and a WRX sub under the passenger seat

I need to reproduced this!!
I have the 6 disc waiting to go into my '93 Legacy Wagon... is there anything I need to do or does it just plug right in?

Disconnect battery?
ECU codes?

I am a newbie... but learning.

Thanks.

Back from the DEAD!

For the WRX 6 disk you will need to create an adaption harness. Otherwise just make sure the key is turned off and ask for help if the dash isnt coming apart correctly.

How do I "create" an adaptation harness? That sounds difficult, and I was really kinda hoping this would be "plug and play"... maybe I have been fooling around with computers for too long (which are more like plug and pray anyway).

Thanks,
Matt

Someone posted on the nasioc boards the procedure for a plug and play harness to install a wrx radio into an older model subie. It entailed buying a couple aftermarket harnesses from a stereo shop. Try and do a search on those boards for this process.

Read my post on page one. I thought it sounded pretty easy. If something doesn't make sence let me know.

Mike

I think I got it: Basically you need a wiring harness that has a plug to fit the new stereo, and the other end needs to fit the stock wiring in the dash.

I might do this later on, and when I do, I will take my head unit out, take the wiring harness to my friend, and tell him to put a plug on the stereo end that fits the stereo I'm going to show him.

I'm going to sound like a stupid customer: Does a CD player from, say, a new Legacy or Baja, etc. etc., fit? (Not WRX 6-disc changer, ciper can tell us that fits).