I learned a lot from my complete stereo installation in my 2008 Bullitt, I’ll share a few key items. Long post, but a lot was learned. The all new system consisted of a Kenwood DDX-57S head unit, front door speakers ( 6 1/2” Boston Acoustics component units with 3/4” tweeter mounted in the dash corners and separate crossover), rear deck speakers (Infinity 6x9 three way), trunk mounted sub (Infinity 10”, built in amp and passive radiator), rear camera, and a Sirius/XM tuner. Things I learned; 1. Don’t get a touch screen HU. The screen on the Kenwood was polarized, so are my sunglasses. At certain angles the screen was totally dark. No problem seeing it at night, but daylight was useless. The unit is too far down in the dash and has no buttons, so you’ll have to take your eyes off the road every time you want to do anything. I got the remote aftermarket to use, but it was very limited in what it controlled. I put in a Kenwood DPX503BT I had sitting around and it is so much nicer. I got the optional remote on eBay and it controls everything. I have a lifetime subscription to SiriusXM so I use it most, and now I have buttons to touch and a real volume **** and the remote is VERY handy. Get one. No, I can’t use the rear view camera anymore, but that’s what mirrors are for. I’ll be sending it and the DDX57S back to Sonic Electronix. 2. The wiring harness I got did not provide power to the HU when the car was running. The wire in the connector was in the wrong slot, but that didn’t matter because the factory wiring did NOT provide 12 volt positive power when the car was running! It provided memory power and ground and speaker wires all good, but it must be that CAN BUS system messing things up. I ran a wire from the small fuse block in the passenger footwell, use empty fuse slot number 5. Use the right slot. I cut a fuse apart and soldered a wire with a 10amp fuse holder to the leg, perfect fit. The fuse block cover didn’t fit after putting in the wire, but the big cover for the footwell panel did, so no problem. 3. Don’t bother trying to reuse the stock door subs. My car had the Shaker 500 system originally, so I can’t say how the 1000 subs sound, but the 500s are awful. No real volume, and they rattle WAY too much in the enclosure. I went through the hassle (see number 4) of connecting them, hoping to use them as fill drivers, but they are just awful. The factory amps can’t keep up with the Kenwood / Boston Acoustics and distort. Badly. 4. The factory sub amps need to get a 5 volt signal to turn on. The Kenwood provided 12 volts. When you turn on the HU there will be a thump. I don’t know if this damages the amp, but I didn’t like it so I got a 7805 voltage regulator from Amazon (actually 25 for $7.99, so if you need one hit me up.). The left leg takes the 12v signal from the HU, the middle leg goes to ground, the right leg provides 5v to the factory amp. But, don’t waste your time unless you want to keep the rest of the system speakers all factory. (See number 3 above) 5. Putting 6x9 speakers in the rear deck is EASY!!! Taking out the rear parcel shelf is a bit of a hassle since a lot of parts have to come out, but drilling eight holes and hanging the new speakers below the factory 5x8 cutouts is a piece of cake. But, they are mostly fill speakers anyway, the fronts are way more important. Save some money and time and keep the stock rear 5x8s. I had the Infinitys sitting around (I actually had all the speakers from other projects sitting around…) and I pulled the ENTIRE interior out for the stereo installation, so why not use them. 6. Use the factory speaker wiring, but get adapters to go from the factory plugs to wires that plug into aftermarket speakers. Saves a lot of time and if you put the factory speakers back in its easy to reverse. 6. Learn to solder and solder all the connections to your new HU. Takes a LOT more time than crimp connectors, but it’s a better more reliable connection and takes up a lot less space. There is plenty of room in the dash under the HU, but I solder everything. My new system has great sound quality and volume, so definitely worth all the hassle for me. I still need to fine tune the crossovers and equalization curve, but it still rocks. Sorry such a wordy, long post, but I hope it helps somebody.

 

Thanks for posting your experience.

 

Thanks for posting. Hopefully this will help others who have questions about a lot of this. To make it easier to read, I added some line breaks:

 

Nice!

Thanks Bert!

KC