AZvetteman

Was my first real stereo install. Part of my reasoning in getting the 1LT package was knew would rip out the stereo anyways. Went with Kenwood DNX690 primarily as wanted Ipod and HD Radio. The GPS will rarely be use but nice bonus. My first double din and touchscreen. Also thought I would give the rear view camera a try as never had one. Used Alpine before primarily and was fairly happy with them but hard to navigate maybe just because single din with lots of features. Once I found Double D Mods does the harness work etc this was really the key in deciding to attempt his myself along with all the install details and pics on this forum otherwise I would never tear apart a Corvette. I will admit when had the car completely tore apart and broke a few of plastic clips on doors and rear speaker plastics was really questioning if worth it and if could get it back together but it really was not a big deal and fairly easy if you have patience (I have none). Here are some details that might be of interest or help others:

• Kenwood DNX690HD, Arc Audio XDI 6.2 front speakers and XDI 502 rears, JL Audio 8in stealth sub box for rear drivers side compartment, Kenwood XR900.5 five channel amp, GMOS04 harness, Steering wheel control module, Kenwood CMOS 210 rear view camera, all the necessary wiring. All put together by Dennis at Double D Mods.
• EVERYTHING worked on first attempt flawlessly !!! Until you see the wire harness you don't realize how must stuff most coexist and how many features the car and stereo has in general. With my luck, never would have thought it would all work. Onstar still works as factory and stereo stops and uses the front dash speaker as it should, steering wheel controls good, *rear view camera goes on and off when it should, ipod use flawless, HD radio awesome, Bluetooth was instant no pairing routine etc, Bluetooth streaming audio good (but better through cable), iTunes rented movie played without effort, other videos played ok (stretched a little weird but that's ok and maybe a setting). I could go on and on ... It all works and better than expected.
• Never heard of Arc Audio speakers. Seemed great quality (ex. Rubber cover for magnet). Sound great and as good or better than anything else I have ever had. Was most impressed as they handle a bit of bass well especially the small rears are by far the best I have had for what they are. Many say just not use the rears but very glad I got them.
• The JL stealth sub is the best 8in that I have heard. Still not a 10in or 12in but plenty for inside the car. Only if you want to shake the neighbors up do you really need more.
• I adjusted the sound to my liking from the amp first then found the "Rock" listening mode was perfect for my ears. The touch screen menu for audio adjustments is really cool how you slide things around to adjust fade etc.
• Rear view camera is nice. Very crisp clear image. I still don't trust using it and a bit hard to get a feel how close you really are to something as such wide view but getting use to it and glad I did it.*
• The DNX690HD is extremely *nice. Really like the big screen and its easy to navigate. Touch is a little more distracting when driving so using the steering wheel controls more than I have on other vehicles I have had. Keep the screen protection film on during the install !!! I put a couple small scratches on mine which is a bummer. Buy a custom cut screen protector for it from eBay for permanent use.
• Ran all my wires from head unit down the center console side and down the middle of the rear hatch. You can fish them under the carpet so no pulling carpet or removing seats. Just have to remove the lower center console plastic which I needed to do anyways to drill a hole in it for the thick iPod cable to go in center console. It's only a couple screws to remove.
• Amp was installed in center of rear hatch on top of carpet which made the wire run fairly short as straight down the middle too. There is a plastic layer under the carpet which is plenty to screw the amp into. I had a heck of a time trying to get through the carpet (twisted around screw, etc.)and the plastic is also ribbed so was a bit more of a struggle than expected and only ended up doing two screws.
• Ran camera wires to head unit and used the ignition switched hot and ground off the harness. For reverse trigger tapped into the harness in passenger foot panel per posts. I did have two green wires on my 2013 but it was the lighter green wire. A bit tough to get a tap into this bundle of wires and need to unwrap it a bit to get a little slack. I ended up using a dab of super glue to fast dry hold the trigger wire into the tap so juggled less wires and tools. The actual camera wire went through the rear grommet where wire feed to the brake lights and license plate light. There is the a opening to the license plate area. Take out one of the small bolts to mount the small camera. It is offset to the passenger side but its so wide angle does not matter. Really easy!
• running new wires to the front door speakers was a bit of a pain. My buddy did them and he had to drill a hole to make a passage .. I don't know the details.
• Amp was grounded to the rear metal trunk latch mechanism. There was a bolt right there that was easy to use. Amp power was the only wire not run down the center with the other wires. It wend down the passenger door rail and then under the passenger dash. There is a grommet behind the battery through the firewall but was too tight so put a small slit in it and used some wire to fish into the passenger footwell to attach this wire to and pull it through. This was a bit difficult as the grommet is way up under the dash.
• the front door speaker templates that Double D Mods provided helped a lot. The hole for the largest speaker was a bit big so used the screw clips to get the screws to grab onto
• there is a ton of wire to go behind the head unit. We ran all the wire, sat the deck on the dash and one by one ran each wire and double zip tied excess wire in small bundles. These bundles can then go off to the left or right side I'd the head unit as actually lots of extra room in the dash to the sides. The main wire harness is the biggest mess with several bigger plastic boxes to the accessory features added into it. I laid down some thin packing foam in the passenger foam and somewhat wrapped each plastic piece with the same foam to ensure it would not rattle. All this went off to the passenger side hole in a clump of wires as cant really tie wrap/separate much of it. The head unit in the end slipped in very easily.
• the dash kit messed with us. Was a case of we should have just read the instructions LOL. You don't use the metal housing that comes with the Kenwood.
• taking the door panels off was not as bad a s I really thought it was gonna be. I highly recommend buying a set of plastic trip removal tools as used then for many things including the door panels. Just work them off from bottom starting at rear as many posts discuss. It takes some good pulling but they will come out. On my first door did not break any of the posts. Was a little cocky on the second door and broke four LOL. I got impatient and did not work rear to front then it suddenly gave breaking four of them. Ordered the replacements and its very easy to replace them.
• I don't understand all the posts about the door panels being hard to put back on. Just align the posts realizing you are ultimately trying to get the top of the panel to hang on. Them just start pushing in the to top and the posts around the door and it goes in very easy.
• I did pull two of the plastic mount posts completely off the rear speaker trim panel. These panels are a bit tough to get off. They are just glued on from factory so a little super glue and back in business.
• The only thing I overlooked was having the USB port available for downloading firmware to the head unit. My USB goes to my Ipod and it does not work to download the firmware (need a true USB drive). What I would recommend is adding an extension and loop the USB wire down to the fuse panel in the passenger foot well so that can unplug the extension there temporarily to load firmware then connect it again to resume dedicated iPod use. Since I have no issue I am not sure I will even bother with the firmware upgrade.
• I ran both my microphone and GPS antenna to the drivers side A pillar. Note to take the A pillar trip piece off first pop the small plastic trim piece by the door hinges that goes over the bottom of it at the. You then just pull the A pillar piece towards the rear and it will come out. Has industrial Velcro at the bottom near the window so it is a bit tough to get out. Run the microphone to the very top by the ceiling and screw it in the A pillar trim piece rather than the tape. Will need to drill a pilot hole but very easy. I put the GPS antenna a little lower on the trim piece just below where the front window eye brow is to ensure as best reception as possible. The tape on it is fine to hold well.
• Don't freak out when connecting the battery again as it takes a couple minutes for everything to initialize. As an example I though my windows were stuck down but just had to wait a few for the button to work again.
• BONUS !!! Since tearing it apart I no longer have any problems with my windows not indexing properly


Several people on this forum helped answer my questions while installing ... THANKS !!! ... let me know if I might be able to help anyone especially in the near future as I am sure my memory will fade quickly on this LOL.

Boozman

Great write up, that's the same unit I have from DD plus I had Steven do the install as I would never have figured it out after watching him.

AZvetteman

Thanks! Was bored waiting for some work to get done on my car so a great time killer

Here are some pics:

Did I really just do this to my car ... and this was when I was almost done LOL. Note this is the trick to set the head unit on dash to be able to start bundling wires together to shove into sides of dash:


Here are the two green wires for the camera I mentioned. Its the lighter one on right that needs to be tapped for the reverse trigger:


Camera done. Is small so does not stand out:


Here is where mounted my microphone and GPS antenna. The microphone is hardly visible. The GPS antenna shape does not make it very distracting. This mounting hides the wires very well, does not get in way of my sunshade, etc.:


The next series of pics shows how to remove the A-pillar trim piece (surprisingly never located pics of this on forum, just verbal instructions) to run the wires for the microphone and GPS (wires go under dash on drivers side above knees towards door and then up into the a-pillar fairly easily). Remove the plastic piece near door hinge first:



A-pillar trim piece removed. There is electrical connector to remove but it has enough slack to get the piece off first:


This shows why the small door piece near hinge must be removed first as the a-pillar piece is held into it at the bottom in the square cutout seen:


Here is the front tip of the a-pillar piece and can see the industrial Velcro. It takes a bit of effort to slowly work the velco off to remove the a-pillar piece but it will come out:


All Done! .. was well worth it:




Friday night "drive in" movie rented from iTunes LOL:

easyrider7467

Wonderfull!!

Thanks very much for taking the time to write this all up, very informative.



I'm attempting mine while on vaca next week. This was inspiring, as I'm not a electrically versed.

Question: How much time would you say it approximately took you?

Thanks.

AZvetteman

On first day I did 15 hours, one buddy helped another 10, and another for 4 hours. I then spent another 3 hours the next two days finishing things up. Not to mention the time surfing this forum to find the posts to show how to do all this. I am not very efficient and like to stare at things a long time and try to find instructions before pulling on them LOL. If had to do it again I think two people could do it in one long day ... having a buddy or kid really helps for fishing wires, grabbing tools, etc. even if they don't really do anything.

here is some more info ...

The plastic door panel tools I purchased mentioned above (orange tools seen in one of the pic's) were under $20. They are specifically "Astro Pneumatic 4524 Auto Fastener and Molding Removal Tool Set, 11-Piece" on Amazon . I also purchased a metal set "Anytime Tools 7 piece CAR DOOR PANEL TRIM & Windshield REMOVAL TOOL" a little over $20 but don't remember using those but maybe I did on the door panels as you can break the plastic ones if really gotta pull .

I purchased a "Screen Protector Kenwood DNX-570HD" from eBay (made by navprotector.com) as its the same screen as the DNX690HD even though they don't list one for it.

Here are the links to the posts, etc. that helped me the most:

Center console removal - last video:
http://www.mgwltd.com/corvette_short...allation.shtml


Door panel removal:
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/audi...anels-off.html

Well crap, I thought I booked marked the others for rear speakers (tricky ... and just as tough to get back in) and hatch hydraulics but apparently not ... most are in the Audio section sticky.