Adding aftermarket radio, Looking for switched and constant 12V power.

[Shep]

Oops, typo on my part, should read "easy way to tell", not "best way" -- best way is, of course, right at the ground terminal, even with the battery removed. More or less, if it's a known good ground, it becomes quite easy to have that guy there.

Unless of course you like wires, in which case insulated alligator clip to the ground terminal and to a single wire that you connect to your multimeter. Can be a bit of a bear though.

If I was doing this to my car...

Adding my approach: I'd skip any and all line-level audio output from the radio entirely. Keep it signal level, go to a dedicated amp that connects directly to the battery. Far easier to do this when the battery is so easily accessible to itself and the radio, and when you have the most convenient route for running wires right underneath that ashtray / shifter knob (I've abused the hell out of that one actually). That said, I'm a bit of an audiophile, so I do strive for more clarity in the sound, which necessitates a good amp by default. Or a super expensive radio. But that's just me.

Grounding wire should match for the radio. In and out ideally matches. There's an electrical reason for this, I'm not well versed in the area where wire width and length come into play, but the Daves on this forum are and should be able to clarify that one.

[Nuclearbacon]

The RetroSound is IN! It works great! Sound out of my front speakers is perfect, my rears are destroyed. I have new 4x10 speakers but the path to get to the old ones is rediculous! Especially since they taunt you with them being SO close yet you have to remove the entire side of the car. Ugh. When the rears bug me enough I'll dive in.

Ok pros of the RetroSound:
-looks stock
-looks STOCK (does not look like a radio to steal)
-I have a huge flash drive under the dash with ALL my favorite music and ability to plug in my iPhone and my girlfriends ipod/iPhone.
-their customer service! I had an issue where I broke one of the stalks and the receiving plug in the radio. They took care of me! It was totally my fault too.
-install was easy (with your help!)
-simplicity of display.
-color matched to your dash lights!

Cons:
-its custom so it takes a while to get everything to fit how you like
-the buttons slightly stick so I'll have to loosen up the stalks and adjust them, but should be fine after
-no cd player(who cares!)
-I'll try to think of others (maybe cost? But it wasn't that expensive compared to most radios)

I have a second radio that I purchased when I thought I fubar'd the first one. It's on it's way, all it needs is black knobs and a black faceplate. ...if anyone is interested. I'll be posting it in the for sale section when it arrives.

This weekend the new antenna will go in!

I am SO stoked! Thank you all!

[Shep]

Great to hear it! "no CD player" is a feature these days, nothing wrong with that. They're called "multimedia" players as they focus more on USB than old technologies. They don't do flip-outs screens by chance, do they?

For rear speakers, don't bother replacing the 4 x 10's. As ypu pointed out, they are impossible to replace and sound awful by default. Way too short and wide to give any good sound. Some guys do 6 x 9's in the rear parcel shelf (which *can* sound good with the right cone material to minimize distortion), others do 6.5" there too. Somw do kick panel 6.5" mounts. Parcel shelf guys mount on the rear firewall inside, ask a local audio shop for advice. They're a dying breed, guaranteed you'll get deals from them anyhow.

Whatever you do, avoid the DMC Cal kick panels like the plague. Their sub boxes get rave reviews, but I have the kick panels on me and they are shit. They are designed like tweeter enclosures with a 6" cutout on both sides, a minuscule amount of air inside anyhow, and those perforated metal strips normally used to mount tweeters. It's like they were designed to be an answer to the question "how do we make the car sound worse?". They at least tried to spare me from my decision by jerry-rigging one box out of five torn-up ones and lots of duct tape, so can't talk too much smack, but there is just no good that can ever come of that design seriously.

If DMC Cal happens to read this:.giving it only one exposed side, more internal air volume, and increase the hole to 6.5" while allowing "oversized" i.e. 7" woofers on request. Bam, zero to hero in a few simple changes. Porting that badass would make it a beast. Oh, and angle it up guys, I don't go to concerts that play music at shoe-level. Pointing it straight out assumes I have a head unit that knows what "sound height" means.