Ya I'm not giving up. The main reason I posted that here was as a warning to others to not buy from them, I have found some other reviews where they did this same thing to other customers who where unsuccessful getting the missing parts. If I don't here back from them by Monday afternoon I'm just going to reverse payment and re-order from somewhere else. I'm not gonna mess around with them. I doubt I will here back though since my case is already "closed"

Here is the email I got if anyone cares:

Trust me I tore that box apart looking for it. It's simply not there....My guess is someone took it out to update the firmware and forgot to put it back in or lost it and they don't want to bother looking for it and admit a mistake.

 

Just ordered my single din metra kit off ebay from seller "Integration_solutions" I was curious does anyone know if they are an authorized metra seller? Also what serial or model number does the kit have to be to be firmware version 1.4? I guess I should have read the last 10 pages before I bought it now...

 

i got mine from the same place, everything will be good, and fast

 

Guys, I have direct source from factory on this kit. It comes with all the wiring for installation.

 

Hey there guys. Been following this thread for a while, and just rencently pulled the trigger on the Pioneer 700BT on boxing day. Still contemplating whether to do the install myself. I've done quite a few things with my car (brakes, installing audiollink) so I think I'm capable with the install. I was reading the instructions and just got a part of the wiring where I need clarification. On the soldering section for the kit, I'm tryign to visualize how all the cables connect (the one from the unit to the box, kit and harness etc.) Great if someone has a pic, or a description of how they connect/what solders to what would be great. Then I can really decide if I'm capable of the install. Thanks!

 

all of the wires match up color for color and the installation instructions are very clear (i believe that they are posted earlier in this thread).* The rest is just removing some parts from the old radio, cutting some plastic to make for easier fitment of the module, and getting all of the harnesses to fit behind the radio.i do this on a daily basis though so it would be hard for me to tell how much you know about this sort of stuff but in my opinion, the hardest part is just getting everything to fit.

 

everything will fit fine, just get all the wiring done first before you even open up your dash, it will give your self more time on the car not the wires at the sametime, and take your time on your rx8 radio, theres a few or more you have to take off it

 

The wires seriously took the longest. Installing was easy. But that's probably because I took apart my dash before. That darn'd hidden screw!

 

yeah that one screw lol

 

Right now this is how i visualize the wiring should be like, though I do have some questions regarding the ??? I know one way is to plug around (assuming I'm soldering it right from the diagram) to see what plugs to what. But i was hoping to get a clear wiring schematic (like my one below) just to see what I'm dealing with. The rest of the work seems more like a work of patience so i'm okay with that. This is my understanding thus far. If you guys can whip up something like this....

 

if you go to metraonline.com you can download the manual and like everyone is saying....it is pretty straight forward therefore eliminating the ???? in your diagram. and if you still don't understand i would very strongly suggest you have it professionally installed or else you are going to run the risk of damaging something that will be costly to repair.

 

Wireless soldering iron FTW!
I actually did all the wiring first in the house and then went out and fit it all into the car (after cutting my sub dash all up to get everything to fit).
However, since then I actually undid the wiring to test the preouts on my system. Then, I had to go back to using speaker level inputs, thus undoing the preout wiring. For those of you counting that is a total of four sets of soldering jobs, though for the speakers only. In fact there are only eight wires total for the speakers. Still, it was nice to have a wireless soldering iron, so I did the speaker wires in the car in about 5 minutes or less. Saved me some time from having to remove the whole harness from the car and carry it up three flights of steps and then back down again only to redo fitting all the crap back in the dash again.

 

Didn't somebody on here install an Alpine IVA-W505 using this kit? I just got one, but I have a few questions about where you put stuff....if you could PM me I would appreciate it.

jds

 

So everyone is saying to use the preouts on the aftermarket head unit if you have the Bose system right? I was just curious if everyone with the Bose system did this and if there is any better way to avoid the excessively loud/static sound Bose system owners supposedly get by having 2 amps powering the speakers?

 

I dunno, the jury is still out on that. Metra said in an email to me they don't support the Bose system, BTW. Would have been nice to know before I bought it... but I didn't bother to ask either.

If you use the preouts there's a 90% chance you'll need to use ground loop isolators too. I haven't put any in yet because I jsut have no clue where I'm going to fit em.

edit to add: I'm not using the preouts right now due to noisiness coming through the speakers when doing things like opening the doors, turning on the dimmer, and the lights, etc. All of them go away except the hum when the lights are on. That was a dealbreaker. I've been contemplating rewiring the HU ground over to where the Bose amp is grounded (the one that's right behind the ash tray further back in the subdash). I know it's an ok ground at least because I have my PAC SWI grounded there. For the HU I used the ground wire supplied by the mazda harness, and I'm wondering if that isn't a pretty crappy ground or something. If the Bose amp ground was at a different level that could be causing the ground loops.
If you wire things up, give it a try using the ground from the Bose amp and let me know if you get any ground loops or if everything works ok.

 

Nearly all aftermarket head units have pre-outs. I haven't yet received my metra kit and w505 head unit yet (order in, yay!), but I know from doing other installs, on factory Bose (or equivalent) systems, it's simple to attach RCA heads to the leads on the kit and plug those into the RCA pre-out lines on the head unit. Then you never have to worry about double-amping the system.

 

Does anyone here still need the cable in SoCal area? I will be available all week next week to flash anyone's unit to the latest (1.4). Please let me know by PM if you need to figure out a time.

 

Can anyone post a link to the firmware update file? On The Axxess site previously linked to, no info I can think of that is recognized by their site not to mention all the coding errors on their site.

 

so I read through the thread and my manual....and I think I am going to give up the self installing..any shop recommanded in socal?
A local shop quote me 200 for the installation with bypass..but mine is already bypassed.
damn it just makes me dizzy looking at all those wire....

 

I just installed a pioneer premier avic-f90bt using the metra kit (bought on ebay) into my bose equipped car, and when I installed it per instructions (deck speaker level outputs to harness speaker inputs) I got a ton of white noise and distortion. I pulled it back apart and cut off the deck line level outputs. I took a spare set of RCA cables and cut them in half. Then cut back to expose the inner wires, and connected these to the harness adapter wires that feed the speakers/amps. Then used the RCA preouts to feed them instead, as you described. I had a 100% clean signal then...although I have not yet driven the car, I did open and shut doors, turn lights and functions off and on with absolutely no noises.

 

Please keep us posted on how this is working I am about to receive my cd player and I'm ready to install but I'm still a little fuzzy on whether or not to use the rca outs. Thank you for the update!

 

well its been a say a month and a few days with my install v1.1, everything seems good but the fast clock, other then that its perfect, i have the pioneer d3 and all the wiring done my self, i just had this guy take out my old unit and install the kit for 60 bucks,

 

Did you use the ground bolt behind the ashtray?

 

I got the car fired up today and went for a drive, and the sound is flawless. It is also a notable improvement over the stock unit, which I always felt was more than adequate for a stock system from the beginning.

There are absolutely NO noises or issues in the audio...using FM, sirius, CD or DVD, volume low or high, while changing functions in the car (dome lights, headlights, heater motor, etc.).

Based on my experience, the RCA feed for bose equipped cars is THE way to go.

I used to get annoyed because of the volume of the stock head unit...1 was too low to hear. 2 was too low to hear comfortably. 3 could be heard comfortably while stopped, but not at speed. And when you turned the radio to 4, suddenly it got significantly louder, a bit too loud when others are in the car and might still want to have a conversation. And the few times that I was alone and wanted to turn it up, there was very little difference on volume output from say 10 all the way up, as if the system were already maxed out by 10.

In other words it seemed to me that the stock HU fed the amps too much preout voltage in stock form.

The volume is much more linear with the current setup, I find there is much greater control over the sound output this way.

 

Well, I had so much **** to install, that I made my own. I not only used the head unit, but also put in 2 rear TV's, a steering wheel control adaptrr, and a sirius interface box...plus a motion dvd bypass switch (to kill or enable video while in motion). So one ground would not do the job for me regardless.

I used 3 grounds, ran them down right under the ashtray and used self tapping sheetmetal screws and ring terminals to hold them to the chassis there. One is for the video bypass switch, one is for the tv control units and the sirius box, and one is for the head unit and steering wheel control adapter.