Dash Install Kit

[Ronnyboy]

So I've decided to bite the bullet and buy a new stereo next week. I'm considering these two bad boys:

XO Vision:
http://www.walmart.com/ip/XO-Vision-Dig ... s/17327948

Boss Audio:
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Boss-Audio-61 ... r/15780049

What you would you guys reccommend for a Dash install kit? I'm not concerned about the dings and wheel controls. I barely use those anyway, unless I can connect with these, that'd be a plus. Any help would be great!

[redzmonte]

the Boss one has more features like Ipod hookup if you have an iphone you can use Pandora. Best buy should stock the Dash kit you need, they had the one i needed, it is a Metra Brand as well. but you will need to have the harness which i would check amazon for. i got a "metra" harness which seems to work great. if you don't have a bose and onstar should be much cheaper then the one i need for bose/onstar.

[Mad Myche]

I've done some recent shopping; the new Kenwood units work with Android phones to fully index and play through the radios controls (and by inheritance the steering wheel controls on select models) via an App for Android. I have read that some of the other new stereos will work with the app as well (dont recall if Pioneer or Panasonic)

[Ronnyboy]

the Boss one has more features like Ipod hookup if you have an iphone you can use Pandora. Best buy should stock the Dash kit you need, they had the one i needed, it is a Metra Brand as well. but you will need to have the harness which i would check amazon for. i got a "metra" harness which seems to work great. if you don't have a bose and onstar should be much cheaper then the one i need for bose/onstar.

You'll have to excuse me, as am I'm not the best with car electronics, but I'll need a Best Buy dash kit, and then a separate harness? What's that for?

[Zeik75]

I CAN HELP. alright basically what it boils down to is aftermarket head units cant just bolt in and work fine. for one you need a car specific mounting kit which is the part that will actually hold your head unit in the dash. then you need a wiring harness, these have color coded wires that you can just solder or use butt splices to crimp together with the wires on your new headunit, the other end of the harness is a plug that matches the plug coming off of your stock head unit. Newer cars these days have all the electronics like the dinger and steering wheel controls that connect with the stock head unit, harnesses are made for these too. These dash kits and harnesses are generally universal for lines of say GM or Chrysler (sorry about this little comment here but its a good example for the topic...feel free to hate on my Chrysler comment if you must). If you know of a local audio shop or a nearby Best Buy then it shouldn't be very hard at all to get the dash kit and harness. On all the kits i have bought from best buy its about 80-120 both, but i've got a local audio shop that is basically internet price with shipping and they were about 50 dollars for a 2009 KIA Spectra i recently did an install on (100 at Best Buy). I would suggest find a local auto shop go in and just tell them you car type, that you need dash kit and harness and you would like the harness to include the steering wheel and dinger options. And there is everything you need to know about mounting aftermarket head units.

[Zeik75]

Also both of those brands are pretty crappy in the construction so i wouldn't expect much longevity or sound quality out of them. Also not to sound rude or call you stupid but you do know neither has a CD player right?

[Ronnyboy]

Also both of those brands are pretty crappy in the construction so i wouldn't expect much longevity or sound quality out of them. Also not to sound rude or call you stupid but you do know neither has a CD player right?

Don't need one, I wanna go USB/iPod route for my car. Seems like the safer option these days.