Audio
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Audio
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Replacing the stereo in your 2000 to 2001 Saturn is pretty easy. If you want to make the installation a real breeze pick up a Metra Saturn radio installation kit because the stock radio bracket doesn't have mounting holes in the correct place for the radios we installed.
The 00-02 Saturn installation kit consists of the bracket shown above as well as trim plate and plastic bucket. What makes this kit handy is if you plan on installing a second radio under the stereo. The Metra brackets have a number of holes which accept any number of car radios and even scanners!
This is the finished installation, nice fit and holds both radios securely.
On the Saturn SL1 mounting a new stereo can be tougher due to the odd shape of the hole in the center console. Again Metra makes a kit which mounts most DIN sized radios quickly and securely plus gives you a pocket for holding a couple of CD's.
All new head units come with their own wiring harness which is spliced into your existing wiring harness. You have a couple of choices here, you can just cut up your existing harness and hope you don't need to reinstall your old radio sometime in the future or you can buy a wiring harness adaptor for your specific make and model of car then splice the new stereo wiring harness into it. This then plugs into the existing plug on your car's wiring harness. The adaptor has a schematic which you use to mate up the wires, I used one picked up from Canadian Tire and discovered that the pins were not correct! The radio wouldn't power on! But you can take the plug apart and move the pins around and fix the problem. I bought a better quality harness for our other Saturn on eBay and it is MUCH better. The Metra kits I purchased on eBay as well. If you own a 96-99 S series Saturn do yourself a favour and pick up a Metra kit as it fits like a glove, and can make the installation of any DIN sized radio a breeze.
On a Saturn door with power windows there aren't too many tricks to installing new speakers. The door is held on with 5 screws, 1 in the door handle, 2 under the grab handle and 1 at the bottom front and bottom back of the door trim. Remove these first, then remove the trim plate on the back of the mirror, this pulls straight out and is held on with two clips.
Now take the door handle and slide it toward the front of the car to slide it out, you don't need to take it off the door btw. Now grab the panel and pull UP, the door panel is NOT clipped on but has hooks which hold it to the door frame. Pulling up will give you enough room to pull out the existing speakers. On the 96-99 the speakers are held in with plastic plugs, on the 00 it's two 8mm bolts.
If your Saturn has crank up windows you will need to invest in a door handle remover. All it is is a piece of metal that goes down into the handle and pushes the C clip out that holds the crank to the door. Spend the $6.99 and save yourself some work.
Saturn use 6 1/2" speakers in the doors and on the package shelf. I've installed Sony and Infinity speakers in both locations without any problems and they can use the stock mounting holes. The only headache with the Infinity speakers is that they have very small mounting tabs so on the 00 Saturn you have to use smaller screws to install the speakers in the door. The stock plastic plugs can be reused.
Saturn use some pretty funky speakers in their cars. In the 99 SL1 we had 10 ohm speakers, in the 99 SL2 with factory CD player we had 6 ohm speakers and in my 00 SL2 it came with more standard 4 ohm speakers. The plugs on the speakers changed from the 99 to the 00 model year, I have no idea what Saturn used on the 1st generation cars.
At the time I wrote this page there were lots of refurbished Infinity speakers on eBay. I bought two sets for the SL2's and they sound great! For the doors you can use the Infinity 6012i speakers, Infinity also sell a slightly shallower 6 1/2' speaker but I didn't need them for our 99 or 00. The factory CD radio and speakers in the 00 are actually quite good and you might be happy just leaving them be, on the 99's I found a major improvement in sound quality when I changed the head unit and speakers on the SL1 and I suspect the SL2 will sound better as well. using Infinity speakers will allow you to discover just how many loose items are in your doors. These speakers move so much more air than the stock and many other aftermarket speakers that I discovered a serious rattle in my door caused by the massive quantiy of air they are moving. Until I tighten down every rod and other part inside the door I have to crack my window open a bit to releive the air pressure buildup!
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