2007 Spec B Radio information thread

Interesting..

 

My dealer told me that he could no longer get 07 radios

And it is indeed correct that you only need the one part number

86201AG67A, not the second "face plate" part number listed in post #1 ?

 

And you MIGHT want to add the $14+ aux-in kit 86257XA10A if for some

reason you don't want to just buy a 1/8" audio jack from RadioShack ?

 

Yep, that's the part number. Either that kit, or the 08 impreza kit listed earlier a page ago.

 

My dealer told me that he could no longer get 07 radios

Time for a new dealer.

 

John

with the impreza aux in kit, do you still need to modify the connector, or is it just plug-n-play?

^^^ this

and, aside from the aux in, can I do the hardwired sat radio as well?

 

Just checked the subarugenuineparts.com site and its on there.

I have the 07 Radio and the XM radio unit and it works great . I just had to get some additional antenna cable and rout it myself. Edited November 29, 2008 by leggtnut

Thanks

 

Did you sub stop working like Deerkiller? IF no, any idea why his did and your did not?

with the impreza aux in kit, do you still need to modify the connector, or is it just plug-n-play?

 

Same question, for the Legacy aux-in kit ? It seems worth $15 to

avoid having to re-work the 8-pin connector ...

 

I have to admit, I am VERY seriously confused at this point about the

aux-in mod. I've read the ENTIRE 16 pages of this thread, and I AM

electronics savvy, but I'm STILL not sure if I want to:

 

1. Buy my own 1/8" stereo jack and wire in it myself.

2. Buy the Legacy kit.

3. Buy the Impreza kit.

 

I don't mind buying shielded audio cable and soldering it up to a

1/8" jack myself, but I wouldn't mind paying a little to keep from

having to pull the pins from the I-85 connector and cutting into the

car's wiring.

 

I'd appreicate it if deerkiller or jdanhires (or someone else knowledgeable)

woiuld summarize again. Thanks !

Edited November 29, 2008 by RustyShackleford

I don't have the OEM sub. I have a clarion under seet sub that I have wired in to a forward and reverse harness.

 

But I thihk that I have read somewhere on here that either the 05 or 06's use the i85 connector for the sub.

Well here's my response from subarugenuineparts

 

"2007 Legacy GT head unit is not available for direct sales.

Item is available only for warranty replacement via a Subaru Dealership

 

Subaru has a lock down on this item and will not release it for any reason

other than a direct warranty replacement"

 

 

It's odd as jdanhires was able to get one from his dealer Maybe they had one around or something..

Well here's my response from subarugenuineparts

 

"2007 Legacy GT head unit is not available for direct sales.

Item is available only for warranty replacement via a Subaru Dealership

 

Subaru has a lock down on this item and will not release it for any reason

other than a direct warranty replacement"

 

 

It's odd as jdanhires was able to get one from his dealer Maybe they had one around or something..

 

Nope, they had to order it. I specifically asked them if it was only available for warranty replacement, and they said no. Earlier in the summer when I tried to to order it from the same dealership, they said it was only available for warranty replacement. I think subarugenuineparts is relaying old information.

 

John

 

John

Yes, that's old news. Two different vendors have told me they would sell it,

for about $500 including shipping. I'm going for it. I still don't quite understand

the various options for how to connect an aux-in jack ...

Interesting, as I would assume subarugenuineparts would be up on whats available and what is not.

Same question, for the Legacy aux-in kit ? It seems worth $15 to

avoid having to re-work the 8-pin connector ...

 

I have to admit, I am VERY seriously confused at this point about the

aux-in mod. I've read the ENTIRE 16 pages of this thread, and I AM

electronics savvy, but I'm STILL not sure if I want to:

 

1. Buy my own 1/8" stereo jack and wire in it myself.

2. Buy the Legacy kit.

3. Buy the Impreza kit.

 

I don't mind buying shielded audio cable and soldering it up to a

1/8" jack myself, but I wouldn't mind paying a little to keep from

having to pull the pins from the I-85 connector and cutting into the

car's wiring.

 

I'd appreicate it if deerkiller or jdanhires (or someone else knowledgeable)

woiuld summarize again. Thanks !

 

Anyone ?

 

It looks like the advantage of using the Impreza kit is that

you can simply pull the pins out of its HU-end connector and put them

into the I-85 connector, as described in post #195, and also you don't

have to find some shielded stereo cable. But for $60, this seems

expensive if you don't want to keep steering-wheel controls, simply

so you don't have to cut the wires off the I-85 to get the pins.

 

Does the $15 Legacy kit not use the same pins sizes ?

Edited December 1, 2008 by RustyShackleford

I ordered a Metra Subaru radio install kit (70-8901) for a few bucks off ebay. I figure I can take the pins out of the adapter and use those in the e85 connector on the legacy.

 

John

The difference between the Impreza Aux kit ($60) and the Legacy Aux kit ($15), besides the obvious pins is the fact that the Impreza kit actually comes with wires to run from the HU to where ever you're trying to locate the aux plug. The Legacy kit ONLY comes with an aux "box" See my pictures earlier in the thread.

 

This is from what I can tell anyway.

 

As for how to hook it up I agree that whomever has done the Impreza kit hasn't explained how and what they did very clearly. I would guess that if you have some electrical expertise you will likely be able to make it work.

 

Good luck and report back!

 

Cheers!

As for how to hook it up I agree that whomever has done the Impreza kit hasn't explained how and what they did very clearly.

 

Oh, that seemed pretty clear. You just release the pins from the

HU-end connector on the cable (which somehow are known to be the

same size pin as the I-85 requires) and then insert them into the

correct pin locations in the I-85 (and you must remove one of the

existing ones in the I-85). This is all described in post #195.

 

Man, there's a LOT of information in this thread, but you now have

to read through SEVENTEEN pages of postings to find it. Some heroic

person should boil all this information down into a FAQ ...

I agree, someone needs to summarize which method is best or howtos: the cheaper the better, if I could get the aux box and run some cables without messing with factory that would be best. I still have to save the 500 for the HU. but this looks like the route i will go, I like my ipod and xm and mp3 cds too much.

Terrible news, comrades. I just ordered the '07 radio, and apparently Subaru

told the dealer that due to low supply, it's (again) only available for warranty claims

(or collision, I suppose, although it's a little difficult to imagine the collision that

damages the radio without totaling the car - but I digress).

 

The dealer leaned on them, I guess saying something like they'd already promised

it to me, so I'm getting it - to which I'm eternally grateful to them, they'll get my

mail-order parts business from now on.

 

Perhaps this may vary according to which distributor your parts dealer is suuplied

by, I'm not sure. And maybe the situation will again reverse itself when a new

batch of radios is received.

I heard a similar story from my dealer. I got my new radio a couple weeks ago and he gave me some story who's point was that I owed him big time for finagling this part for me.

 

I'm in the process of installing my '07 radio in my '05 wagon. I removed the old radio yesterday (I was surprised how easy it was) and I'm hoping to modify the wiring harness today to add the aux jack and put it all back together. I'll take some pictures of the interesting parts.

 

Initial interesting points:

My '05 wiring harness matches the '07 radio but the new radio has an extra 14+ pin connector for the nav option that wasn't available in 05. Also the location of the connectors on the back of radio has changed somewhat.

I got my dealer to print out the '07 radio wiring diagram for me since my manuals are all for my '05. I intend to use the diagram to run an aux jack to the armrest.

There are 6 screws holding the radio in place: 4 up front near the trim (pictures to follow) and 2 set deeper in the dash near the top of the radio (note the two highest screws in the trim do not need to be removed). Warning: the two screws set deep in the dash are easy to drop (and lose) so be careful when removing them. One of mine is now buried somewhere under the carpeting. @!#$

With the radio out and the air vent removed it's easy to run wires up to install a gps unit in the cubby above the radio. I was initial uncertain about removing the vent cover but I kept pulling and it popped out. However the wiring harness for the mileage computer is so short that it broke the tab that keeps it in place as I was removing the air vent. Plugging that wire back in without having the radio removed requires either some tool to grasp the connector or tiny hands. However with the radio out it's relatively easy. The second electrical connector on the air vent is longer and so easier to plug back in during re-assembly.

 

Anyone else figure out how to remove the air vent without damaging the connector? Or did I just end up with an unusually short wiring harness? I suspect (but it's too late to confirm on my car) that removing the radio and reaching up to disconnect the wire on the bottom of the air vent before removing the air vent should work.

 

BTW I don't know how many of you have been as annoyed as me by subaru's pdf manuals and the absurd download restrictions but I finally bought the whole set from some guy on ebay and it's great! Not only did I get all the manuals at once but they are indexed and linked within the pdf. Also each manual page is named something reasonable instead of some useless string of random characters.

Yea when someone gets the aux in completed in a professional fashion take some pics for install. This is the only part of this I have not completed.

 

I was thinking to go with the impreza kit and just plug and play. I dont need steering wheel controls.

 

Let us know if this is possible and post pics when you do this with a short write up if you can.

I was thinking to go with the impreza kit and just plug and play. I dont need steering wheel controls.

 

If I understand all 17 pages of postings correctly, it's NOT "plug and

play" if you spring the $60+for the Impreza kit. It just means you don't

have to recycle the connector pins in the I-85 connector (and you only

have to "release" one of them, not all four), and you don't have to find

your own source for the stereo coax cable (the idiots at Radio Shack

said "I've never seen such a thing").

I heard a similar story from my dealer. I got my new radio a couple weeks ago and he gave me some story who's point was that I owed him big time for finagling this part for me.

 

I don't think it's a "story" and we SHOULD be grateful (to the dealer,

not to Subaru for putting us in this situation in the first place, or for

their arbitrary and capricious policy regarding allowing us the

privilege of paying $500 for a work-around ! Bastards ...

 

I'm in the process of installing my '07 radio in my '05 wagon. I removed the old radio yesterday (I was surprised how easy it was) and I'm hoping to modify the wiring harness today to add the aux jack and put it all back together. I'll take some pictures of the interesting parts.

 

Thanks for the good info, and looking forward to the photos.

Great stuff mbeadon! Thanks for your efforts. Glad to hear a few of you have been able to get the stereo in the first place.

 

I haven't done anything with the Aux in yet either but would like to. Lookin' forward to those pics as well.

 

Cheers!

Here is my work on installing a 07 head unit into a 06 Outback wagon to access the Aux input connector:

 

Purchased the 07 Head unit on Ebay (P-204-UN, single CD, Manual AC, the best $50.00 I ever spent).

 

After reviewing all the post about the pinout of the 07 vs 06's small 8 pin connector, and since I have manual AC. I determind that the existing connector plugged into the existing 8 pin connector of the 06 head unit would not be needed. The car does not have a sub woofer. NOTE: For the Auto AC control guys you could populate pin 8 on the made up connector and run a wire to pin 8 of the orginal connector. You would have to determine the best way to connect it to the existing connector. Molex makes a headder that has the same pin size as the orignal connector. That might work.

 

I determined that the pin to pin spacing was the same as the Molex 0.1" space header plug (CONNECTOR PART NUMBER, MOLEX 2695-4, Allied Elec (no stock) and that the row to row spacing would allow two of these connectors to be stacked one on top of the other. I felt that covering all eight exposed pins was better than just getting the 4 pins necessary for the Aux input. NOTE: You can purchase a plug with more than 4 pins. This connector is very easy to cut down to the pin count you want. Radio Shack may also stock a type of the connecor.

 

I took two 4-pin molex header plugs placing then one on top of the other to make a 8 pin plug. I then took a standard 6ft long 1/8" male to male stereo audio cable and cut one end off to get to the three wires. Crimped the three wires to molex pins (PIN PART NUMBER, MOLEX 2759 (Allied Elec 863-0855 ) and inserted them into the correct location (can be found on other post). Pin 1 (Left Audio), Pin 2 (Right Audio, Pin 5 (Audio Gnd). A 4th wire goes into Pin 6 (Aux enable) which is connected to chassis thru one of the small screws of the head unit. I then put shrink sleeve arount the body of the connector to hold it together, but that is not necessary.

 

Next I took an sharp knife and cut down the two ridges that the 8 pin connector of the head unit has. The two ridges are there to help the orginal connecor slide in easy. They need to be removed to allow the made up connector to slide in.

 

I tested this set on the bench and the aux i input worked. I installed the head unit this weekend (orginal 8 pin connector in harness not installed), routed the aux input cable to exit the center console on the passanger side, leaving approx 2 ft of wire. Everything works great.

 

SEE Post 265 & 266 for PHOTOS of the Aux input mod.

SEE Post 269 for Molex connector info

Edited December 16, 2008 by Jeromes
Added Conn & Pin P/N, Added additional info