2007 Spec B Radio information thread

86201AG67A Radio Ay Up2 $450

 

^^^^^^^^^

This is the only part number you need. It is the head unit with the 07 panel assembly attached. The other panel assy is for earlier models. I know because I ordered it through Subaru. The panel assy attached to the 86201AG67A is from the 07. The other number given at the beginning of this thread is unnecessary.

 

Thanks for the info I <3 u

I got my new radio in today. I'll confirm what ckrausgri posted, part number 86201AG67A includes the face plate and internal head unit. It's all you need. I got mine from subarugenuineparts.com for $431.67.

 

FWIW, I also ordered part number 86257XA10A ($14.25). It's a small box with a six pin adapter and small headphone jack.

 

Are the male plugs for this six pin easy to come by?

 

I'll let you know how the install goes. I'm taking it to a small local stereo shop as I'm not experienced enough to do this myself. As I've mentioned I'm going to have them run the wires for the steering wheel with audio controls (that I'm going to purchase in the near future) as well.

 

Cheers!

-Ian

Thanks so much for this info! There is no longer any doubt about if both parts are needed

 

THANK YOU to all those who have lent information to this end.

I got my new radio in today. I'll confirm what ckrausgri posted, part number 86201AG67A includes the face plate and internal head unit. It's all you need. I got mine from subarugenuineparts.com for $431.67.

 

FWIW, I also ordered part number 86257XA10A ($14.25). It's a small box with a six pin adapter and small headphone jack.

 

Are the male plugs for this six pin easy to come by?

 

I'll let you know how the install goes. I'm taking it to a small local stereo shop as I'm not experienced enough to do this myself. As I've mentioned I'm going to have them run the wires for the steering wheel with audio controls (that I'm going to purchase in the near future) as well.

 

Cheers!

-Ian

Thanks for the post Ian! Let us know when you get it installed.

 

I wonder if Opie can tell us if the 07 part numbers and the 08 part numbers are the same.

I'm dying to find out how this goes. Do you have the under-seat sub? If so do you plan on keeping it?

 

I've read this whole thread twice and I'm still not sure if it plugs right in.

 

Anyway, thanks for the info and keep us posted on how the install goes.

 

 

drew

 

I got my new radio in today. I'll confirm what ckrausgri posted, part number 86201AG67A includes the face plate and internal head unit. It's all you need. I got mine from subarugenuineparts.com for $431.67.

 

FWIW, I also ordered part number 86257XA10A ($14.25). It's a small box with a six pin adapter and small headphone jack.

 

Are the male plugs for this six pin easy to come by?

 

I'll let you know how the install goes. I'm taking it to a small local stereo shop as I'm not experienced enough to do this myself. As I've mentioned I'm going to have them run the wires for the steering wheel with audio controls (that I'm going to purchase in the near future) as well.

 

Cheers!

-Ian

Goneskiian - Thanks a ton for the info! Good luck on getting it installed.

 

Anyone want to start hunting down part numbers for the 08 radio?

I'm dying to find out how this goes. Do you have the under-seat sub? If so do you plan on keeping it?

 

I've read this whole thread twice and I'm still not sure if it plugs right in.

 

Anyway, thanks for the info and keep us posted on how the install goes.

 

 

drew

I do have the under-seat sub woofer. I do plan on keeping it as well. It doesn't sound like it will plug right into this new stereo but we'll find out!

 

It may be a few weeks before I get to tackle this as I'm going to a bicycle race this weekend and then to Jackson WY for a family gathering next Wednesday. Maybe the second week of July. Just wanted to warn those interested so they don't keep coming back looking for new info too soon.

 

I'd like to be there and help them install it as I'm curious that way and like to work with my hands. If they let me I'll try to get some pictures and a detailed write up of what they do so I can add to what DeerKiller (and others) has so graciously outlined. I guess I could probably try and tackle it on my own but have ZERO experience wiring anything and "She Who Must Be Obeyed" (and myself included) would like to ensure it doesn't totally fry the whole car.

 

Cheers!

-Ian

Ian, you could at least get a start and install the HU w/out the Aux in yet. You will at least get the MP3 working. And where in the Evergreen State are you located. I am flying up there tonight and if you meet me, I could POSSIBLY help you getting it in this weekend.

I got my new radio in today. I'll confirm what ckrausgri posted, part number 86201AG67A includes the face plate and internal head unit. It's all you need. I got mine from subarugenuineparts.com for $431.67.

 

FWIW, I also ordered part number 86257XA10A ($14.25). It's a small box with a six pin adapter and small headphone jack.

 

Are the male plugs for this six pin easy to come by?

 

I'll let you know how the install goes. I'm taking it to a small local stereo shop as I'm not experienced enough to do this myself. As I've mentioned I'm going to have them run the wires for the steering wheel with audio controls (that I'm going to purchase in the near future) as well.

 

Cheers!

-Ian

 

Are you thinking of adding at HD Radio unit? I want to know if you can add one.

I do have the under-seat sub woofer. I do plan on keeping it as well. It doesn't sound like it will plug right into this new stereo but we'll find out!

 

I can confirm that the 2007 head unit plugs directly in to the existing 2005 wagon wiring harnesses without modification, and the under-the-seat subwoofer DOES continue to work as it should.

 

The only wiring modification necessary is to get the aux-in working. I haven't completed this step yet, but will attempt it in the coming days using Deer Hunter's instructions.

can i verify the process flow for the stereo swap to get aux-in? here is how i understand it. buy one part (86201AG67A Radio Ay Up2 $450). remove old stereo. chop up the i85 so that the wires from the harness are fed to the correct pins in the new stereo. connect new stereo and screw into car. is it that simple? does the new stereo come with an aux-out cable?

 

instead of hacking up the i85, did anyone cut all the wires except the green one off the harness, leaving about 2 inches on the connector side. then use wiretaps or bullet plugs to reconnect and change up the wiring configuration? i think it would be way easier than trying to rework the connector and remove the wires etc. it would def be cleaner, but as DK said, it is hard as hell.

Ian, you could at least get a start and install the HU w/out the Aux in yet. You will at least get the MP3 working. And where in the Evergreen State are you located. I am flying up there tonight and if you meet me, I could POSSIBLY help you getting it in this weekend.

leggtnut - Thanks for the offer! Unfortunately I'm out of town until Sunday evening. In Winthrop for a bike race. Live in Bellevue though (went to Juanita High in Kirkland ).

 

I might try to get the HU in on Monday. Not that I have any MP3 CD's. Can you burn those from iTunes?

 

HieroGLFX - No I wasn't planning on doing an HD radio. I'm a little behind in the stereo tech. Let me get this iPod rolling first! :lol:

 

-HEF- I couldn't tell you what the details are. That's why I'm taking to a "professional" so they can figure that part out. I do want to keep some of the wires though as I also want to add the steering wheel with audio controls. I was hoping to have it all wired up in one fell swoop so I don't have to keep pulling the stereo out. I guess it's not that hard though.

 

OK, time to suit up for the 10 mile time trial.

 

Cheers!

-Ian

Ian,

no worries, was in town and have done it before. It should take you aobut 20 - 30 minutes taking your time swapping out the head unit itself. Find the instructions for the Jazzy board and that will walk you though the install quite well. The hardest part is the short wiring cables. They can be a little too short in my mind, but with the sti boost gages that tape power off the main HU wirring harness, I have an extention, and I have made a wiring harness for my clarion under seat sub so another extention there. All the others are a bit short. You should be able to get the HU out just enough go get to the cables, but not much more.

Wow Ian, Thanks for going out on a limb for the rest of us! I'll be looking in on this thread to see how it goes. I was looking at an HU that just played MP3's, being able to add AuxIn and XM/Sirius would be a huge bonus. Maybe in the mean time I'll upgrade my door speakers.

instead of hacking up the i85, did anyone cut all the wires except the green one off the harness, leaving about 2 inches on the connector side. then use wiretaps or bullet plugs to reconnect and change up the wiring configuration? i think it would be way easier than trying to rework the connector and remove the wires etc. it would def be cleaner, but as DK said, it is hard as hell.

 

Actually not hard as hell. Just a little patience and the right tool. In this case, I use a scribe, which you can get for $5 at any hardware store.

 

Deer Killer compared it to picking a lock. In this case it is a lock with one pin. Run the point of the scribe along the interior channel, find the "bump", lift it and tug on the wire.

 

Cut the wires (you suggest 2 inches; you've actually got about 4" to play with). Strip and solder them up to your new audio cable. Radio Shack has some shielded audio cable that fits the bill. I ran the cable along the harness that carries power to the arm rest 12v socket and seat warmer controls.

 

You're forced to rearrange them because they need to connect to the head unit in that order. Three of the four slots NEED to be rearranged because they're currently empty -- no connectors, no nothing to connect to the head unit. The forth wire can stay put, but it's colored white, which is traditionally used for the right audio channel, so I removed and relocated that one, as well.

 

Positioning the Aux-in port next to the 12v arm rest socket is a tight fit (I've got two blank holes to prove it), so I ran it to the bit of empty plastic next to the cup holder, just behind the e-brake.

 

All-in-all it's a straight forward mod with a few hours of work if you're doing all the proper soldering and heat-shrinking along the way. Drove around with it for the first time today and it's good. The sound is just a little muted, but not bad. The Aux volume control is separate from the radio and CD, to account for varying input levels. Well worth the effort, if you ask me.

 

Edit: Three hiccups in my installation.

 

(1) Location of the aux-in plug: Really, the area near the 12v socket was crowded. Plan carefully if you intend to use this. Look at it from both sides before drilling, and make sure the body of the 1/8" socket clears the body & retaining ring of the 12v socket. Make sure your audio plug won't interfere with any 12v adapters you use in this location.

 

(2) 1/8" mini-plug mounting hole diameter: The Radio Shack model I used requires a .234" hole, which corresponds to an 'A' sized drill bit, or a 15/64" bit. Neither is a common size in most tool boxes. 7/32" didn't cut it, and 1/4" would have been way too large for a tidy fit.

 

Also worth noting that the plastic Subaru uses in the center console assembly is thick enough that there isn't much audio jack thread sticking through to screw the retaining ring on. So I countersunk the underside of my armrest using a 5/16" bit. This provided clearance for a small plastic riser at the base of the audio jack, and allowed the jack to extend through enough to grab it and secure it with the provided hardware.

 

(3) I needed an antenna adapter, because my head unit came from a salvage with a clipped antenna lead. Luckily, Best Buy stocks the Metra adapters for 2005+ Subarus, and I was easily able to splice this on to the antenna lead.

Is the stock HU the same (except for the fancy pants front panel) as the McIntosh HU? ie, if I want to add aux-in for my McIntosh HU, do I need to do the same thing? (or am I better off getting the kit from the factory... $124.33AUD for the aux in, $143.08AUD installed!)

Actually not hard as hell. Just a little patience and the right tool. In this case, I use a scribe, which you can get for $5 at any hardware store.

 

Deer Killer compared it to picking a lock. In this case it is a lock with one pin. Run the point of the scribe along the interior channel, find the "bump", lift it and tug on the wire.

 

Cut the wires (you suggest 2 inches; you've actually got about 4" to play with). Strip and solder them up to your new audio cable. Radio Shack has some shielded audio cable that fits the bill. I ran the cable along the harness that carries power to the arm rest 12v socket and seat warmer controls.

 

You're forced to rearrange them because they need to connect to the head unit in that order. Three of the four slots NEED to be rearranged because they're currently empty -- no connectors, no nothing to connect to the head unit. The forth wire can stay put, but it's colored white, which is traditionally used for the right audio channel, so I removed and relocated that one, as well.

 

Positioning the Aux-in port next to the 12v arm rest socket is a tight fit (I've got two blank holes to prove it), so I ran it to the bit of empty plastic next to the cup holder, just behind the e-brake.

 

All-in-all it's a straight forward mod with a few hours of work if you're doing all the proper soldering and heat-shrinking along the way. Drove around with it for the first time today and it's good. The sound is just a little muted, but not bad. The Aux volume control is separate from the radio and CD, to account for varying input levels. Well worth the effort, if you ask me.

 

Edit: Three hiccups in my installation.

 

(1) Location of the aux-in plug: Really, the area near the 12v socket was crowded. Plan carefully if you intend to use this. Look at it from both sides before drilling, and make sure the body of the 1/8" socket clears the body & retaining ring of the 12v socket. Make sure your audio plug won't interfere with any 12v adapters you use in this location.

 

(2) 1/8" mini-plug mounting hole diameter: The Radio Shack model I used requires a .234" hole, which corresponds to an 'A' sized drill bit, or a 15/64" bit. Neither is a common size in most tool boxes. 7/32" didn't cut it, and 1/4" would have been way too large for a tidy fit.

 

Also worth noting that the plastic Subaru uses in the center console assembly is thick enough that there isn't much audio jack thread sticking through to screw the retaining ring on. So I countersunk the underside of my armrest using a 5/16" bit. This provided clearance for a small plastic riser at the base of the audio jack, and allowed the jack to extend through enough to grab it and secure it with the provided hardware.

 

(3) I needed an antenna adapter, because my head unit came from a salvage with a clipped antenna lead. Luckily, Best Buy stocks the Metra adapters for 2005+ Subarus, and I was easily able to splice this on to the antenna lead.

 

 

this is great info. thanks for sharing.

good info

I've had my 07 radio sitting in my office for a couple of months and I havent even opened the box, lol

 

maybe now I can tackle it finally

Now for the bad (and this may have been posted in the '06 head unit thread, I haven't read though it).

 

On the 2007 headunit:

 

No ID3 tags on MP3 CDs. Track Title - Artist - Album data is whatever you named the mp3 file. Looks like something around 30 characters of info displayed, but it doesn't scroll, so you have to hold down the TEXT button to flip manually. With the right MP3 software (I use Musicmatch), it's pretty easy to convert track names to whatever you want, in this case just the song name.

 

Holding down the TEXT button will switch from the default display (Line 1: Folder # Track #; Line 2: File Name ~10-12 characters) to a full display of just the File Name (across both lines of text). However, as soon as the song finishes and the next one plays, the display defaults back to showing Folder # Track #.

 

Random Mode: You can play tracks in order, or shuffle a folder, or shuffle the entire disc. Great! But as soon as you hit the RANDOM button, you'll be taken away from the track currently playing. (Boo... that's what the "Next Track" button is for!) Also, when you turn off the car and then get back in, the RANDOM mode resets (defaults of OFF), so you've got to go through that silliness every time. (Don't know if it 'sticks' when you switch to radio and then back, or if you turn the radio off for a moment while driving.)

 

Oh, and somebody had asked in a previous post if the display shows text broadcast from radio stations. Nope, it does not.

 

The read time on a data CD is a few seconds longer than a normal audio CD, but it's not too gawd-awful. And once it gets playing, the track to track time is pretty quick.

 

The prospect of having 6 MP3 CD loaded with 200+ songs apiece is apealing for longer road trips, and the AUX-in jack has been great for playing music and podcasts off my Treo. The hit list of negatives is pretty minor to this otherwise nice upgrade.

 

Cheers!

Just today i installed the 06 MP3 unit in my 05 car.

 

Everything works fine but I am upset over the fact that ID3 tags/Text does not scroll. Freakin' cant trust panasonic to do shit right. No wonder I boycotted their digital turntables and went all PIONEER.

 

The other thing that i find alarming is that when u have ur headlights on and u press the little button on the left of the INFO DISPLAY unit below the CUBBY to get extra brightness....well there is a slight lag between the time the dash lights-up brighter and the stereo lights-up brighter. I dont think it was the case with my old stereo....but i could be mistaken.

 

My sound has improved slightly. especialy the mid and high on the factory speakers.

Wow! Some great info PCF923! Thanks!

 

I'm back from my vacation now and will be tackling this as soon as I get a replacement HU from Subarugenuineparts.com. Seems the button that changes modes (AUX/CD/Radio/Sat) got damaged somewhere along the line and that's a button that can't be swapped out all by itself. So....shouldn't be long now.

 

I'll post soon with the outcome and hopefully some pictures of the install.

 

Later,

-Ian

Wow! Some great info PCF923! Thanks!

 

You bet, Ian. Haven't seen you on "empty beer" for a while, but see you're still riding. Going to use you new MP3 capabilities for post-ride stretches?

 

- Nate

Woah! Small world! Is that NCJ01, Fayatteville Arkansas Nate? Or was it NJC? I forget.

 

Didn't know you were a subie driver too! Too funy.

 

Yes, still riding and racing. Lot's of road racing. Need a break soon though.

 

Nope, haven't been over there in a while. Had to cut back on the computer time. That and I'll just want to buy another bike and since I haven't ridden the one mountain bike I have in WAY too long, I definitely don't need that temptation. I've had my eye on the spider or the RIP 9.

 

What kind of two wheels are you riding now days?

 

Sorry for the OT!

 

Back OT. Still waiting for the replacement head unit. You can't see the damage in the picture I took of the original HU. It's a VERY small crack in the mode button.

 

Cheers!

-Ian

My 07 headunit is on the way. I ordered some steering wheel controls too, so it'll be a fun project.

 

Anyone know what it would take to put in an 07 underseat sub in an 05 car with an 07 HU? Are they the same as the 05 sub (someone on here said they went BACK to the 05 connection type)? I'm just trying to figure the best way to get an OEM sub in my 05 that will have an 07 HU. What wiring would I need/need to fab up?

rlax31,

 

Underseat subwoofer will plug directly in to the 07 head unit, if my '05 Legacy Wagon installation is typical. Sounds like the trunk-mounted subs were using the problematic connector.

 

My impression from Deer Killer's posts is that the steering wheel controls will no longer work if you swap around the connectors for the AUX-in port, so you'll need to find another way to connect those extra wires.

 

Ian,

 

speedub.nate, '05 Legacy Wagon, '07 RIP9