Funk In Da Trunk

Not really in the trunk, my friend installed a new CD deck for my car tonight. It all started with the factory installed deck not reading my discs anymore. I called up my Saturn dealer and they told me it would cost $700 to replace. That's just for the part. Ouch. I then took a look at some aftermarket CD decks and there were many options to choose from. I asked my friend, Tim, whom I haven't seen too often, for advice. This little project was actually a good thing since I got to connect with him again. We go way back about 19 years of knowing each other. Life just takes you on a different road after elementary school. Here's some advice I was given.

• Do not shop at Future Shop for a car deck or have them install it for you. They do a shoddy job installing the unit.


• Do not buy a deck from Sony. They just plain suck.


• Buy a car deck from shops that specialize in car audio. They have more knowledge and know what they're talking about.


• Buy a deck with a volume knob. It's more handy than holding a button to turn the volume up or down.


• Make sure you buy the proper mounting kit for your car's make and model.


• Do not attempt to install it by yourself if you think it's pretty much plug and play because it's not.

I wasn't looking for the best CD player, but I knew Visions was a good place to start. I actually ran into an old friend of mine from a church I used to go to who works there. He knew exactly what he was talking about and provided me with the proper mounting kit. He suggested one cool JVC deck that was in my budget. I ended up buying the unit and he gave me an employee discount on it.

It was fun learning how to install a deck. It was quite the process. First, Tim took off the instrument panel which was a pain in the ass with an American vehicle. Then, he had to unplug the old deck and figure out the connections. He had to take the power cable from the mounting kit and solder the many wires to the power cable that came with the new deck. Then, he had to mount the new deck onto the specially designed sleeve for my car. He slid it back into the empty slot and reattached the cables. Finally, after testing it out, he put the instrument panel back on.

Now onto some bigger projects.

Peace.