simxs
Forum Member
I finally got my treasured Clarion CD/MP3/Tuner fixed and back into the car last week
This deck actually about 5 years old as I had bought it for a previous car and transferred it to the Forester when I got it. However a couple of years ago the ribbon connector between the deck and the drop down face broke so I put the standard 6CD/tuner back in.
I was able to track down a new ribbon connector from ebay and a local appliance repair shop put it in for me. (My soldering skills are bad so it wasn't worth me attempting this myself...)
Here's the Subaru deck as fitted to MY03 Forester XS (I think X models had a different one, not sure about XT and Luxury models).
I after MY04 or MY05 they changed to a different deck with no cassette player and these also got the tweeters in the front doors and subwoofer in the back that mine lack.
Anyway here is the Clarion as well as a DIN pocket I bought to fill the gap below and for the iPod to sit in.
The Clarion has an auxiliary input which I've connected to the line out on the Belkin charger, meaning only one connection to the iPod is needed. The Belkin charger is fed through a small hole I made in the back of the DIN pocket and powered from a socket connected directly to the battery.
I've also got a Clarion steering wheel remote as, again, my early XS missed out on the factory one.
For anyone even vaguely into their music an upgrade from the standard head unit to a quality aftermarket one is well worth while. I might get around to adding better speakers the front doors at some stage but even just the deck brings a big improvement to the sound. Single or double DIN decks fit easily in this model. The hardest part about installing is unclipping the dashboard facia (that holds the vents and ventilation controls) without damaging it.
This deck actually about 5 years old as I had bought it for a previous car and transferred it to the Forester when I got it. However a couple of years ago the ribbon connector between the deck and the drop down face broke so I put the standard 6CD/tuner back in.
I was able to track down a new ribbon connector from ebay and a local appliance repair shop put it in for me. (My soldering skills are bad so it wasn't worth me attempting this myself...)
Here's the Subaru deck as fitted to MY03 Forester XS (I think X models had a different one, not sure about XT and Luxury models).
I after MY04 or MY05 they changed to a different deck with no cassette player and these also got the tweeters in the front doors and subwoofer in the back that mine lack.
Anyway here is the Clarion as well as a DIN pocket I bought to fill the gap below and for the iPod to sit in.
The Clarion has an auxiliary input which I've connected to the line out on the Belkin charger, meaning only one connection to the iPod is needed. The Belkin charger is fed through a small hole I made in the back of the DIN pocket and powered from a socket connected directly to the battery.
I've also got a Clarion steering wheel remote as, again, my early XS missed out on the factory one.
For anyone even vaguely into their music an upgrade from the standard head unit to a quality aftermarket one is well worth while. I might get around to adding better speakers the front doors at some stage but even just the deck brings a big improvement to the sound. Single or double DIN decks fit easily in this model. The hardest part about installing is unclipping the dashboard facia (that holds the vents and ventilation controls) without damaging it.
