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Hey all, I just got a 2000 legacy outback that has the stock radio/wb radio/tape deck; I want to add my CD/MP3 Player to it, but is it possible to keep the stock deck? It would be awesome to have the wb radio (the tape deck would be nice too); but can I just open up the pocket below the stereo head and wire my after market head into the old one.
If so, how the heck do I do it (I.E. how do I handle two power supplies, two amps, etc)
Please keep in mind that - although I'm comfortable with electrical systems - I'm not terribly car savvy.

Thanks!

I installed an aftermarket CD/MP3 player in a 97 Legacy and kept the stock stereo cuz my dad wanted to be able to play tapes. What I did was choose an aftermarket head unit that also had an auxiliary input. Then I got a line level converter to take the speaker-level signal from the stock head unit and convert it to the line-level needed for the new head unit's aux in. I connected the power supplies in parallel, and connected the speakers and antenna to the new head unit.

So, the new head unit ran the show, until it was put in AUX IN mode, at which point the stock head unit was in charge.

It'd be nice to find a head unit with an auxiliary input on the back. As it turned out, this one had it on the front, with a little 3.5mm jack. It wasn't a big deal, though, to have a very short 3.5mm plug pigtail coming out around the trim.

Does that make sense?

does that make sense? well, yes and no. I already have a cd/mp3 player that I want to use that does NOT appear to have an aux input (I'm in no position to buy a new one either). Do you know of any way to have the stock head run the show since it has a CD button on it already - I'm guessing the CD button is basically the same thing as an AUX button on other systems.
What exactly would I need to run from the new unit into the old unit though; and how would I get power to both units?

Sorry for my ignorance in this subject, as I said, cars are not my forte.

Hmm, okay.

I have managed to reverse-engineer the OEM CD player connectors on stereos for first-generation Legacies, as well as first-generation Mazda MX6es. I was able to use both to connect to a handheld MP3 player.

But things today tend to be more complicated than back then.

Do you know if the factory CD player for your car has its own controls (like for play/rewind/forward/etc)? If it does, that's a good sign that it probably is pretty much just an AUX in with a little extra circuitry. You'd need to figure out which pin does what and then wire in your own controls. If your MP3 head unit has line level outputs that would probably help.

Getting power to both units is no big deal. Just connect them both to the factory power supply. You can splice into the factory constant, accessory, and ground wires to get power for the new head unit.

Only one head unit can be connected to the antenna, so the power antenna control should also be connected to that head unit (if you have a power antenna).

There is another way for you to use both head units without having to try to figure out a way for them to cooperate. It's a little Rube Goldberg-ish, but you could get two 4PDT relays (or one 8PDT relay if such a beast exists) and use them to choose which head unit gets to connect to the speakers. Then you'd just have the relay coil(s) triggered by a switch on the dash. I did something similar once in my old Benz, when I wanted to switch between the stock head unit and a little boom box.

I pick the car up saturday, so I don't have a solid answer about the controls as it is not right in front of me. But, I think this is the same as my car: http://www.butkus.org/subaru/outback_st ... stereo.htm
It is just a button to switch it between the three different outputs. So, what I was thinking was that the stock head has to have some input on the back for the audio from the CD player, if that is the case couldn't I just run something out of the back of my after market deck into the stock deck?

By the way, is there anyway I can destroy anything in this process? other than if I didn't unhook the battery of course.

-Tyler

Hm.

The head unit in that picture appears to have controls on it that change discs.

That means that there's likely more communication going on between the head unit and factory CD player than just audio signals.

It might be possible to do what you describe -- just running the audio signals from the new head unit into the old head unit's CD player connector. We don't have enough information yet to say. Certainly the CD player does send its audio through that connector, but it may also send other signals that actually trigger the head unit's amplifier and stuff.

What happens when you press the 'CD' button on your stock head unit, without a CD player connected?

It's certainly possible to destroy things. We don't know what each pin of the CD player connector is. The best we could come up with would be theories. So it's possible you could do something wrong and fry something.

It would be helpful if we could see an OEM Legacy head unit with an OEM CD player hooked up and then probe the signals going between them.

umm.. isn't there some kind of ps/2 style connector on the back, which, i understood was for some kind of CD changer option?
I was wanting to wire up a cd chager with some aux control, like the plug that's in the front of the stock unit, and use a separate controller (ie- remote, what have you) to control cd playback and changing functions.
..is this kinda what he's talking about ?

Yeah, that's the idea. I've already done it with a BC stereo. If you want to do it on your car, Tristan, you might try this info:

http://www.graphics.cornell.edu/~v/bcstereo/

The question is how to do it on Tyler's newfangled car.