Should I install my own CD changer?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I pick up the new Dr. J-Mobile this week, and one of the first orders of business is to get a CD changer put in it. I was pricing them at Best Buy (not that I’d necessarily purchase one there–I’d really rather not), and I inquired about their installation prices. They charge $105 for parts and labor! That’s half as much as the damn thing costs!

Has anyone had any luck installing one themselves? How hard would it be for someone who is somewhat mechanically and electrically inclined, but has never done any such thing to a car? (It’s a VW Cabrio, if it makes a difference.)

Dr. J

2

Shop around, see what other places charge. You should be able to find it cheaper than that.

3

Hey Dr. J,

I did this to my Honda CRX a while back and, although installation was straightforward enough, I had a hell of a time getting to components. The console on the dash needed to be removed (which included the center console between the seats and the housing for the shifter and hand brake), and then I had to thread the wires under the carpeting from the trunk (I assume you are installing the changer in the trunk).

The biggest issue was that I didn’t have a lot of the specialized tools to work with certain types of screws or those needed to pop the connectors of the console without breaking them.

All in all, it took about two nights to get everything installed and it worked like a charm. In hind sight, I would have paid the hundred bucks if I could have afforded it at the time.

4

A friend an I installed mine in my van. It was relatively easy, but you need things like a voltmeter to see which wires are hot when the car is on and off. Is yours going in the trunk or in the dash?

StG

5

DoctorJ, I have a 2002 VW Passat and one of my friends has a '99 Beatle. In both cases, as well as a few others I know of, they have been ‘pre-wired’ for a VW factory changer in the trunk. I don’t know if this is true for the Cabrio or not. But you might want to check and see before you make any plans. I know a lot of the recent VWs are pre-wired and the factory radio can control a changer.

If your car is pre-wired, installation is incredibly easy. You just mount the thing in the trunk (2 or 4 screws and maybe a bracket, depending on the car), and plug in the wires. My friend with the Beatle had the dealership install hers, and they charged $30. I got an aftermarket headunit for my car (so I can play MP3s), so I didn’t install the changer in mine.

The downside to this set-up is that you have fewer options as to which cd changer you would get. If you are planning to keep the factory radio, then you are stuck with either the factory VW changer or certain aftermarket changers with an adapter to make them work. Of course, the VW changer costs significantly more than most aftermarket ones. However, you can sometimes find them on Ebay. Also, the price of some of the aftermarket changers plus adapter is less than the VW changer.

If you want to keep the factory radio and your car is pre-wired, I’d recommend you try to find a good deal on the VW changer. If you can’t find a good enough deal, look for a Panasonic changer plus adapter. Either way, you can probably install it yourself in a few minutes.

If you plan to change the factory radio, you will have to get a changer that is compatible. In this case, the changer itself might be less expensive, but you’d have to run new wires. So the installation would be more involved and you might not want to do it yourself.

Yet another option would be an RF changer. These send an FM signal with the music, so you don’t have to wire the changer to your radio, you just tune into the right FM frequency. Installation is simpler, although you might still have to run power cables. The downside to this is that you have to have a separate controller for the changer and the sound quality is degraded somewhat. I’m not a big fan of these setups, but they work well for some people.

6

DoctorJ,

Enigma42 is spot-on with all answers, but I’ll throw in my own experience as a professional installer.

There are a number of companies manufacturing adapters which will allow you to hook up certain brands of aftermarket CD changers directly to your factory radio. Here are a few.
Peripheral is one of the bigger companies. Read their “tips” page for useful info.

Here’s a list of PAC’s VW interfaces.

Clarion makes a lot of the VW radios, and they also make an adapter to hook up one of their changers—maybe you can get details on this from a local Clarion dealer.

Also, a good starting point for all this would be to place a phone call to Crutchfield—they’re the slickest mail-order outfit in the car-audio business. I don’t know their number, but find them at www.crutchfield.com. Their prices aren’t the lowest, but they have knowledgeable people who can help you figure out what you need.

For a used VW changer, try not only eBay, but area salvage yards. A factory changer may or may not play “burned” CDs; ask a few people before you buy one.

7

I’ll just chime in again to say that all of the VW factory changers I have experience with (4 different ones) will play burned CD-Rs with no problem. My friend with the Beatle makes copies of all her CDs so she can leave the originals at home and she also makes mix CDs regularly that play just fine. None of my friends have tried CD-RWs, so I don’t know if they are problematic. I wouldn’t expect much variation among the stock changers, but obviously I can’t make any guarantees. :slight_smile:

I checked for VW changers on Ebay when I last visited and it looks like you can get them for as low as $150 or so (used). New ones look to be going for around $225. I bet you can do better than that with a salvage unit or an aftermarket changer and one of the adapters Chris Luongo linked to. I have heard from other people that changers with more than 6-disc capacity can be troublesome with the factory radio, so make sure to check on that if go with the adapter route. I second checking with Crutchfield too. I’ve had pretty good experiences with them (and it’s good to hear that a professional installer thinks highly of them too).