I’ve been feeling a little unwell for a few days and although I have taken some time off work it’s been a struggle to get over the bugs. Yesterday I went to the doctor and got strong drugs. I also decided to give myself a quiet day today.

Reading and writing on the computer hurt my head so I decided to complete a couple of unfinished tasks. Manual labour (or as close as I ever get).

A few months ago my favourite Air Force Engineer / T-shirt business owner replaced the front speakers in my little car with nice new Sony Xplods. At the same time he put in some fancy Sony Xplod 6X9s in my parcel shelf. As he was off on one of his regular Air Force trips he left the wiring to me. And of course I didn’t get around to it until today.

Being unable to focus on a computer screen but feeling strangely (very strangely) energised I decided to tackle the job today. First of all I attacked the original speaker grill with a table knife. I often use table knives to fix things. The grills came off easily so and I was able to use a real Philips screw driver to get at the speakers. They were easy to dislodge and I cut the wires with my pliers (I have been known to use my teeth before). Then I fed the new speaker wire through the entry for the wheel spring mount thingies and twisted it on to the existing wire. I thought about soldering it but decided against that because I’ve only just recovered from the burns I got from my last soldering endevour. Then I clipped the speaker while onto the speakers and voila! it all worked.

The next task that I had to complete was to put my radio head unit back into its place. A month or so ago the radio stopped working and so I pulled it out to have a look at all of the connections and make sure they were still connected. Sadly they were and the problem (since confirmed by a real auto electrician) is that the tuner inside the radio has died. It’s not an uncommon event in elderly radios apparently. So, after driving around with my radio head unit hanging off into the passenger seat well for a few weeks I decided to put it all back together again.  I fiddled my way through that job – even tidying up the cassette wiring so that I can hide my iPod in the glove box. I was a little worse for wear at the end of it …

The set up I have now has served us well for a few years. My father gave us the head unit and a 10CD stacker several years ago and I initially had them installed in our Suzuki 4WD. When I bought the Subaru it had an incredible sound system although I missed the CD unit. I moved the set up to the Mitsubishi when I bought it last year and apart from the woeful factoiry speakers I’ve been really happy with it. Now I’m on the lookout for a radio with an iPod and USB interface but being as I have a working 10CD stacker under my seat and the iPod through the cassette link it’s not an urgent need – probably quite good to be away from the news occasionally.

The finished job (just a bit of clipping back of the wiring to be completed):

The only place to get car audio help: The Crutchfield Community