am stereo in 95 grand cherokee w/infinity

I need help picking out a budget stereo with cd and mp3 capabilities with a front aux. 3.5mm mp3 input. Its going in a 95 Grand Cherokee Limited with the factory Infinity sound system with factory amp. Im finding alot of stereos on E-bay for around $100 but just dont know what to look for. I would like to stick with Kenwood,Pioneer,JVC,Sony or one of the name brands. Also, is there anything I need to look for or do as far as hooking the aftermarket stereo up to the factory wiring and amp? Will I keep the amp? Im not looking for real big thumping sound. I just want to have the stock capabilities. Im just tired of not being able to use burned cds in my factory stereo and also want to have easy access for my mp3 player to play. I appreciate any help or insight.

I went on the exact same quest a few years ago. Same car, same infinity gold system, and same yearning for burned discs with mp3s on them. Fun! The stock amplifier is quoted at "120 watts" which is not much considering what entry level head units offer today. Grab an after market head unit that sports a 4x50w amplifier, which usually means 18-22w rms per channel, and it'll be plenty loud for your purposes. Remove the infinity amplifier, it's located under the driver's rear seat. There are two white plugs that attach to the amplifier, and you need to grab some small solid wire to make a few connections. There are other more permanent methods, but I used some solid 16ga. wire for a few years with no problems. Use the following chart from my factory service manual (muwahaha!) to cross connect the right pins. You'll need eight connections, two for each speaker, two speakers on each connector. Connect "xxx from radio" to "amplified xxx", where xxx should match speakers and polarity. Grab any head unit that you like, so long as it fits a single-din slot. The slot you have is 1.5-din, a special chrysler/gm thing that isn't very useful at all. To compensate, grab a "kit" that will adapt the 1.5-din slot into a 1-din radio slot. Most use the extra 1/2-din space for a cd holder or something similar. Something like this. Also, grab a factory wiring harness kit to make installation *much* easier. Just match up the wires on the new head unit to the wiring kit, then plug the completed harness into the factory connectors and you're done. Keep or sell the factory radio and amplifier though, you'd be surprised how much they sell for! Let me know if you need anything else, I'm very familiar with the dashboard and wiring of that car. -JustinMalcom: "This is the captain. We have a...little problem with our engine sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and then...explode."

Jayne: "We're gonna explode? I don't wanna explode.

Thanks Justin thats a big help. I chose a Pioneer DEH-3900MP that I think fits the bill. I also bought 2 pairs of Pioneer TS-A1672R speakers for the front and rear doors. What happens to the tweeters in the dash? Are they somehow tied in with the front door speakers? How will this new HU and speakers affect them? Or should I disconnect them. I dont really want to mess around trying to replace them. I bought the proper wiring adapter for the HU and will bypass the amp with jumpers like you stated. I guess I will have to cut and splice the door speaker wire ends. Can I splice them with crimp connectors or do I have to solder them? Also, on the HU do I connect the blue/white "system remote control" wire from the HU to something in the radio harness to make the power antenna work? What wire would that be? Thanks again.

Not a problem, you're going to have a lot of fun. The DEH-3900 should be just fine. It has the MP3 and iPod capabilities you want, plus it will display DRS data for radio stations which is really neat (song titles and such). The built in amplifier will be slightly more powerful than the stock one too, but not too much to blow the speakers. The speakers are a decent choice, but a response of 30-33khz? That seems a little optimistic for such small woofers! Anyhow, they should fit fine. I believe you can re-use the connectors that attach to the factory woofers, they may be the right size and shape. If not, I'd recommend stripping just enough insulation to solder the wires to the new speakers' terminals. You could leave the stock connectors on there, just in case you sell the car or want to remove the aftermarket speakers. Soldering is always better than crimping. The factory tweeters in the dash are connected in parallel with the woofers in the doors, but can be easily disconnected without any ill effects (you should disc them when installing the new woofers). Remove the wire mesh cover over each tweeter, and you should be able to reach the wire harness to disconnect the tweets. Maybe you'll need to remove the tweets first, maybe the entire dashboard, I've never tried to disconnect them without removing the dash. And yes, connect the blue/white wire of the radio to pin 7 of the black factory connector. Look at the page above to see, it's labeled "radio 12 volt output". That will operate your power antenna, and should also be connected to amplifiers if you later add them. -JustinMalcom: "This is the captain. We have a...little problem with our engine sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and then...explode."

Jayne: "We're gonna explode? I don't wanna explode.

Oh, and don't forget about an adapter kit for mounting the head unit! -JustinMalcom: "This is the captain. We have a...little problem with our engine sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and then...explode."

Jayne: "We're gonna explode? I don't wanna explode.