Upgrade 2007 Linear radio to Saab Sat Nav?

[SaabLee]

Hi. Does anyone know whats involved in swapping the standard radio head unit out of a 2007 Linear for a Saab Sat Nav head unit from the same year. Cheers

[sgould]

I think it could be difficult.  Does your Linear have 7 speakers or 4?

If 4 the wiring is completely different.  The 4 speakers are fed from the head unit.

If you have the 7 speaker system, the head unit feeds a separate amplifier.  it looks from the wiring diagram as if the satnav and head unit have the same or similar wiring. So it might be a straight swap, but you will also need a GPS shark's fin aerial on the roof and connector to the back of the satnav.  Aerial is not cheap.

But the big question is why?  The satnav is fairly out of date compared with cheaper standalone  systems like Garmin and Tomtom. 

[sgould]

Back looks like this on the satnav.  If you have the 7 speaker system and it looks like this you may be lucky.

[SaabLee]

thanks, its 4 speakers so to much work for sure. Awfull poor sound from my 4 speaker head unit, any idea if it has an output for an amp, might glovebox mount an amp and replace the current speakers.

[sgould]

You need to get better advice on how to do it.  I'm no expert on wireless.

But I think you need the sort of amplifier that has an input that takes speaker level output. 

[SaabLee]

ok thanks, so in effect the speaker wires from the head unit plug into the amp and the amp then feeds the speakers?

[sgould]

On the four speaker system the wires go from the head unit directly to the speakers.  They carry enough current and voltage to work the speakers.

On the other systems, the head unit produces a different current/voltage to go to the amplifier which then feeds the speakers.  Voltage current is not the same as the 4 speaker system.

If you are planning to put an amp into the4 speaker system, you need an amp that is designed to take the input if it were to the speakers.  If you use a normal amp, you risk blowing the amp if you fit it.

[Mikey]

I can't help you with the technicalities, but I reckon the SAAB satnav as fitted to my 2004MY 9-5 is worth having just for the look of the thing - the standard radio/cd head unit for that MY isn't pretty.

It's also good at navigating - better than a lot of portable units I have had the misfortune to use. I upgraded mine to a later version of the in-boot box and gave it a 2007 map DVD, and also bolted on the optional traffic/roadworks gizmo, so it's still a really handy bit of kit. All the above upgrades were found on eBay for 4/5 of sod-all. Sadly I don't think there are any further map upgrade DVDs, must check the Kenwood site sometime and find out.

[sgould]

The Kenwood unit was replaced by a Denso sourced unit in 2005.  The discs are not compatible.

The main objection I have to built-in satnav is that you can't add downloaded Points of Interest.  And you have to sit in the car to set up a route.  My Tomtom allows me to add things, even sets of my own - e.g. work sites and save them to my home computer.  I can also set up tomorrows route while sat indoors in the warm.

[SaabLee]

so thinking about it then, rather than fit an amp I could just get a ISO harness adaptor, facia adaptor and fit a much better after market head unit?

[sgould]

Yes!

[SaabLee]

thanks for the help, time to go shopping

[Mrqng78]

thanks for the help, time to go shopping

Hi SaabLee, i know its been long this was posted, i'm just curious because i am doing a retrofit on my Linear 2005, from basic 4 speakers to 7 speakers and with Sat nav cd changer and aux.

I would like to know how you ended up with your retrofit.

Regards,

Reg.