I just bought my first Ram, it is a 2004 1500 Hemi with the infinity system.

The previous owner before me installed a Kenwood KDV 412, which I am mostly impressed with. The one draw back is that it doesn't play regular cd's as it is a dvd player but will play burnt mp3 or wma, and it doesn't have an AUX input that I can see.

It does however have a great eq system including hypass and other filters.

I am not a car audio guy, but do know a little bit about sound as I have worked numerous sound board before.

2 Questions:

1) Is the stock deck better?

2) The speaker in the driver's door isn't playing anything. Would that be a wiring issue behind the deck or more likely a problem with that speaker. (All other speakers - I believe 5 others - seem ot work fine.

 

That sounds like a high end system, I will be surprise if it doesn't have an aux input on the back of the unit. DVD Player not playing regular CD may be normal. The speaker issue, I would pull the head unit out and see how the how is currently wired. Normal after market unit have outputs for only 4 speakers and your truck may have 7 speakers. Possible the owner did not hook up all the speakers. Get the manual and installation instruction online and study it.

 

Welcome to the site

After market is always better than stock.

To add on to what has been said about the door speaker, you might also want to pull the door skin off and make sure the wires are attached to the speaker still and that the speaker actually works.

 

One of the problems that I am experiencing is that I can't get the unit out. I have been told that I need a 'locking key' to remove it...where would I find that?

If there is an aux input on the back of the system how do I plug into it...say an IPOD? Where would the wiring have to run?

I have seen a few posters make comments on the Infinity system and refer to 7 speakers. To my best knowledge I have 6: 1 in each door and 2 on the dash, where would the 7th be?

 

I just installed a new cd player, the entire plastic molding around the stereo and heater control is one piece and that comes off. There are 4 screws that holds the radio down, thats it.

If theres an aux input in the rear, en all you would need is double ended male audio jacks, one end plugs into the aux jack of the unit and the other end to the headphone jack of the iPod/iPhone.

Should be simple. Good luck.

Oh, if there's a 7th speaker, then it would be on the dash in the middle. That would be your center channel.

 

The most common install of an aftermarket deck into a truck with the Infinity audio is to wire the deck's speaker outputs to the stock harness. That passes the audio to the all the speakers without any other work. If they didn't install their own amp at the same time, this is probably what was done in your truck. Assuming that's the case, I'd blame the non-working speaker on the speaker or wiring within the door.

BTW, according to Kenwood, that unit plays CDs as well as DVDs. Their wording is vague though, because the text says CDs while the spec list does not.

 

I can now play CD's in it...not sure how - I kind of fluked onto it. There is a diagram in the online manual that makes you have to use the remote (which I have) buy I don't know what I am selecting because I don't have an external screen, so I kind fo guessed and guessed right.

As far as taking the stereo out:
I can take off the faceplate and a plastic molding that surrounds the stereo. This revels the stereo enough that I can see he casing in which it sits. In fact I can grab on it and try to pull it out. The problem is that there appears to be 'bumps' on the top, sides and bottom that stop you from simply puling out the head unit from the casing. How do I get the clearance to pull it out?

Also, how do I take the panel off the door to get at the back of the driver's side speaker? Do I need to take the whole panel off?

 

Another question for you savvy owners out there. With the after market cd/dvd player I have (Kenwood KDV 412) is there any way to hook it up so that I can actually use the hand controls on the back of the steering wheel (3 and 6 o'clock)?

 

Please take some pics of what is stopping you from taking the unit out.

You could do one of these for the OEM remotes

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-nYrc8m2...X.html?tp=3405

 

you are looking for two little metal tabs about the length of the head unit that you slide down either side to unlock the "bumps" that you see. Without these tabs you will more than likely break the mounting kit trying to pull it out. to use the hand controls there is a device that a sterio shop can wire in with your sterio and have the volume etc.. on the steering wheel work. i priced it out for my truck and they wanted about 250 for it. i figured it was just as easy to reach over and adjust it myself.