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Todd, I've installed an Alpine changer on my '98 S70. I believe the head units are sufficiently similar as far as CD changer control is concerned. I've purchased the Alpine CHM-S620 from carmedia on the net. The URL is www.carmedia1.com. They have an 800 number and will talk to you and answer your questions. I had a good experience with them and the best price I could find. There is no aftermarket plug-and-play. If you decide to go with Alpine, you'll have to replace your Volvo cable that goes from the changer to the head unit. It's no big deal, a patient 11 year old can probably do it. You'll need an adapter that goes on the head unit side of the Alpine cable (old Volvo cable won't fit into the new Alpine unit and the new Alpine cable won't fit into your Volvo head unit). People at carmedia will know which adapter to sell you. Make sure you have the model number of your head unit handy and they double-check that the adapter is the correct one. When first called they quoted a $75 adapter (most other places quoted $50 for the adapter). I asked them to double check. They came back and said that the I would need a $49 adapter, but some other head units will nedd the more expensive one.
My price for everything was:
$234 for Alpine CHM-S620 6 CD changer (includes the cable)
$49 for the cable adapter
$20 for shipping/handling
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$303 total
Volvo dealership quote:
$600 for the CD changer (does not include cable)
$60 for the cable
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$660 total
I also bought a mounting bracket from Volvo ($14) to mount the unit in the trunk, but you already have that.
The Alpine unit is a bit smaller than the original unit judging by the size of the mounting bracket. I installed the L-brackets that came with Alpine onto the unit, drilled some holes in the mounting bracket to accept the L-brackets and I was done. Few hours including routing the cable and cutting the carpet in the trunk.
Good luck and let me know if you need more details.
P.S. Almost forgot. Another difference between the Volvo changer and Alpine is the power wiring. The Volvo unit derives power through separate power and ground wires that you'll have to disconnect (besides the signal cable) when you remove the old unit. The Alpine unit derives power from the wires inside the signal cable, i.e. the only thing you plug in to the changer is the cable from the head unit. So, the adapter will have two wires hanging out of it besides the obvious plugs. You connect these wires to power and ground. The best place to tap into those is in the head unit plugs. With a voltmeter figure out which wire on the connectors is the 12V one (the instructions to the adapter tell you if you want constant or switched 12V, I cann't recall at the moment). If you get too confused contact me and I'll be happy to tell you where these things are on my connector. I think I made the whole thing sound much more complicated thant it really is. It really is not that difficult.
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