Removing an aftermarket stereo, got questions.

[jquirit]

So I'm in the process of removing an aftermarket stereo (Blaupunkt Reno CM147) from the car, and I've ran into an issue. I'm to two wires left to disconnect from the harness, and there is a wire that isn't (quite) matching up with what existing electrical connection guides I can find.

From the head unit harness to the car harness, the two wires left are:

Red goes to green
Orange (extra yellow? the colors on the wires are pretty worn) goes to red/green

According to the wiring diagram on the top of the head unit:

Red goes to ignition
Black goes to ground
Yellow goes to battery

There's no orange wire listed in the diagram. I've already marked the battery and ground connectors (those were nicely labeled for me on the head unit harness as "batt" and "ground"), so that just leaves the ignition.

Before I cut the red wire and mark it as ignition, that orange wire in the harness irks me. I have no clue what that wire is for and where it came from. And I really don't want to pull apart the entire dash to trace that wire to figure out where it's going. So far Google has let me down into finding out what purpose the orange wire serves. Every wiring diagram I've found related to this stereo matches what is on top of the head unit.

Figure it's safe just to tape off the orange and leave in there disconnected? The new head unit doesn't have a use for that "extra" wire.

Anybody has any experience working with these Blaupunkt stereos and know what that orange wire might be for?

[AndrewBird]

Orange is illumination to the stereo. When the headlights are on, this wire gets power to illuminate the faceplate. Some stereos have it, some don't. If your new one doesn't, tape up the wire and don't worry about it.

Also, you can find a wiring diagram for your car here:

http://www.wedophones.com/BMWManualsLead.htm

www.th12volt.com can also be very helpful.

[jquirit]

Thanks for the help. Got it all hooked up and now it's working. Sorta.

Found out whomever did the install the first time swapped the front right and rear left connections. Was wondering why when I was adjusting the fader it was acting like the balance. Doh!

Also found out that the front right speaker is also not working. Will need to pull the kick panel and figure out if it is indeed dead or just hooked up incorrectly.

[jquirit]

Oh, anybody have any good advice on good (reasonably priced) 5-1/4" speakers to replace the dead one with?

The car had (originally) the premium stereo setup but they ripped out the mirror-mounted tweeters and pulled wire directly to the speakers. Is there enough space behind the speaker to mount/install a small crossover and install components using the existing tweeter wiring and find someone willing to part with their mounting panels?

[stumble_t]

Actually those stock premium speakers are nice if properly crossed and amplified, and would be my first choice on a budget. You can find tweeters in the FS section quite often. Just make sure to specify to the seller to confirm that all tabs and clips are intact. wiring them up would be super easy. I'd say put the crossovers in the trunk. An A/D/S pq10 would work well and SQ is amazing! you can find those for $100-$150.

[Jean]

+1 ...I am pretty much impressed on how well the premium speakers sound with a good aftermarket deck and/or amplifier. I just replaced the rears with some good matched rear set, and the higher quality late model tweeters found in some e32/e34 cars. Too bad front stock midbass location sucks so much.

[jquirit]

Thanks for the info, folks. Pulled the passenger kick panel to figure out why I haven't been getting any sound outta there and found the problem. There's no speaker there. Doh!

For a car previously owned by a BMW enthusiast, I'm quite disappointed by what I'm finding broken/missing on it.

At this point, since it's missing both the tweeter pods and now a front speaker, I'm tempted to buy some coax's to put in it's place. I'm trying to keep the investment in this car to a minimum as I'm unemployed (yay outsourcing!) and trying to get back up and running as my daily driver. Any advice on something decent to put in there? It'll be driven off the head unit (says it's rated for 35Wx4, but this is some old Alpine head unit from the late 90s).