Radio Wiring and Amp Bypass

[jrockbk]

Awesome, so the goal of the thread is perfectly clear...good to hear!

Getting that turd of a stock radio out of your car is the goal here!



Most likely, you have a bad amp. Swap it out and most likely you will get back to the glory of shitty sound circa 1981...which is a shame, since the car was made in '91!

LOL...sorry, I can't help it. 4 5" speakers on 12 watts just does not make me happy. You people that are content with stock systems are so lucky, being deaf and all.

Check the antenna grommet too, that is what kills most stock amps...water is not good at all!

GL and if I can help, hit me up

Luke

So I looked into the radio and amp situation, turns out the a previous owner bypassed the amp and tried to reinstall stock radio, the other thing was that the stock radio harness was cut and so was the amp connector so I bought a pioneer HU and rewired the speakers to that using the stock wire from dash to amp, everything is working great and the sound is surprisingly amazing!
The head unit has Bluetooth for hands free calling and was able to install microphone clean in empty slot!

[parkerbink]

Howdy Luke. Did you see my PM?

Looking for a sub box.

Kind regards,

Stefan

[StereoInstaller1]

Ok I've read most of this thread and all of it refers to bypassing amp to use aftermarket head unit.

Awesome, so the goal of the thread is perfectly clear...good to hear!

Getting that turd of a stock radio out of your car is the goal here!

My question is how do I keep stock head unit and get everything to work? B/c currently the rear speakers work sparsely and make a crackling sound head unit powers on and changes station, no sound whatsoever from front speakers, btw I'm in a 91 318is with premium sound

Most likely, you have a bad amp. Swap it out and most likely you will get back to the glory of shitty sound circa 1981...which is a shame, since the car was made in '91!

LOL...sorry, I can't help it. 4 5" speakers on 12 watts just does not make me happy. You people that are content with stock systems are so lucky, being deaf and all.

Check the antenna grommet too, that is what kills most stock amps...water is not good at all!

GL and if I can help, hit me up

Luke

[jrockbk]

Ok I've read most of this thread and all of it refers to bypassing amp to use aftermarket head unit. My question is how do I keep stock head unit and get everything to work? B/c currently the rear speakers work sparsely and make a crackling sound head unit powers on and changes station, no sound whatsoever from front speakers, btw I'm in a 91 318is with premium sound

[ringmeister81]

Just re-installed the premium sound speakers in the rear, and there is a definite difference in bass... the sounds are deep and well defined, although not as punchy as the Alpines. I'm really happy with this setup, and I wish I had bypassed the factory amp much, much earlier. However, I did notice that when I took out the factory amp there was nothing connected from the tab coming off the amp... Maybe there should have been a ground wire, and that was the cause of the horrible alternator whine and fizziness? Either way, I'm very satisfied with the stereo system, and I can now turn my attention elsewhere. Thanks for all the great advice in this post and r3vlimited in general.

[StereoInstaller1]

No sub planned anytime soon... And if I did, I'd probably want to rewire everything anyway, but I just don't have the time at the moment.. Maybe this winter. In the meantime, I think I'll throw those factory rears in this weekend and see how they sound. I'll report back if anyone's curious. Thanks again!

This only applies to Premiums, BTW.

[ringmeister81]

No sub planned anytime soon... And if I did, I'd probably want to rewire everything anyway, but I just don't have the time at the moment.. Maybe this winter. In the meantime, I think I'll throw those factory rears in this weekend and see how they sound. I'll report back if anyone's curious. Thanks again!

[StereoInstaller1]

Thanks Luke... You must be right, and I don't have the stereo manual to see if that "feature" is mentioned. Radio came with the car... I checked and rechecked all the wiring, and its all good. Red/gray is constant power, violet/gray is ignition, and red/green is illumination. It turns off when I turn off the car, so I don't have to worry about it draining the battery... At the end of the day, it sounds a million times better than it did, so I'm satisfied. What do you think about putting the stock rears back in? Will they be better than the newer Alpines?

Stock rears will have more bass...no sub planned?

[ringmeister81]

Thanks Luke... You must be right, and I don't have the stereo manual to see if that "feature" is mentioned. Radio came with the car... I checked and rechecked all the wiring, and its all good. Red/gray is constant power, violet/gray is ignition, and red/green is illumination. It turns off when I turn off the car, so I don't have to worry about it draining the battery... At the end of the day, it sounds a million times better than it did, so I'm satisfied. What do you think about putting the stock rears back in? Will they be better than the newer Alpines?

[StereoInstaller1]

, my stereo will still turn on without the key in the ignition. I am baffled, as everything seems to be connected perfectly. I wonder if it has anything to do with bypassing the amp? Anyone have a solution? Thanks guys!

I am pretty sure that is a "Feature" of your Blaupunkt, like factory MBZ or VW decks. They turn on and off with the key, but can be turned on at will.

Might be an RTFM issue.

Luke

[ringmeister81]

This thread helped me so much! Thanks! My car is an 88' 325iX with premium sound, fader, and 5 wire setup (no twisted pairs). Stereo is an aftermarket Blaupunkt Acapulco... And it sounded awful!

Originally, it was wired all wrong under the dash and kept causing fuse 23 to blow and take out my dash lights and right side taillights.. It turns out that my wires for constant and switched power were different than what's shown on page 1 of this thread. Red/gray ended up being power.

So I rewired the deck and only the rears worked (with stock wiring and amp). After doing some digging, I realized the front speakers had been disconnected by a previous owner. So I ran new wires to the fronts, directly from the head unit. Finally, all four speakers were working! But.... It sounded like shit! Horrible engine whine through the speakers, weird cracklings and distortion. Thought one of the rear speakers was blown so I replaced them with some Alpines (SPS-510). Still sounded pretty bad. Finally just got up the courage to disconnect the factory amp, and repurpose the 4 yellow and blue wires to run the rear speakers, and, lo and behold, unbelievable sound! It was a bitch working in the trunk and trying to get the amp out, but once I did, the wires were easy to see and it only took me ten minutes to make the right connections.

As I said, the stereo sounds awesome now, unbelievable... I might even take the Alpines out and go back to the stock rears, seeing how you've all given them great reviews. Besides, the stock speaker covers won't fit over the Alpines now.

But, I do still have one strange issue. Like Heyrr said in one of his posts, my stereo will still turn on without the key in the ignition. I am baffled, as everything seems to be connected perfectly. I wonder if it has anything to do with bypassing the amp? Anyone have a solution? Thanks guys!

[StereoInstaller1]

So, Luke after I called you twice I kept staring at it more and more and my brain turned off. I went out and bought the 50' of cable. From here I go ahead and run wire from the deck to the back of the amp correct? My brain has a habit to forget information when hungover and half asleep. Just a preemptive sorry for making you repeat yourself more than once. Car is a 1985 325E, no amp, fader.

Heres some pictures for fun:




Stupid early model always making things difficult.
I feel like I am over thinking this way to hard.

NO!!!!

OK, here is the deal: you connect the back speakers to the front speakers behind the deck, then cut into the speaker wiring behind the back seat.

You are in the wrong thread! You need the $500 stereo thread....

Luke

[Wardie]

So, Luke after I called you twice I kept staring at it more and more and my brain turned off. I went out and bought the 50' of cable. From here I go ahead and run wire from the deck to the back of the amp correct? My brain has a habit to forget information when hungover and half asleep. Just a preemptive sorry for making you repeat yourself more than once. Car is a 1985 325E, no amp, fader.

Heres some pictures for fun:




Stupid early model always making things difficult.
I feel like I am over thinking this way to hard.

[Heyrr]

Which ones are those?

Also, my aftermarket units harness didn't have the (+12V ACC) Red, (ILL) Orange, or (AMP REM) Blue/White cords coming out of it, so their respective cords got capped..

[StereoInstaller1]

no, and you will likely find your memory does not hold stations...I would guess you got switched and constant backwards