Originally posted by ringmeister81
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Radio Wiring and Amp Bypass
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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!
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Originally posted by ringmeister81 View PostNo 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!
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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.
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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 soundsigpic
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Originally posted by jrockbk View PostOk I've read most of this thread and all of it refers to bypassing amp to use aftermarket head unit.
Getting that turd of a stock radio out of your car is the goal here!
Originally posted by jrockbk View PostMy 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
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
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Originally posted by StereoInstaller1 View PostAwesome, 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
The head unit has Bluetooth for hands free calling and was able to install microphone clean in empty slot!sigpic
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I'm going to be trying this tomorrow in my '88iX with premium sound and fader switch. I've peaked behind the head unit the PO installed, and it is a disaster back there, so I'm going in armed with Luke's guide, the ETM, and my camera.
I plan to bypass the stock amp and just power all of the speakers with my new headunit. For the new wire runs to the two front speakers, can I just use normal speaker cable, like what I use in my home stereo, or is there some special stuff for use in the car?
From the ETM, it looks like the front tweeters are connected in parallel to the speaker in the kick panel. Will I need to do anything special to make sure they are connected when I replace the wiring? My tweeters have been sounding like complete trash recently and I'm not sure if it is the speakers or the wiring (or the amp?), any ideas?
Thanks to everyone for this thread, it is pretty awesome.
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In progress
Good Sunday morning project. '88 325iX premium sound with fader.
I started with removing the rear seats, center console, and front ashtray and everything so that I have a clear path to run wires straight to the trunk. I need to run a new antenna cable too because of the PO.
I removed the headunit installed by the PO. It looked like a horrible wiring mess, until I kept pulling, removed the fader switch, and saw that the PO's destruction was limited to the first 4" or 5" of the harness.
I've decided that I am going to remove the fader and its associated wiring and clean up the PO's mess.
I know Luke says that the factory wiring is awesome and to just re-use that. But, to minimize my own confusion, and since I have to run wire to get the fronts to work anyway, I'm just going to run new wire to the trunk for all 4 channels and then bypass the amp.
I feel like that way I will have a better grasp on exactly which wire goes where for the speakers.
I'm headed out to by speaker cable now. More photos later.
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Originally posted by FastAndLight View PostGood Sunday morning project. '88 325iX premium sound with fader.
I started with removing the rear seats, center console, and front ashtray and everything so that I have a clear path to run wires straight to the trunk. I need to run a new antenna cable too because of the PO.
I removed the headunit installed by the PO. It looked like a horrible wiring mess, until I kept pulling, removed the fader switch, and saw that the PO's destruction was limited to the first 4" or 5" of the harness.
I've decided that I am going to remove the fader and its associated wiring and clean up the PO's mess.
I know Luke says that the factory wiring is awesome and to just re-use that. But, to minimize my own confusion, and since I have to run wire to get the fronts to work anyway, I'm just going to run new wire to the trunk for all 4 channels and then bypass the amp.
I feel like that way I will have a better grasp on exactly which wire goes where for the speakers.
I'm headed out to by speaker cable now. More photos later.
LMK if I can help
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Thanks Luke, I'll let you know.
I'm disappointed with myself because I went all cheap and just bought some generic metra wire. Please don't hate me forever
I'm back and about to start snipping. Here we go...
[edit]
Well, I reversed power and illum at first. And have run out of crimp connectors. Should have checked that before the last run. Off to buy more and then run the speaker wires.Last edited by FastAndLight; 08-04-2013, 11:23 AM.
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