Radio Wiring and Amp Bypass

[German Audio Specialties]

The trunk wires in my hand appear to have come from the smaller box in the last picture.

Exactly that....check panel relay pack.

Are you clear on the "re purpose" thing?

BTW, if you ever plan on having a great system, now is the time to get an amp.

Basically, that would mean you use all the stock wire in the trunk for the 4 speakers and only have to run RCA cables.

Luke

[GunMetalGrey]

The trunk wires in my hand appear to have come from the smaller box in the last picture.

[German Audio Specialties]

Oh lordie...please please tell me you didn't cut that bunch in your hand...that is all of your brake and tail lights! That second box, the small one that loos nothing like an amplifier...that is your check panel relay!

[GunMetalGrey]

Interesting note, when I test for continuity from a pair of the trunk wires in my hand in the pic, they all have continuity.

[GunMetalGrey]

Feeling pretty silly here, I am usually okay at wiring but I cannot seem to get this one, it looks like someone tried to clean up the wiring and messed something up? Had a stereo in it when I purchased it but it didn't play anything and I wanted the amp deleted so I figured I would try to knock out two birds with one stone.
Wiring at HU

Wiring at trunk

What I took out

Car is an 89 325is with premium sound with no fader.
I have the same speaker wires in the back as I do in the front, and then the other bundle of non twisted pairs I cannot seem to get any speakers making any noise off of those wires.
Am I missing something or just plain screwed lol

[2.7i/3.2M]

Thanks for the write up!

[ScHpAnKy]

I have a 88 325ix. It has tweeters and a fader in the dash.

The wires back at the amp.


The wires up front. This is back a little ways so all the loops are eliminated. I believe the green and red wire is a hot battery wire, and thus it is not showing in the back.


From what I see it looks like I need to re-wire, but bimmer630 seems to have done it with a situation that originally looked like mine (no orange and brown wires). I went back on the amp wires about a foot and a half looking for the individual grounds for the each speaker. I didn't see any. Should I go back further, or do I just not have them? Just Scott doesn't say anything about tying in negatives to the speaker wires, but from what Luke is saying that seems necessary. Thanks for the help guys.

I'm a noob to forums and had an issue last time posting pics. In case those didn't work, here are the links

http://www.flickr.com/photos/71254823@N05/6443620731/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/71254823@N05/6443622887/

just wondering if anybody had an answer for this, there's NO ground cable on the dash side of an '88, but there's a spare brown in the trunk, should the speaker grounds in the trunk be run to the single massive brown wire that was originally into the amp?

[StereoInstaller1]

This was also the case in my car, 1987 325i 4 door.

Also, my Left rear +: black/brown at connector position 7 was actually black/red in case anybody has the same issue. Thanks for the write-up, I got my back speakers working, now I just need to run new wire to the front speakers.

Now there is a first post!

[coat]

Addendum to the above: either the ETM and Luke were both wrong on the wire colors of the 12v+ versus headlight dimmer wire - or the germans who built my harness were a bit drunk that day. My "12V when the headlight is on" wire was actually red/green, and my "12v+ always on" was gray/red. Go figure.

This was also the case in my car, 1987 325i 4 door.

Also, my Left rear +: black/brown at connector position 7 was actually black/red in case anybody has the same issue. Thanks for the write-up, I got my back speakers working, now I just need to run new wire to the front speakers.

[German Audio Specialties]

Nvm my above post. When I took a look at the amp it was obvious that 'ol boy that owned my car was not an electrician More like a butcher of copper.

I ohmed out the wires, bypassed the amp and did this properly.

The original post here got me started but my wire colors differed a little. The front speakers seem to use a common ground. The rears did not.

Between the junk the PO used and the stock amp I removed a ton of crap from the car.

I have to say that 20 yr old premium sound is awesome!

Good job! I have done several '93's. all had the same colors. In fact, I have a '93 in the shop right now, but I have not torn into it just yet, I will test and compare.

Again, this whole "common ground" thing is NOT true: no BMW with an amp has any form of common ground between the amp and the speakers.

Lets clarify this: common ground means there is a shared ground between a left speaker and a right speaker. Nothing else means "common" ground. Make sense?

Good to hear you have a good start on a real stereo...now lets get a decent sub in that thing!

Luke

[Badgtho]

Nvm my above post. When I took a look at the amp it was obvious that 'ol boy that owned my car was not an electrician More like a butcher of copper.

I ohmed out the wires, bypassed the amp and did this properly.

The original post here got me started but my wire colors differed a little. The front speakers seem to use a common ground. The rears did not.

Between the junk the PO used and the stock amp I removed a ton of crap from the car.

I have to say that 20 yr old premium sound is awesome!

[Badgtho]

The car is a 92 Mtechnic2 appearance
It has no dash fader
It has door tweeters so i assume an amp.

When i got the car it had some really crappy sony radio in it. the guy used miles of wire and some sketchy OEM interface and it only made sound from 2 speakers.

i tore it all out and got my new pioneer to power up, operate the antenna, retain power for the clock.

There was a harness (don't know if it was aftermarket) that plugged into the speaker harness in the car. it jumped a few pins and gave me one yellow and one blueish wire. i thought great, this jumps everything so i have 2 inputs for all speakers. wrong! i was getting sound from the tweeters only; just like the sony that was in there with the rats nest.

I eliminated this jumper deal and i got all to work without using any of the speaker grounds off the new deck. i just clipped and capped them. I sent each speaker positive from the deck to a wire on the car's speaker harness.

it works well and i get sound from all speakers. sounds awesome but i get a little pop when i shut the key off... no big deal.

i was wondering if what i'm saying sounds OK to you and if you can confirm that pop is the stock amp. any way to elminate the pop?

[German Audio Specialties]

Luke my car isn't using a hersche motor antenna. I'm using the z3/318ti stationary antenna where the WHITE wire isn't hooked up to it by design. Do I still need to utilize both white wires from the dash to my aftermarket harness?

Also what is (AMP REM) Blue/White do?

Only some aftermarket decks have blue/white: it is a dedicated power amp remote. Use it to turn on your amps.

Solid blue lights up whenever the deck is in "tuner" mode, or if you have a higher-end Kenwood and have turned on "SYNC" or T.I. (traffic info), sending your antenna up whenever the fuck the stupid pile of shit decides it needs to check the non-existent traffic reports, or set your clock..again.

[German Audio Specialties]

Blue/Blue Brown Right Channel
Yellow/Yellow Brown Left Channel
[ATTACH]53970[/ATTACH]

laaaaaame...

OK, you are going to need to do some work on that.

Now that I see your codes properly, you are in no danger of blowing anything up, but you are only using 1/2 the power your deck actually makes.

Read every stupid post on this thread and I bet you figure out what to do.

BTW, the easy test for the moron move your PO/installer did is that the fader on the deck does not work. If you fade to the rear, you have no sound at all, right?

hey man, will this tutorial work for this car? I've got an Alpine head unit to hook up in my 1989 325i coupe. Also, I was told by my local audio install shop that I will have to replace all the stock speakers because they are grounded out seperately and not through the radio or something, and also that there is no radio harness adaptor; are these things both true? thanks! please PM me.

As is typical of the idiots at car stereo shops, they are talking out their ass.

I know, I worked with other shitty installers for over 25 years in those same kinds of shops...pure and simple, most installers suck, they are wrong.

You too need to read ALL of this thread, maybe even download the electrical troubleshooting manual from www.wedophones.com so you can see the actual BMW wiring diagrams.

Pay specific attention to the color codes that go into the amp and into the fader, you will see a continuity of design. Complex is a nice word for it, but once you understand, it really does make sense.

Everyone repeat after me: BMW radios are common ground but the speakers are not, especially if they are amplified. They share a negative, but it is not chassis ground. The deck is what makes it look like common ground. Change decks and "unshare" the speaker negatives and all is good.

And, no, there is no "plug and play" option. If you want quality sound in your E30 plan on doing some work, plain and simple.

Good luck, guys!

Luke

[Afredo]

1989 325i coupe

hey man, will this tutorial work for this car? I've got an Alpine head unit to hook up in my 1989 325i coupe. Also, I was told by my local audio install shop that I will have to replace all the stock speakers because they are grounded out seperately and not through the radio or something, and also that there is no radio harness adaptor; are these things both true? thanks! please PM me.