Radio Wiring and Amp Bypass

[iPee]

Hi guys,

I've finally finished reading the thread over the last couple days. I have a 91' 318is w/premium sound (tweeters and no fader), so this is supposed to be the easiest one. My goal is to install a deck and power the speakers with a 4 channel amp.

Everything seemed clear until I pulled the aftermarket deck from the PO.


It appears that the PO rewired all 4 speakers, but reading the thread seems to suggest only the fronts need to be wired. If I'm not mistaken only the ones with a fader needed this? Also I can't not find the wire to attach the illumination to, maybe I need to look further into the dash.


Towards the rear seat it seems like the wires were wired up to be repurposed. It seems looks to be done the opposite of this diagram.



I'm not sure why the front speaker wires are connected to the rear speaker wires.

Everything worked fine except for one of the rear speaker, but I can't remember which one. When I pulled the deck out a couple of the speakers wire came undone, so I couldn't tell if it was undone to begin with or if it came loose during removal.

My question is what would be the easiest method to to hook up my new deck and power up the speakers and a sub?


I was hoping I could just use the method above as shown in the killer $500 stereo thread. Is this still possible? I want to understand whats going on in my current wiring situation before I proceed.

Thanks
Ivan

[cWalk3r]

Omg I finally think I understand you're diagram on the first page lmao...

Car is a 1990 325i vert no fader with amp and tweeters

This is my wiring at the amp


I want to keep the factor hu and this is the wiring.

So since I'm keeping the factory hu would I just connect colour #2 and #3? Like I'd connect blue/red and grey/white at the amp wiring?

I probably have this completely wrong though lol

[Javierocks]

Quick question Luke. After reading 31 pages I went to town on my installation. By the way I'm installing a e36 c43 business HU. The installation is on a 1985 325e no premium sound but it does have a fader. I wire all the power cables and i have power to the HU. I identify the rear speaker cables and found them as well in the front kick panel. whats confusing is that by the front driver side kick panel i only found 2 -'s a BLUE BROW AND YELLOW BROWN and all the +'s YELLOW BLACK, YELLOW RRED, BLUE BLACK AND BLUE RED. I used those two cables as my REAR -'S (BLUE BROWN AND YELLOW BROWN). So now i have my rears as BLUE BLACK+ BLUE BROWN - YELLOW BLACK + YELLOW BROWN -.Now if i was to just connect the fronts +'s YELOW RED AND BLUE RED with out negatives they some how work. I know you said that speakers don't share -'s so can they by connected to a chassis ground?? Previous set up was a JVC KS-F100. The set up was funky. They connected the SOLID YELLOW from the fader to the front + on the HU and the YELLOW BROWN - to the (-) of the HU. The solid BLUE wire from the fader to the front + of the HU and the BLUE BROWN - to the (-) of the HU. Fader would cut of all the sound if moved to one side and only play right rear if moved to the other side. All 4 speakers would work but would sound like shit. Im also replacing stock speakers with premium sound speakers.

[cWalk3r]

Hey stereo installer. Is it normal for a 1990 vert premium sound with amp and no fader to have one colour wire leave the amp and change to another colour wire to the speaker? It all looks factory but seems strange

[HarukoE30]

Planet Audio AC1800.5 ANARCHY:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...NN2JKECKN9WM1N

Just need some advice on if that is a decent Amp to power my Premium sound speakers.

BMW
1990
325i 2D
Premium / No Fader

Also, where can I buy some wire to have the shop run from the Amp to the speakers. I'm going to tell them to run the BMW wire into the amp or have a setup kinda like the "Killer Setup."

Anything that is being explained needs to be in terms a 5-year old can understand. Very specific or my mind picks up every option possible.

Thank You

[twenty318is]

Wiring on my series 2 325is has been hacked up. I think this was the plug for the fader, no premium sound.



Can someone confirm this is the fader wiring? and it looks like i only have 2 twisted pairs and a solid yellow and solid blue.

[StereoInstaller1]

Wiring on my series 2 325is has been hacked up. I think this was the plug for the fader, no premium sound.



Can someone confirm this is the fader wiring? and it looks like i only have 2 twisted pairs and a solid yellow and solid blue.

Yes, that is fader wiring

[actletpone]

What are the solid yellow and solid blue wires for on the fader plug?
I am currently trying to figure out what has been cut and why.

[actletpone]

I believe they're inputs for the right and left side.

Sent from my XT1064 using Tapatalk

Thanks, that is what I thought. My setup is a little different as I have a New Zealand only factory radio which only has line level outputs and amp under the ecu. I have the booster amp in the boot as well which has been bypassed.

The blue wire going to my fader is eventually connected to and ignition switched 12v violet/white wire. The left and right channels outputs of the fader are also joined, basically joining the blue wire to the yellow. The yellow wire is connected to an unlisted pin on my radio. A strange method of obtaining a switched 12v.

How many watts does the booster amp in the boot put out?

[StereoInstaller1]

Need some help. I'll start by saying that I'm electricity dumb. I wired my alpine per the first post as all the wires matched but I didn't and haven't bypassed my old BMW Blaupunkt amp. The headunit works however there is more feed back and static then people living in China. It also gets worse when the car is running. The PO put in JBL speakers up front and I am unsure about the back deck. I know asking what I did wrong prob won't get an answer but any help and guidance would be awesome.

If you have that kind of racket, it's not wired right.

Your car is an 89, correct? The wiring on an 89 only has 6 wires going to the amp, to do this it is required that you have 8 wires...

Lets point out that the goal of this thread is to bypass the old, noisy, weak OE amp...but, in the interest of making the job much easier, I will tell you how to wire your aftermarket deck to the OE amp.

Here is the speaker wiring:

Deck side > car side

White > yellow/red
Gray > blue/red
Green > yellow/black
Purple > blue black

Black> brown/black + all brown/orange

First, those color wires are on the back of the fader (89's came with a fader) and second, the deck will have 4 speaker wires that arent shown here, that being the "black stripe" wires, those will not be used, so insulate the ends somehow (electrical tape is fine, use Scotch Super 33 or regret it later) and do not allow any of them to touch each other or anything else.

Other than that, there is another way to bypass the amp, but you will need to run new wires to the front speakers, which can be a little confusing...so maybe give it a shot with the OE amp, and if you want better sound, stop messing around and buy a decent amp to run the speakers.

oh, and get those JBLs out of there, put them in a Chevy or Ford, they sound like crap in an E30. You will get a full octave or even two lower, with more output and a smoother midrange out of a set of Premiums.

Luke

[Corsair89]

Yeah I figured as much. I'm gonna bypass the amp when it stops raining, if it ever does, but I've an '88 with the fader in the dash. This is the mess that I did.
I will also take the alpine Stype speakers from my '84 then. I've got a nice kenwood amp but I'm waiting till I can afford your box and a sub. I'm also in the middle of a 2.7i swap so yeah. Lol. I really appreciate your help and knowledge.

[Jdub]

I've been reading through all of your threads for a couple hours now Luke, and I think I have an idea of what to do, but I am absolutely a newb when it comes to electrical. I have an 89 325is (with tweeters, so I think its premium)

When I turn my radio on, there is incredibly loud static. I assume that means a toasted amp. My plan is to bypass the amp, and put in a new head unit like you said.

My question is, if I do proceed with this technique, but want to eventually add a sub in the back (using your technique in the thread about making an awesome setup for $500) is it going to be an easy addition?

It makes me nervous as hell cutting wires, Im going to go tear apart my car in a second and take out the amp and the HU and see if things start to make more sense. Im guessing when I take out the amp the wiring will make more sense, but I think I understand: There are wires that go INTO the amp from the HU, and then there are wires that go OUT of the amp to the speakers. When we "bypass" we are simply using the power from the new HU instead of the amp, and then cutting and connecting the wires the go from the HU to the amp, directly to the speaker wires?

PS. What is a fader and why is there a wire for it? (forgive my ignorance)

[AngeloF10]

Forgot to mention. '87 e30 vert. I have a fader in the dash and tweeter on the door

[AngeloF10]

There are 8 wires that come out of the fader, two of which are the yellow and the blue I mentioned above. No twisted pairs anywhere. Now I am really losing it

[tkeenan]

My car is a 9/87 build date, with 8 wires coming from the fader (premium sound), so for my case, running new wires to the front and repurposing wires for the rear speakers was suggested.