Radio Wiring and Amp Bypass

[e30BMart]

my car is a 1991 318is and it does have premium sound

[guibo09]

Yes, you sure can.

If you do this project, post some pics up!

sure will.

[StereoInstaller1]

my car is a 1991 318is and it does have premium sound

Your install is super easy, you really should just follow the write-up and do it yourself.

[e30BMart]

I got your reply after the install guy did it.. took him and hour and charged me 110$. what a rip off... at least he did a super good job... whatever it works now

[csermonet47]

I sent you some dollars for helping me the other day. Thanks again man.

[bimmer630]

Just caught this post.

You are confused, and I am talking about 2 different stereo systems.

You are aware you caught 2 completely different installs being discussed, right?

You know you used those quotes completely out of context, right?

Both of those statements, when applied to the proper discussion/installation, are correct.


Either way, did you get your mess figured out?

Ok I figured I was just reading something wrong.

I did get mine figured out, I just found the grounds for each speaker using process of elimination, that was before looking to see if the proper speaker positives were twisted with a ground.. I dunno if they were, I read that part after I got mine going.
So yeah I bypassed the amp, Im back on this thread because I have a 90 Vert at the shop the guy wants a stereo, and I needed a refresher course on how this is done.


Thanks for all the info

[StereoInstaller1]

Ok I figured I was just reading something wrong.

I did get mine figured out, I just found the grounds for each speaker using process of elimination, that was before looking to see if the proper speaker positives were twisted with a ground.. I dunno if they were, I read that part after I got mine going.
So yeah I bypassed the amp, Im back on this thread because I have a 90 Vert at the shop the guy wants a stereo, and I needed a refresher course on how this is done.


Thanks for all the info

If it has a fader in the dash it will be the "more hassle" version where you use the 4 positives to run the rear speakers and run new wires for the fronts...otherwise, you will have 4 twisted pairs in the dash that run back to the amp, where there are 4 more twisted pairs to connect to.

[airkhin]

I have an 05/87 build date m3, i tried to follow the wiring to see if there were splits for the grounds... no juice... the po had a after market deck hooked up to the oem fader switch for some reason?

i tried to find a wiring manual but am having some issues finding the exact one by color codes of wires that i got... looking to bypass the amp in back and get all speakers grounded normally so no more whining...

even with the whining of the speakers, the luke box sure does wonders!!

[Miasma]

Just got done rewiring my 87 IS. Had a stock amp with premium sound WITH a fader. Sounded like shit, Took a while and had to run new wires for the front lows and highs, But sounds AMAZING now.

[clayparkley]

I just pulled out the after market HU from PO and found that the ILL gry/red wire splits into two before it comes in to the stock harness of the radio. But the other end of gry/red wire which is not connected to the HU is left cut. Does anyone know where this suppose to go? My comp unit next to the HU does not illuminate and I'm thinking maybe that's where it belongs? But I couldn't find the other end of gry/red wire coming out from the comp unit, even though I havn't looked carefully yet.

One more question two wht wire connected into one, one is P ANT and other is AMP remote right? Harness of the Pioneer HU(Deh-5000ub) I'm trying to install has only the blue/wht wire not the solid blue. So do I leave the two wht wire connected as one and connect this to the blue/wht?

[P.Kelly]

What is the deal with the grey (color coded) speaker wire at the front speakers (premium sound) as well as the blue (color coded) at the from speaker. I thought the blue twisted pair was the line levee to the amp, but it shows up again (and spliced in) at the front speakers...

[E30me]

Luke, great write-up :-)

[autbot318i]

anyone knows if my 85 318i has an amp?

[accident]

anyone knows if my 85 318i has an amp?

No, it does not.

[thedivision]

I just connected my stereo in an 87 325 (not i) with the fader switch. I didn't have any individual negative speaker wires going from the dash to the amp (common ground system). Not at the dash harness, not at the amp harness.

I connected the 12v constant, switched, ACC, thick radio antenna.. those are pretty standard. I had 4 available positive speaker signals, which I spliced before the fader switch: blue/red, yellow/red, blue/black, yellow/black. I connected these to positive wires coming out of my deck and left the negative wires unconnected.

I connected the accessory turn on wire coming out of the deck (blue/white for me) to the white amp turn on wire. I left the white antenna wire in the dash disconnected since my antenna doesn't work.

I tried using the pre-amp signals (RCAs) instead but the sound was very quiet. I will eventually run 4 wires for each ground to the trunk and bypass the stock amp altogether, I just didn't have the time today. The sound is effectively being amplified twice right now.

Hope this helps someone.