Radio Wiring and Amp Bypass

[StereoInstaller1]

sorry my posting ended up in the middle of the quote, i have a 90 vert w/prem sound, no fader.. not able to locate the brown/orange - wire that all speakers ground to in the trunk amp harness, what am i missing....

Tomwas, please post year and model, psychic skills are being limited by evil conspiracy, sorry.

[tomwas]

First, let me say this is NOT applicable to all E30s. Generally, Late Model (88+) will have this wiring on premium sound cars. IF you have a fader in the dash, this MAY work: you need to unwrap about 8" of fader harness to see if you have 4 pairs of speaker wires, as some cars have only 6 wires, not 4 pairs (8 total) so if this chart does not apply PERFECTLY to your car, don't use it.

Quick disclaimer: this is not idiot proof. You mess it up, don't whine at me, I do not care.

If this saves you countless hours of hassle or you are just feeling generous, feel free to paypal me a tip. Add "@gmail.com" to Stereoinstaller1 and I promise to only use the money for projects on my car.
I have a 90 vert w/prm sound, no fader and i'm not able to locate the brown/orange all grounding - wire in the trunk......... what am I missing..

OK, here is the info.

Obviously, what you do here is simple: connect the "deck" wire to the "dash" wire, then back at the trunk, connect that "dash" wire to the "speaker" wire.

This is not rocket surgery, boys. Get it done.



Aftermarket-----------Dash Wires-----------Speaker Wires

RF+ Grey--------------Blue/Red-------------Grey/White
RF- Grey/Black--------Brown/Orange--------Grey/Brown

LF+ White------------Yellow/Red------------Grey/Red
LF- White/Black-------Brown/Orange--------Grey/Violet

RR+ Violet------------Blue/Black------------Black/White
RR- Violet/Black-------Brown/Orange--------Black/Brown

LR+ Green------------Yellow/Black----------Black/Red
LR- Green/Black-------Brown/Orange--------Black/Violet


(+12V Unswitched) Yellow----Red/Green (Changes to Yellow at C302)

(+12V ACC) Red-------------Violet/White (Changes to Voilet/Grey at C302)

(Ground) Black---------------Brown (may also be Brown/Black)

(ILL) Orange-----------------Grey/Red (Changes to White at C302)

(P ANT) Blue-----------------White (this is one of 2 white wires)

(AMP REM) Blue/White--------White (this is the one in the same harness as the speakers)

Luke

sorry my posting ended up in the middle of the quote, i have a 90 vert w/prem sound, no fader.. not able to locate the brown/orange - wire that all speakers ground to in the trunk amp harness, what am i missing....

[StereoInstaller1]

You can use the stock amp if you are OK less sound quality.

Your deck (hell, any $89 WalMart deck) makes better quality power and more of it.

You did not say what year and model your car is, but if it is no fader and has tweeters, the car should be '91, correct?

Don't be skeered, by now hundreds of installs have happened directly because of this thread. R3V will take care of you, and if they don't, I will.

Luke

[danielmb]

Alpine Head Unit

After reading this thread, I am going to attempt to install an Alpine CDE-HD149BT, albeit with great trepidation. My car has no fader and tweeters on the doors by the mirrors. I assume this means I have the premium stereo. Assuming I have the premium stereo, is it necessary for me to bypass the stock amp or will it function with the new head unit?

[StereoInstaller1]

I just installed a Pioneer DEH-X6600BT in my 91 325i with premium sounds following Luke's instruction on the first page. It sounds amazing now. Those factory premium speakers are pretty great I must say.

I did run into trouble trying to figure out the grounding scheme used. I trolled the net but did not find anything that was similar to What I had.

Here's what I had.

Head Unit chassis had two brown wires ground to it through a ring terminal.
Each of this brown wires was wired into 2 Yellow/Brown and 2 Blue Brown wires. These splices were six inches past the fader connector.

At the Amp end. The four wires (2 Yellow/brown, 2 Blue Brown) terminated into a single black brown wire at the connector. I had to strip back six inches from the connector to find the splice.

These four wires were each a part of a twisted pair with a '+' wire as described in the first post.

Once I figured this out, the rest was easy and matched with Luke's main post.

Do it guys, its not that hard after all.

Thanks a Ton Luke. You rock!

Thanks! One of these days I am gonna make all this into a tutorial for our site.

Good to hear you had success. Wish it was as easy for the later BMWs!

Luke

[tractioncircle]

I just installed a Pioneer DEH-X6600BT in my 91 325i with premium sounds following Luke's instruction on the first page. It sounds amazing now. Those factory premium speakers are pretty great I must say.

I did run into trouble trying to figure out the grounding scheme used. I trolled the net but did not find anything that was similar to What I had.

Here's what I had.

Head Unit chassis had two brown wires ground to it through a ring terminal.
Each of this brown wires was wired into 2 Yellow/Brown and 2 Blue Brown wires. These splices were six inches past the fader connector.

At the Amp end. The four wires (2 Yellow/brown, 2 Blue Brown) terminated into a single black brown wire at the connector. I had to strip back six inches from the connector to find the splice.

These four wires were each a part of a twisted pair with a '+' wire as described in the first post.

Once I figured this out, the rest was easy and matched with Luke's main post.

Do it guys, its not that hard after all.

Thanks a Ton Luke. You rock!

[StereoInstaller1]

So I took my car to a shop and they wanted to put new wiring in my car cus they said my wires are old. Lol i left I can do that on my own.
Anyone know what the grey/red wire does? Also on the blue /black wire amd yellow/black wire those go to the back speakers ( i think)but i seen a diagram on here that says that you dont connect one of the negatives for the rear at the deck. Any input? I don't want to run new wires to the back

Every bit of the answers you need are here!

If you have an '86 ETA, you could have Premium Sound...do you?

[efficient]

So I took my car to a shop and they wanted to put new wiring in my car cus they said my wires are old. Lol i left I can do that on my own.
Anyone know what the grey/red wire does? Also on the blue /black wire amd yellow/black wire those go to the back speakers ( i think)but i seen a diagram on here that says that you dont connect one of the negatives for the rear at the deck. Any input? I don't want to run new wires to the back

[efficient]

So I got my 86 eta that I have no idea about the wires. So far I have 3 speakers that work but when I turn up the volume it sounds like my speakers are gonna break. My car has a fader but doesn't have an amp. Can anyone guide me and tell me what the grey and red wire connect to. I been reading and Itconfuses me more. Been contemplating on just running new wires from the speakers.

[StereoInstaller1]

I'm an idiot. Connected the wrong ground. All is well!

As an aside, and I know this is the "Amp bypass" thread, have You ever successfully mounted an XM antenna inside the E30?

No worries...I am not a fan of inside mounting, especially if it is XM branded. All OEs use an external antenna for a reason...no one wants that ugly thing.

The only luck I ever had was Sirius on top of the 3rd brakelight housing, mounted on a ground plane. Still not all that great IMO, lost it if there were tall buildings or tall trees close to the road. When I got back home from a trip to cali, I drilled a hole in my roof and externally mounted it. Reception was drastically improved, as good as typical OE.

[Big swifty]

Installer, for sure.

Do you have a testlight? Go get one if you don't have one. there is a cheapie at walmart for about $5.

Then, tell me the exact colors you connected to, E30s did some weird color swapping

I'm an idiot. Connected the wrong ground. All is well!

As an aside, and I know this is the "Amp bypass" thread, have You ever successfully mounted an XM antenna inside the E30?

[Big swifty]

Thank You!
Figured it was my fault. Yes, I definitely have a test light. At work now, will check and report when I get home.

[StereoInstaller1]

Installer, for sure.

Do you have a testlight? Go get one if you don't have one. there is a cheapie at walmart for about $5.

Then, tell me the exact colors you connected to, E30s did some weird color swapping

[Big swifty]

Stereo Installer 1 your help is superb and much appreciated.
I have a quick question...

1989 325ix, no amp, does have fader. I have stripped back wires to the twisted pairs and have connected all speakers. Radio functions all work fine.

Problem is that if the headlights (2 orange dashboard lights really) are on, as soon as the FM antenna is connected it will blow fuse 23 and the 2 orange dashboard lights are kaput.

Is this an internal (head unit) issue or an external (installer) issue?

[StereoInstaller1]

Update, Seth? Do we have adequate audio yet?