Radio Wiring and Amp Bypass

[6670charger]

Found it. Had the wrong set of wires. Not sure what they ones I cut initially went to but it doesn't seem to effect anything, and all speakers work fine. Sound is awesome for stock speakers. Much better than before. Your tip on how to wire the front speakers was extremely easy. Probably got the whole thing done in the time it would have taken me to tear apart the kick panel and door on one side.

Thanks for your help and patience.

[dogsbark26]

Woo hoo! The sweet sound of success.

[StereoInstaller1]

Found it. Had the wrong set of wires. Not sure what they ones I cut initially went to but it doesn't seem to effect anything, and all speakers work fine. Sound is awesome for stock speakers. Much better than before. Your tip on how to wire the front speakers was extremely easy. Probably got the whole thing done in the time it would have taken me to tear apart the kick panel and door on one side.

Thanks for your help and patience.

Woo hoo! The sweet sound of success.

No doubt! This man and I have swapped like 10 PMs and he has struggled with this for weeks, so good to hear it is all bueno!

Luke

[Chigga]

I've been following this guide and ran into a strange issue today.

I swapped out the dash and installed a new Pioneer HU, the car is a 91 318i, no premium sound, has 4 pairs of wires that ran into the factory hu, along with all others.

The new HU powers up, antenna comes out, but no sound.

But if I insert the key fast enough to go to position II, it sometimes has sound but the interior lights stay on very dim even though they are at the off position.

What gives?

[StereoInstaller1]

I've been following this guide and ran into a strange issue today.

I swapped out the dash and installed a new Pioneer HU, the car is a 91 318i, no premium sound, has 4 pairs of wires that ran into the factory hu, along with all others.

The new HU powers up, antenna comes out, but no sound.

But if I insert the key fast enough to go to position II, it sometimes has sound but the interior lights stay on very dim even though they are at the off position.

What gives?

1. Go buy a test light.

2. Go buy a test light

3. ask me how to use it after you have completed steps 1 or 2.

We will get you rockin'!

Luke

[Chigga]

got one, now how do I sort this mystery.

[StereoInstaller1]

got one, now how do I sort this mystery.

Tell me what happens when you clp the lead on a 12V source and touch the chassis of the deck with the lights on

[Chigga]

Tell me what happens when you clp the lead on a 12V source and touch the chassis of the deck with the lights on

Have to report back today after work.

Thank you for the help.

[Chigga]

Luke thank you for telling me to get a test light!

Update: found the cause, one of the door light wire's insulation was cut/loose and was touching the body, fixed that and put in the boston accoustic and sounds better than ever.

[FasterSoonerNow]

Quick question as it relates to the 5-wire setup on my '87 IS...

Is there a reason why most people don't just replace the premium amp with a modern 4 channel amp? Would there be any issues with having only 4 "positive" inputs going from the new head unit to the new 4 channel amp and then wire up the pos and negatives of the speakers to the new amp?

The main benefit is not having to use any new wire, also if the amp is setup for a sub then you can easily put it in the trunk.

Thoughts?

[StereoInstaller1]

Using an aftermarket 4 channel amp is a great idea IMO.

Most are looking to simply do a bypass, as most modern decks make more power than the stock E30 amp.

Adding an amp really won't help performance much when using the stock speaker locations, BTW. All that bullshit about "better power sounds better" is just about pure bullshit. If it sounds like crap at 2 watts, it is just gonna be louder crap at 200 watts.

Luke

[FasterSoonerNow]

Got the rear speakers going just fine.

BUT the green/red in the dash is not giving me any power to the head unit so I used the grey/red instead and it's fine. The last aftermarket head unit was also using grey/red for power so I am guessing they knew something that I don't about the power source.

[StereoInstaller1]

Seems the people, who wired the E30 could not make their minds up

[Spyke]

1987 325e (10-1986 build date)

-NO tweeters
-NO amp in the trunk
-Fader switch in the dash***

***Fader does NOT have twisted pairs along the wiring path AT ALL. Fader wires DO NOT change colors, there are NO additional wires in the bundle. I followed them all the way behind the speedo to make sure. There's only the 4 striped and 2 solid wires going to the fader switch.

Photos of my head unit, fader switch and wiring to the head unit:


IMG_20130210_103441 by Spyke e36/e30, on Flickr


IMG_20130210_092643 by Spyke e36/e30, on Flickr


IMG_20130210_092814 by Spyke e36/e30, on Flickr


IMG_20130210_092929 by Spyke e36/e30, on Flickr


Got all my new radio wiring done, this might help Early model guys. I was super confused at how the OEM wiring was done, but once I had it all out the rewiring made perfect sense. I re-purposed all the OEM wire as it's in good shape, retained the previous wiring colors as to not confuse anyone else who MIGHT get the car after me and as mentioned in here very good quality high copper content.

I now have a permanent e36 female plug so that wiring will never have to be messed with again in the future, easy upgrades. This is for my 87 ETA, fader in dash, no amp in trunk, standard speakers. Wiring colors followed a fairly consistent pattern to my surprise. Here's what I did:

e30 ETA OEM wiring <> e36 female radio plug <> Metra 70-8590 plug

12v ignition/acc
Violet/Grey <> Violet/(White) <> Red
12v batt/constant
Red/Green <> Red/(White) <> Yellow
Ground
Brown <> Brown <> Black
Power antenna
(White) <> (White) <> Blue
Illumination
Red/Grey <> Red/Grey <> Orange

Right Front +
Blue/Red <> Blue/Red <> Grey
Right Front -
Blue/Brown <> Brown/Orange <> Grey/Black
Left Front +
Yellow/Red <> Yellow/Red <> (White)
Left Front -
Yellow/Brown <> Brown/Orange <> (White)/Black

Right Rear +
Blue/Black <> Blue/Black <> Violet
Right Rear -
Blue/Brown <> Brown/Orange <> Violet/Black
Left Rear +
Yellow/Black <> Yellow/Black <> Green
Left Rear -
Yellow/Brown <> Brown/Orange <> Green/Black

***The e36 female plug will have the speaker + and - as a twisted pair. I highly recommend connecting only ONE pair at a time to keep from getting confused, since all speaker negatives on the e36 plug have the same color wire.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do yourself a favor and double-check the power/acc/illumination wire colors with a TEST LIGHT BEFORE making final connections. It's the only way to know for sure. Speaker wires are straight forward, but you're a moron if you don't test the important wires before starting.

[Ukko]

Just to add a me too. I just did this with a 1990 convertible, and it worked great. First I tried the method mentioned in the other thread where you keep the old amp. It sort of worked but the sound crackled and would cut out under middle volume. So tonight I gave up on the low damage approach. I unraveled the harness back to the Y behind the radio and about 6 inches in the trunk. The twisted pairs were there as promised!

It sounds wonderful!

Thanks!