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early model stereo wiring help

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    #16
    Guys, this shouldn't be all that confusing.

    First, get a grip on the system wiring, and what that fader does.

    The deck sends out 2 channels of audio, the fader "splits" that into 4 speakers, but it's still 2 channels.

    The fader uses only the positive signal wires, but has 2 separate grounds, one for each channel. The left side uses one ground, the right side uses the other.

    You may or may not find a dash light illumination wire in the fader plug too, depending on year. Look for gray/red.

    SO, this is the fun part: yellow and blue (left and right) come from the deck to the fader. Some use the chassis ground, some use a signal ground, but always a negative of some sort. That ground is two things: one, it is the ground for the light bulb in the fader. Two, it is the reference point for the fader to "fade" against.

    A quick aside: We are all 100% clear that 4 speakers requires 8 wires, right? No, you cannot combine grounds, your deck will sound like ass and eventually blow up. You have to have 8 wires for 4 speakers, period.

    Now you are wondering "how the hell does this get me 8 wires behind the deck for the 4 speakers?"


    Simple! 2 options, both require running wires unless you get stupid lucky.

    Either way, unwrap the goddamn harness! I swear, I tell more boneheads to unwrap the goddamn thing....anyway UNWRAP THE HARNESS!

    If, like shown in the pic above, you have ANY remaining tape wrap, take it off. You can re-wrap it later, tidy is crucial...but get that tape off!

    Here is the thing: of non-PS cars there are three distinctly different harnesses, of PS cars there are two, but also a mid year change (89+, no fader in the dash, converted to "slider" radio) that has an adapter.

    What that means is I am not about to type out all six types, at some point I expect people to learn what their car has and how to deal with it.

    If you get lucky, you have a huge bunch of connections under that wrap. You may find that magic point that has 4 twisted pairs of wires just a few inches behind the fader harness junction, all connected to a pair of brown stripe wires....but if that stupid harness is still wrapped, you can't tell shit.

    Either way, I am out of time for now. Go unwrap your shit, take a clear pic and post it up. Lets see if we can get all examples so others can find it later.

    Luke
    Last edited by StereoInstaller1; 01-15-2015, 11:38 AM.

    Closing SOON!
    "LAST CHANCE FOR G.A.S." DEAL IS ON NOW

    Luke AT germanaudiospecialties DOT com or text 425-761-6450, or for quickest answers, call me at the shop 360-669-0398

    Thanks for 10 years of fun!

    Comment


      #17
      Originally posted by 2002ner View Post
      Hey Chop Suey.. I have a new to me '85 and need to finish this installation.
      After wasting a ton of time reading posts that didn't quite make sense to me, I found your question about the early cars..
      Can you give a final 'do this' on the speaker wiring issue? I think I am understanding the six wire lay out, I just need to hear a final word on the best wiring/grounding method that you used.. what stock wires to use, what you may have added, etc.

      Thanks in advance..




      The connection for the very early speaker grounds are under the carpet, basically under the drivers seat. You don't wanna mess with them. Generally these are cars that have carpeted kickpanels rather than the later plastic ones.

      Basically, you will only find that setup on '84 and early '85 cars.

      Fortunately, its easy to fix.

      Run new wire to the fronts, use the negatives (brown stripe) and the rear positives (black stripe) and simply insulate the red stripe wires.

      Closing SOON!
      "LAST CHANCE FOR G.A.S." DEAL IS ON NOW

      Luke AT germanaudiospecialties DOT com or text 425-761-6450, or for quickest answers, call me at the shop 360-669-0398

      Thanks for 10 years of fun!

      Comment


        #18
        Sorry to necro this thread again but I have a similar problem and most of the info I've read is for later cars. I have a 84 318i, no amp unless I'm blind, the amp is supposed to be in the trunk right where would it be mounted?

        I'm rewiring my existing harness to the later E36/34 harness to make life easier in the future, also deleting the fader while I'm at it.. I have all the power connection (constant, switched, illumination) working fine the problem is just on the speaker wiring. My speakers all work but the volume is extremely low, I have to turn the radio 5 clicks from maximum to have a whisper level amount of volume and any higher I get distortion.

        My fader has 6 wires coming out (blue, blue/black, blue/red, yellow, yellow/black, yellow/red). I have the wires from the new radio/E36 harness going directly into the blue/colored and yellow/colored wires. I think the problem lies in the grounds, I have the speaker negatives going into the solid blue and solid yellow wires: 1 solid blue from the fader, 1 solid yellow from the fader, 1 solid blue from the radio harness, 1 solid yellow from the radio harness. I believe my problem is that the radio harness and fader grounds are shared since my multimeter shows that there is continuity between the two. I tried to follow the fader wiring up the harness but it seems to just merge with the wires coming from the original HU, it's not like other pictures I've seen where there are green connectors that have grounds.

        Do I need to run new grounds for 2 of the speakers?

        Picture of my radio and original wiring at the bottom.
        Click image for larger version

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