Basic CD player install questions! I may just be stupid though...

[Fidhle007]

I have a '90 iS with what I imagine to be premium sound, tweeters in the doors, amp in the trunk. I recently bought an Alpine CDA-9805 deck from Ed here on the boards and have a few questions about installing it. The new deck as all RCA outputs and my old deck, well you know... Can I pull the FR FL RR RL wires out of the back of the old deck, attach some RCA plugs to them and call it a day or will I run into problems with output levels and shit with the stock amp? In the future I'd like to redo the entire sound system anyway so this does not have to be a perfect setup but I'd also like decent sound. Any advice anyone has for a quick and simple installation would be awesome!

Thanks!
Brendan

Yes, when it comes to radios I'm a complete

[StereoInstaller1]

Brendan, you is gonna need to rewire that car. You do NOT want to use the stock amp. Pull out your left front speaker, you should find a plug with 4 wires...2 blue and 2 yellow. These are the rear speaker wires. You can connect to the rear wires here, and (obviously) the left front. Run a new pair of wires to the right front and you are done!

Luke

[Fidhle007]

Thanks Luke! So I can run straight from the RCA plug to the speakers? Also, will I lose my tweeters, and if i do, will I care?

As long as I'm rewiring, I have a pair of 6x9 Kenwoods in my basement. Maybe it would be worth shoehorning these into back?

[StereoInstaller1]

RCAs are the pre-amp outputs. These go to amps only. Your deck has the typical 4X speaker outputs.

White: left front
Grey: Right front
Green: left rear
Purple: right rear

Wires are in pairs, blacvk stripe is negative.

Luke

[Fidhle007]

I didn't see the usual outputs, that's why I was confused I guess. There is a multi-prong plug on the back as well thoug, I imagine THIS is where I'm supposed to attach speakers? I'm wondering if I'm missing parts now...

On another note, I looked at my kenwoods and they seem to be KFC-S695s. Any idea on the quality? I'm doing some research on them right now but I wondered if you knew anything offhand...

[Fidhle007]

The more I think about it seems like the simplest thing would be for me to get a GOOD amp and just wire it in instead of the stock POS. This still doesn't answer the question of the mystery plug though, which I assume is the speaker and power connections...

I wish I knew more about this stuff, and I wish there was an installer nearby who knew BMWs...

[Fidhle007]

Figured out the mystery plug, I'm off to the local car stereo shop to see if I can find plugs and wires and stuff...

[Fidhle007]

I got sidetracked and never made it to the stereo shop but I did give them a call. They quoted me a price of $65 -$90 depending on how long it takes for the basic installation. Is this normal?

I also asked them about speakers and they (rather rudely) told me to get speakers that were the proper size and not to mess with the kenwoods that I have. This really makes no sense to me because a larger speaker (of similar quality) should be cabable of producing a larger range of tone than something smaller. I'm thinking maybe I should just have them do the install and wiring and stuff and I'll deal with the speakers later on my own time.

Thoughts?

[325iCabrio]

I got sidetracked and never made it to the stereo shop but I did give them a call. They quoted me a price of $65 -$90 depending on how long it takes for the basic installation. Is this normal?

I also asked them about speakers and they (rather rudely) told me to get speakers that were the proper size and not to mess with the kenwoods that I have. This really makes no sense to me because a larger speaker (of similar quality) should be cabable of producing a larger range of tone than something smaller. I'm thinking maybe I should just have them do the install and wiring and stuff and I'll deal with the speakers later on my own time.

Thoughts?

If you do take it to a speaker shop, I wouldn't take it to those guys. Lots of people put different sized speakers that are the "wrong" size versus stock. That's why there are so many brackets for speakers--so you can install whatever you want. Granted, smaller, high quality speakers will beat large, cheap speakers, but from what I understand, larger speakers do produce more bass. And Kenwoods aren't cheap speakers. So I'd tell those guys to go fuck themselves.

Here's a post by 87Blue325ic on his install of speakers, amp, and headunit. He used a BMW C43 CD player, but you might find some helpful info on his page. I bookmarked it for when I replace my headunit with the Nakamichi I've wanted to for so long. :D

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=71510

[StereoInstaller1]

B, doing 6X9's in an E30 is a significant hassle. Not worth it, IMHO.

Gotta love that "installer" attitude, huh?

I recommend you ask an installer or two if they have a power plug for your Alpine, slip them a $10 and go do it yourself. It is just not that hard, and you will learn tons by doing it yourself.

Luke
Oh, I charge $65 for that service.

[Fidhle007]

I'd really like to do it myself, and I know I can accomplish it, I just need to figure out how everything works first. :-)

So I need a plug that fits the 16-prong connector on the back of the Alpine deck, and then I need to find all my speaker wires and connect them and my power supply to said plug. I think I can do this!

[Fidhle007]

I've pulled the stock radio but when I did there were some wires who's functions are not immediately clear to me...

The wires I can't figure out are three in the foreground (Purple, Brown, White, I think the purple and brown are power but I'm not certain) and the four behind that (Blue/Brown, White/Brown, White, Yellow.) The Blue/Brown and White/Brown wires are connected to a plug that is not plugged in to anything.

Behind that are the speaker connections (Blue, Yellow, Blue/Black, Yellow/Black) and the brown ground wires in the very back. If anyone can indentify these that would be AWESOME!!!



From another angle:


My new deck is an Alpine CDA-9805 and I know I need two power wires, one switched, one constant; and also the remote antenna lead. The power amp lead I can deal with later because I will be scrapping the stock amp and will use new wires when I install a sub amp in the future.

Thanks!
Brendan

[StereoInstaller1]

Brendan, please tell me you have a testlight? If not GO BUY ONE!!!

Remember to turn the lights on when testing for ground (which is brown, BTW) so you don't confuse dashlights for ground.

White is both power antenna and turn on for the amp.

Did you find the rear speaker wires behind the left front speaker?

Luke

[Fidhle007]

Luke, I ended up running new wire for all four (eight?) speakers, and I ran an extra RCA cable to the trunk for a future sub. Two remaining issues though, I seem to have lost my front tweeters and can I use the power antenna lead as an amp lead too, or must the two be seperated?

[StereoInstaller1]

Luke, I ended up running new wire for all four (eight?) speakers,

A "speaker" has as many or as few as necessary components. Each "corner" of the car is considered a speaker. Makes sense, huh?

I ran an extra RCA cable to the trunk for a future sub.

Probably would have beena good thing to mention to your "Audio Advisor" dont'cha think? Pull that crap apart and run a remote wire too. Reason coming shortly.

I seem to have lost my front tweeters

Yeah. You need to do odd things to make them work. The crossover is actually built into the back of the midrange! F'ing weird, but very BMW. You can either go buy a set of crossovers from one of the local installers...depending on what you find, you can get far better sound too. Or, you can make them work by figuring out where the stock wires attached, and connecting the Alpine's speakers the same way. You will be able to look at the mid and see which are the actual speaker wires, and which are the crossover outputs to the tweeters.

can I use the power antenna lead as an amp lead too, or must the two be seperated?

Not with your deck. Well, you can, but I will laugh at you. Sneer, even.

Here is the deal: Your Alpine has 2 blue wires. One of them has a white stripe. One of them has power whenever the deck is on, the other only has power when the deck is in "Tuner" mode.


What this means is that installed correctly, your antenna will go down (or stay down) while playing CD's.

Hope you feel proud of your accompishment!

R3V on, man.

Luke