radio wiring

[mr. dude]

I'm currently in the middle of putting a new radio into my car and need a little help with the wiring. I searched and found a couple threads with a diagram of the wiring scheme but I'm not to sure what to make of it. So if you guys could just tell me which color wire to match with my connecter's I'd greatly appreciate it. My new radio connector has the following...

SINGLE WIRES:
Power +
Ground -
Auto Antenna Electric Ground
Panel Light
Car Battery + 12 volts

DOUBLED WIRES:
Rear Left Speaker
Rear Right Speaker
Front Left Speaker
Front Right Speaker

[jcommin]

Check out Clark's garage.

FAQ's 924/944/968 Stereo

Check out Pelican Technical article: 944 Stereo System Update Cassette to CD

Each article will tell you exactly which wire is which. I have an 83 Porsche and unfortunately the left side speakers (F & R) and right side speakers (F & R) are wired together creating a 2 channel system rather than 4. To make things worse, the wires are brown. There is no good way of separating them short of rewiring the speaker system. So...... I left it alone. The car is small, I have a nice Blaupunkt system and my hearing sucks (just ask my wife).

Good luck.

[mr. dude]

Thanks for the reply, I've actually read through those a couple times and they still leave me foggy about a few things. This is the info that I've gathered from it. Is this correct? Also what am I missing? Thanks.

SINGLE WIRES:
Power + (large red wire)
Ground - (large brown wire)
Auto Antenna Electric Ground (small whitish wire)
Panel Light (?)
Car Battery + 12 volts (small red wire)

DOUBLED WIRES:
Rear Left Speaker (?)
Rear Right Speaker (?)
Front Left Speaker (?)
Front Right Speaker (?)

in the procedure for the speakers it states two black right and two white left wires but which goes to front or to back?

[onZedge]

What model is the "new" radio.

[flash968]

i don't know if it's the same on all models, but the 968 is wired counterintuitively - on the speaker wires, stripe is negative

this is important, because you want the speakers in phase for full range and accurate sound

[mr. dude]

Here is the stereo I bought... http://www.zibeta.com/servlet/Detail?no=2

it's a cheap off-brand one.

[jcommin]

Left front - white
right front - black
left rear - yellow
right rear - red

Typically there is a six pin connector:

Brown - Common color in Europe for ground
Large Red - 12V
Small whitish wire operates the antenna
A large red wire sharing a large white connector - 12V ignition

Now your radio should have come with an adapter. The trick is to match the radio wire with the car wires.

Before you cut, clip anything: mark the wires / take pictures.

[Eldorado]

Originally posted by flash968
i don't know if it's the same on all models, but the 968 is wired counterintuitively - on the speaker wires, stripe is negative

this is important, because you want the speakers in phase for full range and accurate sound

in all my work with electronics, stripe is always negative...

[mr. dude]

Cool, I think I'm gonna go to RKST and see if they can make me up and adapter... lol.

[Eldorado]

all i did when i installed a new headunit was, before removing the old unit, play some music... and snip one of the speaker wires... find out what one went out... then splice it back together, and snip another wire... when i found the other wire that made that speaker go out, I had my pair. crimped on some spade connectors, and voila... made my own adapter.

[shikzachaser]

I converted the system in mine to a discrete 4 channel plus subwoofers. All you have to do to seperate the common grounds for the front and rear is disconnect them from the fader in the console. Take a 9 volt battery and touch it to the + and - wires for each speaker. You will hear a popping noise when you are on the right wire.



Blaupunkt 4 channel CD fits in the stock hole



Right side woofer



left side woofer



Bass comes through the carpet great w/o the speakers being seen



New Polk 4X6 coaxs in the stock door holes and 6X8 Polk coaxes in the back / side locations



Sony amp under the passenger seat (shimmed up 3/4" to clear the tracks)

Total system cost under $900 including the 8ga power wire and power distribution block by the battery. It sounds great forr a 944 and the car looks relatively stock.

Steve

[shikzachaser]

This still sounds better than any stereo I have ever heard

[mr. dude]

Wow.. nice setup shikzachaser!

[shikzachaser]

Thanks, I like this old car.

Steve

[Eldorado]

you dont still have that MAF in there do you steve?

[shikzachaser]

It's sitting in the garage. I have to try and get it up and running w/ it again. I had issues w/ a starting problem after the car was warmed up.
I have an AFM on it now.

Steve

[mr. dude]

I managed to figure it out and the radio is working good. Thanks for all of your help everybody!