jmrjames

I clipped this image out of the wiring diagram.

My connector and original wiring are gone.

jeff spahn

I really can't agree. The stock stereo "system" as a whole is so lacking in dynamic range. There is no low end at all on the factory system compared to what you can do. I am not talking about pounding your teeth out with glass breaking bass but when you listen to something in a well built, balanced system and then go into our sharks, they are positively dismal.

10 speakers to not make it better. They just don't produce the whole range.

A small subwoofer can help round it out but when you go the full monty and dynamat your car and put in real speakers and a quality signal source and amp(s) they sound is so drastically improved it will amaze you.

Jim Chambers

Some of us want OE stock, some want modified improved. Some of us are audiophiles, some are not.

mjr, your diagram is a bit different than mine. I need to look at both '90 and '91 and see the change. I have no idea what "antenna extension wire" is.

EDIT

Hmmm. The '91 diagram, which shows "radio and cd-player" is far more like what I have than the '90 diagram I have been using.
On my car the 2.5 red, 2.5 brown and 1.0 red are combined in a harness limb wrapped in friction tape. They are head power, head ground and power to turn on the amp. I think the 2.5 red is powered by the ignition and the 1.0 red is powered when head is turned on. In other words, the large red is hot to the radio, the small red takes power from the radio to the amp. I believe the numbers are wire gauge, 2.5 being thicker than 1.0. The .05 brown/yellow pair, if you have them, are anti-theft. The white 1.0 which connects to black powers the antenna and also needs to get power from the radio when it is turned on.

jmrjames

I wish that I can be of more help but there is nothing original left. The system has been modified several times by cutting away the old.

I do not believe that the numbers refer to gauge because a 2.5 gauge would like a thick battery cable. The smaller the number the thicker the wire.

I can tell you that there is a constant power (Yellow in most radios). A power hot when ignition is on (Red mostly). A ground (brown in Porsche). An amp power turn on (Blue mostly)

jmrjames

I wish I knew what the stock system sounded like in my 91. I believe that someone removed their improvement before the sale to the owner before me because of the age. I don't have a clue how anyone would have enjoyed it because there was a head and 6 speakers. All the tweeters were gone along with the amp and crossovers. The only original speakers were two 4" in the rear and the cones were no longer attached to the frames. I was more interested in the other sounds the car made when I tested it out. Dumb me for that.

Had the original system remained and functioned I maybe just re-foaming the wasted speakers. I am trying to install a new system that I hope reflects today's technology including two real 6.5" subwoofers.

jmrjames

I went and checked the black wire wrapped in tape to the antenna cable before it disappeared without seeing a white wire attached to it. The end sticking out is quite a sight. The black wire is wire nutted to a light blue wire. The light blue wire enters a connector where a dark blue wire emerges from the entry point. The dark blue wire then is spliced to another dark blue wire under the tape. None of this was connected to anything when I started. Sherlock Holmes may know what this means.

Jim Chambers

Remove the wire nut and discard the blue "remains". Don't worry about the white wire. In the OE configuration it is only about 8 inches long and connects directly to the black wire. You will need switched 12 v to the black wire to power the antenna. That may have been the purpose of the blue wires.

Rob Edwards

Here's a shot of the factory connector that runs from the head unit to the amplifier and antenna. Ignore the left half of the connector, that's an adapter plug made up by Stefan to power my CDR-220. I think this is your white wire, coming out of the 6 pin connector and running over into the bundle to the antenna at right. (I arbitrarily numbered the connections, no idea what the proper convention should be)



Another view:



And while I'm posting pictures, here's my reverse engineering of the line outs on the factory 8-pin DIN connector. This is based on the adapter Stefan made, I did NOT verify each of these at the amp end of the connection. And the pin # assignment is based on some pic I found online, not sure whether it's the official numbering convention for an 8 pin DIN connector:



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SQLGuy

Metric wires are often measured in square millimeters of cross-section. 2.5 may be 2.5mm2, which is typical 16A household wiring in Europe... pretty close to 12 gauge.

SQLGuy

I think you mean either low-end or bandwidth. Dynamic range is actually the difference in intensity betwen the noise floor (ambient and/or electronic) and the loudest reproducible sound. Dynamic range is always quite low in cars compared to home systems, because cars are such noisy environments.

Jim Chambers

Rob's connector (white end) is the same as mine. The white wire leading away from the connector goes to the black antenna power lead. The other brown/green is anti theft. The other 3 (thin red, thicker brown and red) should be there in a harness. Those are the three you need to power the head (two thick ones) and ignite the amp (thinner red).

I wish I could figure out the loop of white connecting to the white to antenna. It must have some purpose.

Jim Chambers

I have power at my antenna. However, at this point I can only tune one FM station. It must be the strongest in the area. Seach will not find any others. However, car is in the garage so probably need to get it outside and try. Fearing that my booster is bad since there is no appreciable difference in the reception on that one station when I disconnect the power to the antenna.

jmrjames

My new head unit has a blue wire that has power with the radio on to turn on the speaker amp. Will it be OK to have this blue wire power the antenna booster as well ?

What is the "illumination" wire for ?

Thank you for the knowledge !!

Jim Chambers

I would do it that way. Others may know if there is any problem using the same source to both turn on the amp and power the antenna.

SQLGuy

External lighting input from the dimmer for the instruments, so that the head unit will dim together with the pod.