walks

First off - you guys rule. I cannot count the times I've come here with a question and found the answer within 5 or 10 minutes. Between this forum and Pelican, I feel like I'm rapidly becoming an expert (Until the next problem crops up, anyway...).
Here's the deal - My car, an early '83, had a mid 90's Radio Shack deck in it with a detachable faceplate. The install was fine; It sounded ok, I guess, and the console mounted fader still worked. I'm a huge stickler for authenticity, though, and looking at the stereo drove me nuts. My build code tells me that it originally came with a Monterey, and eventually I'll find one in the same awesome condition as the car, but until then I decided to install a brand-new, old-stock Blaupunkt CR-2010 I found on Ebay. (I've seen several '83's with this particular head unit. I would guess that it's a dealer add for the cars that arrived in the US with a "radio delete".
Anyway, installed it. Looks great. Sounds like you-know-what: Very low volume, and super staticy. Almost like the speakers are shorting. I must've done something wrong, right?
Here's the catch: I simply cut the harness off the old Optimus, and wired it to the Blaupunkt using the wiring diagram on the top of the Optimus. (The Blaupunkt doesn't have a harness. The wires are bare on one end and plug directly into the head unit on the other. It's only 7.5 watts a channel, but that's enough for clear listenable sound.) What do you guys think?
(Ultimately, the goal is to have a stealth system in the car - Hidden amp and speakers with a portable SiriusXM unit - I still want the stock unit to be more than a hole filler, you know?)




What I have now

marc abrams

The OEM radios had a common ground for front/rear speakers so following the radio shack wiring may not work. Here a wiring diagram for stock radio.

walks

Thank you, Marc!
Turns out that it was wired for two speakers, not four. When I used the Radio Shack schematic, I wired for four, assuming that's what the previous installer did. Common ground was part of it.
Got it up and running now. Still sounds like a 35 year old sound system, but at least I can hear it.
Thanks again.

R