Tapping into speaker wires in a hifi car
09-03-2004, 07:58 PM
#1
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Tapping into speaker wires in a hifi car
I've had it with the low volume of the Nokia amp, so I'm about to install a new system into my 95 C4 cab. I have a new Alpine head unit and have the preamp outs running to the trunk where I am going to install a new amp (not enough room under the passenger seat for the amp I have on hand. So, I have to tap the speakers at the Nokia amp and run speaker wire to the trunk.
Has anyone done this, and do you know where the speaker wires live under the passenger seat, or whether I need to butcher the Nokia connector to get at them? I'm not even going to bother with the rears (it's a cab) but I am putting Focal components in the doors.
Thanks,
Vic
95 C4 cab
Has anyone done this, and do you know where the speaker wires live under the passenger seat, or whether I need to butcher the Nokia connector to get at them? I'm not even going to bother with the rears (it's a cab) but I am putting Focal components in the doors.
Thanks,
Vic
95 C4 cab
Last edited by vjd3; 09-05-2004 at 05:48 PM.
09-05-2004, 05:43 PM
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After getting wrist deep into it today, successfully, I'll answer my own question in case someone later is searching the archives.
The factory hifi setup is wired in a pretty wonky way ... the harness from the radio runs under the seat, where it plugs into the front of the Nokia amp. You don't have to remove the seat to get at the harness, which makes it pretty easy to do (I mounted my new amp in the trunk because it was too big to fit under the seat without relocating components, which I didn't want to do). The harness connector has two rows -- upper and lower. The upper row contains the speaker wires. However, the crossover for the three-way speakers is handled in the amp itself, so you have six pairs of speaker wires exiting the connector and running to the tweeter, midrange and woofer on each side.
It doesn't really matter which ones you tap into, as your new speaker wire from your amp will be full-range and you just need to get that signal to the doors. I chose the first two pairs on the connector (violet and brown/violet, green and brown/green) which wound up being the pairs that feed the woofers on both sides.
I used a pair of Focal Polyglass two-way components with crossovers.
Once you remove door the pockets and take off the big-*** hifi speaker enclosures, you can clip the two wires you need from the connector plug and there's enough slack to wire it directly to the Focal crossover. You then pop the tweeter off the door, which is easy, loosen the door handle to get a little slack on the panel and thread the tweeter wire down behind the panel and to the crossover. Wire the woofer the same way, and you're done. After you mount the woofer on the door panel, you just replace the doorpocket, and the hi-fi panel covers your new woofer and retains a stock appearance.
FWIW, I used a 75-watt two-channel amp to power my front speakers, abandoned the 4" round rears in my cab because I don't think they're worth a s--- anyway (in a coupe I would have ran the rears off the head unit). I replaced my stock Alpine with a new Alpine which will interface and charge my iPod when the new Alpine iPod interface ($100) comes out in a few weeks. I also parked an Infinity Basslink 200-watt servo-powered sub in one of my rear seats, it fits quite nicely there. Big improvement over stock, and buying everything (new) on Ebay, I got in for about $800 ($245 for the headunit, $175 for the Basslink and $225 for the Focals, $110 for the amp plus two $15 8-gauge wiring kits).
I ran 8-gauge power to the amp in the trunk and to the rear seat for the Basslink. I grounded the amp to the groundpoint just above the battery; the Basslink is grounded to the ground point by the Nokia amp. I ran stereo RCA cables from the sub to the headunit, and from the headunit to the amp. Two pairs of speaker wire run from under the passenger seat to the amp in the trunk, and two turn-on wires go from the headunit to the sub and amp respectively.
The new Alpine head unit slid perfectly into the space for the old one, no hassles trying to wedge it in or bend connectors. Another advantage for the 95 cars that came with the Alpines ... the wiring harness and cage for the old head unit are identical to the ones for the new units ... literally a 5-minute job to do the swap. The head unit will tilt to improve visibility in sunlight -- nice feature, particularly for a cab, and the tilt is not obstructed by the foglight switch, lighter and so on.
Of course, it's not the same as having a high-end CD deck, McIntosh tube amps, custom subs and Dynamatting the whole car. But, it's got crisp highs, deep bass that doesn't thump, and to this musician's ears, its a reasonable compromise for the money.
By the way, the midrange speakers on both hifi modules had their surrounds completely disintegrated, possibly a reason why it sounds so bad, but probably not the only reason.
Hope that's helpful to someone ... happy to answer questions.
Vic
95 C4 cab
The factory hifi setup is wired in a pretty wonky way ... the harness from the radio runs under the seat, where it plugs into the front of the Nokia amp. You don't have to remove the seat to get at the harness, which makes it pretty easy to do (I mounted my new amp in the trunk because it was too big to fit under the seat without relocating components, which I didn't want to do). The harness connector has two rows -- upper and lower. The upper row contains the speaker wires. However, the crossover for the three-way speakers is handled in the amp itself, so you have six pairs of speaker wires exiting the connector and running to the tweeter, midrange and woofer on each side.
It doesn't really matter which ones you tap into, as your new speaker wire from your amp will be full-range and you just need to get that signal to the doors. I chose the first two pairs on the connector (violet and brown/violet, green and brown/green) which wound up being the pairs that feed the woofers on both sides.
I used a pair of Focal Polyglass two-way components with crossovers.
Once you remove door the pockets and take off the big-*** hifi speaker enclosures, you can clip the two wires you need from the connector plug and there's enough slack to wire it directly to the Focal crossover. You then pop the tweeter off the door, which is easy, loosen the door handle to get a little slack on the panel and thread the tweeter wire down behind the panel and to the crossover. Wire the woofer the same way, and you're done. After you mount the woofer on the door panel, you just replace the doorpocket, and the hi-fi panel covers your new woofer and retains a stock appearance.
FWIW, I used a 75-watt two-channel amp to power my front speakers, abandoned the 4" round rears in my cab because I don't think they're worth a s--- anyway (in a coupe I would have ran the rears off the head unit). I replaced my stock Alpine with a new Alpine which will interface and charge my iPod when the new Alpine iPod interface ($100) comes out in a few weeks. I also parked an Infinity Basslink 200-watt servo-powered sub in one of my rear seats, it fits quite nicely there. Big improvement over stock, and buying everything (new) on Ebay, I got in for about $800 ($245 for the headunit, $175 for the Basslink and $225 for the Focals, $110 for the amp plus two $15 8-gauge wiring kits).
I ran 8-gauge power to the amp in the trunk and to the rear seat for the Basslink. I grounded the amp to the groundpoint just above the battery; the Basslink is grounded to the ground point by the Nokia amp. I ran stereo RCA cables from the sub to the headunit, and from the headunit to the amp. Two pairs of speaker wire run from under the passenger seat to the amp in the trunk, and two turn-on wires go from the headunit to the sub and amp respectively.
The new Alpine head unit slid perfectly into the space for the old one, no hassles trying to wedge it in or bend connectors. Another advantage for the 95 cars that came with the Alpines ... the wiring harness and cage for the old head unit are identical to the ones for the new units ... literally a 5-minute job to do the swap. The head unit will tilt to improve visibility in sunlight -- nice feature, particularly for a cab, and the tilt is not obstructed by the foglight switch, lighter and so on.
Of course, it's not the same as having a high-end CD deck, McIntosh tube amps, custom subs and Dynamatting the whole car. But, it's got crisp highs, deep bass that doesn't thump, and to this musician's ears, its a reasonable compromise for the money.
By the way, the midrange speakers on both hifi modules had their surrounds completely disintegrated, possibly a reason why it sounds so bad, but probably not the only reason.
Hope that's helpful to someone ... happy to answer questions.
Vic
95 C4 cab
09-06-2004, 10:31 AM
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Lee, I'll try to take a picture this afternoon. For now, it's just sitting there ... it fits pretty snugly and isn't rattling or sliding around. It's almost exactly the shape and size of the rear seat. I can't see an elegant way to bolt it down but I haven't looked that hard yet. For what it's worth, I had this same Basslink installed briefly in my 95 C2 coupe, which was totalled in a head-on collision at 45 mph, and the Basslink just wandered forward a little bit ;-)
It would be very cool to fashion some sort of quick-release connector harness for it so it can be removed easily; right now it has power, ground, RCAs and a turn-on lead wired to it. I just keep a black Porsche sweatshirt in the car and toss it over the Basslink when I park the car.
Vic
95 C4 cab
It would be very cool to fashion some sort of quick-release connector harness for it so it can be removed easily; right now it has power, ground, RCAs and a turn-on lead wired to it. I just keep a black Porsche sweatshirt in the car and toss it over the Basslink when I park the car.
Vic
95 C4 cab
