I have a 95 c4 with the hifi option, porsche cr-1 (alpine?) head unit, the amp under the seat and the changer in the trunk. After spending a bit of time searching and reading the archives I have a question about plugging a new head into the existing amp and speakers.

I just ordered a new alpine cda-9857 from Crutchfield. They sent along a plug that has the A and B connectors which are the power and non-amplified speaker connections. The 10 blade C connector is the one that runs to the amp.

I don't want to get too involved with this change. Just looking to wire up the new receiver to the old amp and speakers and hold off on the next steps.

Has anyone done this? Crutchfield has been closed for the holiday so I haven't been able to ask them if they have a connector for the A and C plugs instead of the A and B one.

 

I'd wait and call Crutchfield. A big upside to the adaptor plugs is the ability to easily reverse the install and keep the factory wiring intact. Let us know how it works out. Good luck.

 

Spoke with Brian at Crutchfield this morning.

He looked up the details they had, and it sounds like I need to splice into the cables by the amp. He said that the amp needs to be bypassed but the amp's power would be used.

And yes, I was thinking ahead to replacing original configuration for the stereo if I ever decide to sell the car.

Someone else suggested speaking with Rod Birch of caraudioinnovations.com to see if he has any conversion cables. Going to give that a try.

Does anyone have an alpine cr-1 gathering dust? I think if I took the male 10 pin header attached to RCA plugs that I could use the cda-9857 pre-amp outputs and plug into the existing harness.

 

Not sure if this will help, but I've been planning to do the same thing (replace head unit only) on my '95 C2 w/ hi-fi option. Poking around with the stock head unit connectors, I found the following.

The round connector (DIN?) goes to the CD changer, NOT to the similar-looking round connector on the amp.

Of the two rectangular connectors, the one with 4 wires is for power and - I think - AM antenna.

The other rectangular conntector - it has 6 wires, three of which appear to be red - is for the 4 preamp outputs, common ground and +12V signal to tell the amp under the seat to turn on. This is the connector that goes to the round plug on the front of the amp under the seat.

There is one unused connector coming out of the amp, which I assume must be speaker outputs (not used w/ hi-fi as everything goes thru the amp).

And lastly, there's the antenna connector.

I hope this helps.

 

I have a pdf of the audio wiring page from the factory shop manual. If you need it, drop me a pm and I'll e-mail it to you.

 

On the top of the alpine cr-1 is a wiring diagram for the A, B, and C connectors. Plus it shows the din plug for the cd changer and the security wire.

A is an 8 pin connector with the key at the top by pin 2. 1-3 unused, 4 battery, 5 remote/auto antenna, 6 unused, 7 ignition, 8 ground

B is an 8 pin connector with the key at the center between pin 1 and 2. 1 RR+, 2 RR-, 3 RF+, 4 RF-, 5 LF+, 6 LF-, 7 LR+, 8 LR-.

C is a 10 pin connector with the key at the bottom by pin 1. 1-4 unused, 5 audio ground, 6 for amp?, 7 FR out, 8 RR out, 9 FL out, 10 RL out.



http://www.grouchy.us/95c4_amp_wiring.html has a picture of connector C.

 

with my 968 I had a similar set up. I had an alpine 9835 which is the most recent with the v-drive 200w amp (loud and amazing!) the 968 had the factory hifi option with the nokia speakers and amps, like the 993. I bypassed the factory amp and used the amp in the head unit, however retaining the factory speakers and crossover.
the system was so amazing! the guy at my stereo shop was amazed. he told me that the only components that could compare would be a set of $1500 MB Quart components for clarity. added a small subwoofer, and was done. the factory hifi speakers and crossover dosent live up to it's potential until mated with a great head unit.

 

Well, after some fun and pointless searching for the 10 pin connector I ended up improvising. Gathered up some solder type rca plugs, some 20 gauge stranded wire, heat shrink tubing in a few different diameters, solder, iron, forceps, fans, bright lights, heat gun, dremel tool with cutoff wheel, and wire ties.

Applied the cutoff wheel to the 8 pin speaker connector that Crutchfield supplied. Cut off the lock end and used the far six pins to match up to the six coming from the 10 pin hifi connector. Took the speaker leads from those and soldered them to the positive end of the rca plugs. Snipped off four sections of wire, about 3" long and soldered to the ground on the rca plugs. Took the common ground, wrapped all four negative leads from the rca plugs to it and soldered. Heat shrink and tie wraps to cover solder points and bundle up excess wire.

Proceeded to hook up other harness wires from the power connector to the alpine harness. Once it was all in place took it out to the garage and plugged in. Worked fine.

Feeding the cables was fun. I ended up pulling out the handkerchief compartment (too small for gloves, you can kid yourself all you want) and tucking wires out of the way.
I also had to shave the top lip of the plastic grill cover because the head was rubbing and would not open reliably.

Sounds good, original harness is still in place and can be used to replace the stock configuration if I ever sell.

I meant to take pictures along the way but that plan was defeated by low camera batteries.