OK - I currently have the CDR 210 in my 99 996.

Went and bought an Alpine HU 9852 on Rennlisters recos. Also bought the Metra harness and Ipod cable, remote, etc.

I went and soldered up the wiring harness to the Alpine harness and everything looked great until I pulled my Becker out and discovered the connector plug for the amp won't work directly with the Metra harness.

I think I can get it to work, but the Alpine unit only has one pre-out connector. The amp has 2 (front & back) inputs on the connector. Can I:

- combine the front & back inputs for the 1 set of outputs from the HU? I lose the ability to fade front to back.

- or can I (I think I know the answer to this) take the 4 positive speaker leads from the HU and connect them directly to the amp inputs.

Thanks for your help. Oh - now that I've put the Becker back in, it won't work. I put in the code and it just keeps flashing. Quiet drive in to work this morning as a result.

 

Are you sure you do not R/L outputs for the pre-amp on your HU it shows your model does. Not sure what a Metra cable does exactly. I loved the sound of the Alpine but it did need to be hooked up in concert with there amp just a thought.

 

I have right/left, just not front and back.

 

If you replaced the head unit, I would replace the amp. I had the Hi-Fi option in my '99 and it sucked. I just replaced it all with an Alpine HU that powers the dash and rear fill speakers, and an Alpine amp that powers the door speakers and 2 JL Audio 6" subs.

 

Are they for pre -amp out from the HU?

 

Yes they're pre out from the HU.

 

You could wire to pre-amp out ... right = front and left = back, give it a listen and swap or not for best sound.

 

Good idea - may do that in the interim. I've just ordered a line out converter that I can take speaker outs from HU and convert into pre out for the amp.
Thanks for the help.

 

OK -got around to putting in the line out converter and the system now sounds incredibly - until I turn the car on. Then I get a horrible buzzing.

Any ideas?

 

Ground fault buzz/whine is a bitch in these cars. You need to do a google search on how to trouble shoot it. There is a good step by step guide out there. You can try this link http://www.termpro.com/articles/noise.html for a start. I think there may even be a step by step on Rennlist or Renntech that shows how to find where the source of the noise is. In my case, I had the power line too close to the passive crossovers. Moved things around and got rid of the noise. Good luck cause it'll drive you nuts until you find the problem. But don't resort to a filter as it is merely a band-aid for the problem.