Adding amp to factory system.. Which plug and wires?

[mantic6t9]

I though i had this all figured out and i did but i had it figured out for the HK system which i don't have. I have a 95 m3 non HK.

What i want to do is splice in a set of RCA cables into the radio connector. This will give me a signal directly from the head unit. My problem is that i don't know what plug or wires. Do i want to splice into the rear speakers or the fronts? If you can help please do.

Here are pics of the plugs i have.




And does anyone have a clue what this is?

[BrianW]

it looks like a termination (?) block if you ask me, not really sure, cant tell much from the pic :-/

as for the wiring, here i hope this helps (sorry for the large size and just ignore my drawing i got there, :P



dtm wouldnt let me add it to my photo gallary so i had to upload it offsite

Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 8388608 bytes exhausted at (null):0 (tried to allocate 3504 bytes) in /usr/local/www/www.dtmpower.net/ppost2/image-inc.php on line 28

Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 8388608 bytes exhausted at (null):0 (tried to allocate 11 bytes) in Unknown on line 0

[raceyBMW]

That connector is prewire for the cd changer option, I think. Just follow that diagram from the bentley manual, it shows exactly what everything is.

[mantic6t9]

Thanks everyone I figured it out. I installed everything last week and it works great. The only problem i have is that bass causes my cd changer to skip.

[///MT]

Back from the dead. heh.
anyways, Mantic, did you use the stock headunit? What exactly did you add/change?
My sister just bought an amp and 2x10"s for my car (she drives it while i'm away at college) and i'm looking for a bit of guidance on how to install them before i go in and try to figure it out myself. If you have any pictures/tips/advice/tutorials/resources/whatever on your install, could you please post it? thanks!

///MT

[mantic6t9]

Yeah man i used the stock head unit and spliced into the reciever wires. It works fine and was very easy to do. I used the diagram posted above and soldered in the corresponding wires.

[///MT]

i'm getting the old red x's

[mantic6t9]

sorry i wasn't in this thread anyway. I searched and found it though. Here is the link http://www.unofficialbmw.com/e36/ste...-pinouts-a.gif .

That matched my car correctly. If you have an HK system the wires are different. What year is her car?

[///MT]

okay. i had that diagram. um, so did you run RCA cables from the headunit to the trunk? Did you tap into the "radio connector" or "amp connector" harness? You just had 2 wires coming out of the connector at the rear woofer pins?

I actually don't know if it is the "HK" system, but it is the "premium" 11 speaker system. I'm pretty sure that harness is correct though.

The car is a 1994 325is ("M-Technic")

Thanks.

///MT

[mantic6t9]

I spliced into the radio harness in the trunk. I ran RCA cables from there to my amp.

[///MT]

cool. thanks. i'm going to go poke around this evening and might be back with more questions later

[mantic6t9]

Sounds good.

[///MT]

did you install any sort of crossover network? I found the harness I think I need (coming straight from the headunit) and can tap into the left and right rear signal, but i dont know if that will somehow adversely effect the sound to the stock speakers...

///MT

[mantic6t9]

It's should be fine. I removed my left rear speaker in an attempt to get more bass into the cabin. I still have my right rear and it sounds fine.

[///MT]

yay! it works. thanks Mantic for the tips
now i just need to buy a sub or two and build the enclosure.

///MT