General Radio and speaker

[tobywood13]

Hi all, I’m trying to get my radio working and am planning to replace it with a modern unit. Currently it has a cheap Goodman head unit from the ‘90s which isn’t great. The radio doesn’t pick up any stations, as the antenna is unplugged. Haven’t managed to locate the cable connection for that yet either. The speaker works, but there’s only static. I’ll try a CD later today probably.

I’ll need new speakers as it only has one unboxed 6x9 lying in the dashboard hammock area! I’m thinking of buying two 10cm speakers and the pods which go at either end of that hammock.

My research has lead me to believe there should be only three or four wires behind the radio. The back of the current radio is a mess of wires, and I have no idea what I’m looking at. What do I need to do here to convert it to a modern ISO type radio? (Blaupunkt Hamburg SQM 23 DAB most likely). Thanks!

 

[the green vanper]

Hello,

I think the most problematic will be installing the antennae that is capable of capturing DAB signal.

For the old installation, you need +12V, ground and 2 cables for the speaker + the antennae cable that probably fell down the center console. So yes, 4 wires seem correct. I assume the 3 separate cables are:
red: +12V
orange: +12V
black: ground.

One of the +12V should be permanent, the other one could be ignition +12V. There is a possibility that the black plastic box contains switchable plugs for the non black cables. Can you post a photo of the inside?

You can forget the old speaker cables. You only need to keep the +12V and ground. Personally I'd also forget them, too as they are 30 years old. Then put new cables for the speakers (2 per speaker). Plus the new antennae. Depending of what you want, you can have the permanent +12V available all the time or only when the key is turned into the ignition position.

You have to check the pinout of the new radio (usually there's a sticker on the unit or the documentation provided) and put new cables into the correct places in the plug which plugs into the new radio. There is a possibility the radio and setup will need additionnal wiring (double/triple antennae, extra speakers, handsfree microphone, reverse camera, GPS, etc).

 

[tobywood13]

Hello,

I think the most problematic will be installing the antennae that is capable of capturing DAB signal.

For the old installation, you need +12V, ground and 2 cables for the speaker + the antennae cable that probably fell down the center console. So yes, 4 wires seem correct. I assume the 3 separate cables are:
red: +12V
orange: +12V
black: ground.

One of the +12V should be permanent, the other one could be ignition +12V. There is a possibility that the black plastic box contains switchable plugs for the non black cables. Can you post a photo of the inside?

You can forget the old speaker cables. You only need to keep the +12V and ground. Personally I'd also forget them, too as they are 30 years old. Then put new cables for the speakers (2 per speaker). Plus the new antennae. Depending of what you want, you can have the permanent +12V available all the time or only when the key is turned into the ignition position.

You have to check the pinout of the new radio (usually there's a sticker on the unit or the documentation provided) and put new cables into the correct places in the plug which plugs into the new radio. There is a possibility the radio and setup will need additionnal wiring (double/triple antennae, extra speakers, handsfree microphone, reverse camera, GPS, etc).

I don't really need DAB and all the other modern features, I mainly like the Blaupunkt unit for its period look and Bluetooth connectivity.

So the four cables going into the black box make sense, but what is the big bundle on the right? Could they just be unused cables coming from the head unit?

I'll have another poke around back there later today, and will post an update with my findings. I'll try to locate the antenna cable, and will get a photo of the inside of the black box. Thanks for your help so far!

 

[tobywood13]

Located the original wires, I think. Two red/grey, two black, one yellow. Not sure why there’s two of the (presumably) live and earths?

Everything else is redundant speaker wiring, all can be removed.
Inside the black box are some fuses, this also will be removed with a new head unit.
Found the radio antenna cable, still not picking up a signal. Either the head unit or antenna needs replacing probably.

My plan is to remove all this extra wiring, strip it all out completely and start from scratch working with the original wires.
There’s also one more black wire that runs up under the steering column, but I can’t quite see what that’s for. It looks like it’s been added at some point. I thought it could be for an ignition switched live, but this doesn't work on the current radio. It can be turned on with the keys out of the ignition.

 

[the green vanper]

The black box seems to be a radio signal amplifier, that's why the coaxial cable is connected to it (it can be seen on the IMG_5551 photo). On the other end it should be then connected to the antennae socket in the radio unit. This looms is to be understood as the antennae cable.

The other loom (the one with multiple cables) is the other loom that contains power + signal (audio) cables. I would not bother understanding what is what in a 30 years old car. If you want to replace one speaker with two of them, you will need to add new cables eaither way, so I would do it properly from start to finish. And put new cables, it will be easier. The only problem is to find the radio fuse in the fusebox. There should be something in the owners' manual.

 

[rmjbn1]

One slightly left-field suggestion, if you don't need the radio you could fit a 12v Bluetooth stereo amplifier instead.

I only listen to music, I put one of these in my old car. I like the fact there's only one dial for on/off and volume, but I don't know if it's still available