Installing new radio

[Cbitz233]

My old blaupunkt radio in my 83 Avanti only had 5 wires. Orange, 2 thick black cables, and a red and yellow. Didn't want to go somewhere to have them install. Anyone have any information on the wiring?

[Gunslinger]

I would just follow the wires to find the hot and ground.  The antenna cable should be obvious.  As long as you know the hot and ground you can hook up your new radio according to its wiring instructions.

if you have an automatic power antenna, one wire should be for it.  Go to the antenna's power lead and see what color it is...it should be the same as the lead coming from the radio.

[studegary]

If it has remote speakers, there would be wires for them.

[Avanti83]

Generally speaking wire colors (yellow, orange and red) denote power wires in wiring harnesses from those years. If you have a 12v tester or VOM meter test each circuit. There should be a wire that has power with the ignition off to supply the radios memory so it can recall stations, etc.

There should also be one that comes on with the ignition to power the radio. The power antenna usually works off the radio IIRC so it should have no power.

Speaker wires were usually blues, greens, grays with the speaker ground wires the same color with a contrasting color or black, Again IIRC.

I have an 83 Blaupunkt  radio in a box somewhere and I think it has the manual with it. I'll look later and if I find it, I'll comment further.

From Bob's site if it will help http://www.studebaker-info.org/Tech/Diagrams/AEC/aec.html

Edited October 13, 2018 by Avanti83

[Gunslinger]

Speaker wires for a stereo are usually paired and color coded for right and left and so they can be wired in phase.  If not in phase there can be a significant degradation of the sound quality.

[Cbitz233]

My speaker wires I think are tied into the red and yellow wires that were in the radio. Also theres a ground that connect to the old radio that my new radio doesnt have a spot for. I'm probably just better off taking to a professional. Don't know to much of what I'm doing when it comes to this. 

[WayneC]

How about some background...

  Why are you wanting to change out the Blaupunkt?

  If your Blaupunkt doesn't work, have you considered having it repaired? Blaupunkts are considered excellent radios.

  Did you test the wires (in the harness that connects to the radio) to see which supply 12v to the radio (switched and unswitched, respectiively) as suggested by Avanti83? 

  Does your car have multiple speakers? Where are they? Did you look to see what color wires are connected at the speaker(s)?

  Is your antenna controlled by the radio, or by a manual switch?

BTW, the ground wire that connected to the Blaupunkt could just be connected to the mounting screw/bolt that will support the rear of the radio case (the replacement radio probably assumes you are installing in a car with a metal dash, in which case the mounting screw(s) and knob posts would ground the radio case to the car)

If you are not comfortable with simple testing of wires with a multimeter for 12v or for ground continuity, and you don't have a friend that can show you how, or you don't feel comfortable with online tutorials on how to do it, then by all means let a pro do the job. There are numerous tutorials on Youtube:

 

Edited October 16, 2018 by WayneC

[Cbitz233]

I have 2 speakers in front close to the door, and 2 in the back. They all have red and white wires with a grey insulator tube around them. They all run into the back of a connector, the connector has brown wires coming out. And a green wire, the green wire has a red wire that connects to my radio. There's a yellow wire that is by itself. Connects to the radio. I connected the red and yellow wires to my new radio, and got power. Hooked up my phone to play music and nothing goes to my speakers. When the sun comes out I'll snap some pictures. 

Edited October 16, 2018 by Cbitz233

[Cbitz233]

I want to put my radio in because I've decided to resto mod my Avanti. And I want to have updated gauges and a nice updated radio and speakers. I already have new speakers. I'm starting to think, is it possible I can power my radio and just run new wiring from the speaker wires on the new radio to my speakers. And just bypass the old wiring? 

Edited October 16, 2018 by Cbitz233

[WayneC]

If you didn't have the speakers connected to the new radio, why would you expect to hear anything when you hooked up your phone to play music?

Is the new radio (and the old radio, for that matter) a single unit or does it have a separate amplifier unit?

Does the new radio have provisions for 2 wires to each speaker (8 speaker wires)? Did your old radio also have provisions for 2 wires to each speaker? Sure, bypassing the old wires by running new wires is OK, but certainly more difficult than just using the old speaker wires. Do the new speaker wires appear to be a significantly heavier gauge than the old ones (meant perhaps to carry more amperage)?  If you are tearing the interior out as part of your restomod, then running new speaker wires would not be as difficult.

Hard to visualize your old wiring from your description, but the four existing speakers must connect into the back of your current radio, and by disconnecting the plug from your old radio and using a multimeter to test continuity from the old harness plug to the end of each speaker wire (wires disconnected from the speakers), it should be easy to determine which wire goes to which speaker; in fact, my guess is that you may get speaker buzz if you leave the speaker wires connected and use a multimeter to test the continuity of speaker wires from the radio plug end only, thus making it obvious which speaker is connected to the wire pair being tested.

Pictures of the existing plug(s) and the back of the radio would be helpful... Hard to understand your description ("they all have red and white wires"???... is that two separate colored wires, one red and one white, or are they white wires with a red stripe? Where do the "brown wires coming out" go to (I assume they must plug into your old radio somehow). "green wire has a red wire that connects to my radio"... what does THAT mean ?????

[Cbitz233]

I figured something out. I got power to the my new stereo and cut the connector to the old stereo and ran new wire from each speaker. Was a little bit of a pain but once I can find a way to mount it, it will all be worth the trouble. Sorry for my terrible explaining. I have really bad ADHD and memory loss from a bad car accident 3 years ago. Also, I wasn't expecting to hear anything. I think my grandfather had someone fix or replace the radio a long time ago and they chopped up some of the wiring and it was a utter mess. 

Edited October 17, 2018 by Cbitz233