radio install help

hey all neewbie here,

well i'm trying to install a radio in my 93 ford probe, the old one is out and the new one ready to go in, the trouble lies with the speaker hook up.

well the old radio seems to have a separate square type plug for the speakers that connects to the back of the stock radio, i could'nt find a harness connector for it, so i soldered all the tips of the speaker wires from the new radio's harness to connect them directly into the square plug which connects 8 prongs from the stock radio (i figured 2 prongs per speaker) but i get no sound from any of the four speakers when doing this.

i did try all the sets of wires from the new radios harness to a good known speaker and it worked fine.

any ideas and help would be greatly appreciated.

sorry for all lower case, but i'm a one fingered typist.

well the old radio seems to have a separate square type plug for the speakers that connects to the back of the stock radio, i could'nt find a harness connector for it, so i soldered all the tips of the speaker wires from the new radio's harness to connect them directly into the square plug which connects 8 prongs from the stock radio (i figured 2 prongs per speaker) but i get no sound from any of the four speakers when doing this.

Here's what I had to do...

I bought some speaker wire (14 guage should be the highest quality you'd need to go. 16-18 guage will do the trick and WILL make your speakers perform better. Stock wires are 22 gauge, and you can hear a difference between 16g and 22g wires) and rerouted and rewired all of my component speakers. Doing this required removing pannels etc. Therefore, if you plan on upgrading speakers, now is also a good time to buy them and do it all at once. Anyways, after I hooked up all my speakers to the new wire, I then ran that wire directly to the back of my new Head Unit. I've had no problems in doing mine. You can goto radioshack and find connector tips so you can avoid soldering, all you have to do is strip the wires and clamp the ends onto the connectors. That will also help you have a better/stronger connection. alot more hassle free and not too expensive. You should only need 2 connector packets at most, and they normally run at $1.69 per pack (at least here in NC at radioshack they do...) Anyways, :2cents:

*WARNING*
naughty: THE CONTENT BELOW IS SORTA OFF-TOPIC :naughty:

Head Unit: Pioneer DEH-P5500MP
Front Component: Pioneer TS-G670M
Rear Component: Pioneer TS-A6870R
Amp: Pioneer GM-7100M
Subs: Pioneer TS-W250R

Yes, I am a Pioneer freak. I've got 2 10" 1kW Peak subs (500w peak each) in the back being split on the 800w Peak amp. The Head Unit is 50w MOSFET, the 4-way 6.5" components are 220w Peak (50w RMS) and rear components are the 3-way 6x8 220w Peak (50w RMS) Components. I would have gotten the 4-way 6x8 but there really isn't a need for 8 tweeters.... >_> The front components generally could use another set of tweeters, hence I purchased the 4-way for the front components. Overall, I'm pushing 1000w peak and 700w RMS. Its a killer system right now... I'm thinking about gettin a small 4 channel amp for the components though (of course Pioneer :evillol: ). Not exactly THE SUPREME sound system, but for what its worth right now, it'll impress the ladies :grinyes: (sorry, had to brag :cool:)

The whole system (excluding the Q-logic dual 10" sub encloser) retails at around $1,000. I purchased mine all for $550. There are some killer deals out there for Pioneer. I suggest checking out online warehouses and of course, Wal-mart. Just thought I'd through this out here for those also looking at upgrading speakers...

thanks for the info Ghostcloak,

actually i'm installing a pioneer deh-670mp and after talking to a best buy installer last night, he seems to think there is a factory amp in the car that if the right amperage is not at the speaker harness it shuts itself down.

so i will have to hook it up old school routing wires from each speaker to the radios harness like you mentioned.

thanks again!

yeah there is a factory amp in all the models with a tape deck or cd player stock it tends to be a weak point in the system. that was one of the first things i did on my system

thanks for the info Ghostcloak,

actually i'm installing a pioneer deh-670mp and after talking to a best buy installer last night, he seems to think there is a factory amp in the car that if the right amperage is not at the speaker harness it shuts itself down.

so i will have to hook it up old school routing wires from each speaker to the radios harness like you mentioned.

thanks again!


Yeah, I forgot to mention... If you have an equalizer (on 2nd gen probes, not sure about the 1st gen), then you have the special (or sport) audio package. and the car has a small amp behind the right pannel next to the rear passenger seat (its actually next to the rear pannel speaker component). You could go through all the trouble of disconnecting each speaker from it, but its a serious pain, much easier just to rewire them all. But if you do have the amp, that's a plus. I had 50 MOSFET for my new Pioneer HU and the stock speakers held fine (I wouldn't go above 80% volume on the HU though just cause I use to be a gamble-holic, and I'm still poor if that says anything...) But your speakers are fine, they shouldn't blow. Glad to be of service :iceslolan