95 Radio Upgrade

[cstruc]

I am looking at putting my stereo in the 95 LeSabre I just bought but was wondering if there is a stock amp installed in the car? I like the look of the stock radio but would like RCA jacks to install my amp and sub.

In addition has anyone ever tried modifying the radio to disable the tape deck and wire in a lead for an MP3 player? I don't get the clearest sound quality from a tape deck adapter so I was thinking of some possibilities to solve the problem.

[Smith1000]

Haven't tried to wire in a lead for a MP3, but I have a cd changer in the trunk that is connected through the antenna wire. It is RF modulated. I also have satellite radio, which is RF modulated. They both seem to work fairly well, although the satellite radio could be better.

I am fairly certain there isn't a stock amp, but there might be jacks for one-not sure on that.

[spinne1]

I've wired in mp3 jacks into all my 92 Lesabre radios. The easiest way:

Open radio and then find wires running between cassette portion and main unit. There may be several. Take a small car speaker and hook the negative to any negative in the radio (or the body of the radio.) Hook the positive to a tiny pin of some type (with a jumper wire.) You need to probe tiny connections to see which sends audio to the speaker. It won't be very loud but you should be able to tell the difference. Find the two wires. Try to surmise by their position which is left and which is right. Now, you will permanently disable the cassette by cutting one of the wires and striping back the insulation on the end going TO the main unit. The end coming from the cassette deck is not used. Next, get any two ended 1/8 male audio wire and cut off one end leaving at least three feet. Splice the wires back about an inch or so and solder the white to the left wire inside the radio (or the red to the right.) Repeat with the other wire. The reason to only cut one at a time is because it will become confusing which is right and which is left if you cut both at the same time.

The harder way:

Do the above except get a small gauge 5-wire bundle wire from a store and solder the five wires as follows:

1. To cassette left (the cut end coming FROM the main unit.)
2. To cassette right
3. To main unit amp left (the cut end going TO the main unit.)
4. To main unit amp right
5. Solder to any black ground wire inside radio.

The other ends go to a Radio Shack connector (http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...ductId=2103452). You solder the 3 and 4 wires to the left and right posts that will come from the audio jack whether a plug is inserted or not. (The tip of a 1/8 plug is left, the middle is right, and the bottom is ground.) The other two non-ground ones go to the left and right that are only active when a plug is NOT inserted.

You then cut a hole JUST big enough to put the center of the jack through it. The best location is on the fake wood panel near a recess in the black panel behind it and to the left of the heat/ac controls (5-6 inches to the left???). The jack comes with a screw holder to hold the jack to whatever hole you put it through.

It is a pretty tough job due to the tiny wires and tiny posts you are soldering to. TEST it before putting it completely back together.

The only advantage to number two above is that you preserve the use of the cassette deck. For number one, you snake the wire under your dash and run it to the area of the cigarette lighter where presumably your ipod will sit in a holder of some kind. Note that when charging you'll get audio noise with my method. It is truly a rigging after all. If you use number one get a black audio tape and "play" it whenever you want mp3 audio. The audio quality is amazing. I wouldn't live without it.