Upgrading the stereo

[SCOTMCDOT]

Afternoon all,

I am going to get a new stereo for the Rocco however before i do so i just need to know where do i put the pink wire to raise the ariel. If i put it on the live wire it will be up all the time. I need to connect it to something that only becomes live when i turn on the stereo.

Any ideas?

EDIT

Also does anyone recommend a cheap-ish stereo?

[roccodave]

there should be a blue cable on the headunit wiring plug connect it to that it is the remote trigger and will only get power with the headunit turned on

if you want cheap and aren't concerned about great sound get 2nd hand or the cheaper jvc ones halfords do are reasonable

[SCOTMCDOT]

Have only just come back to this to fit the stereo as off down to London in it tomorrow and would not mind some choons to listen to on the way.

Thanks for that hint Roccodave. Have taken note.

However i have connected everything up (i think) but it will not switch on.

Have tried earthing it to the bodywork in case the earth was dodgy, but to no avail. Have tried switching both the red and yellow wires, but again nothing.

Please please please can someone take a look at it so that i do not go insane on the way down sarf.

[the edmundator]

Unless you've done something clever and want the head unit to only come on with the ignition, the thing to do is connect both the yellow and red wires from the head unit to the main power feed. On most modern stereos there is a free cable that allows you to join the yellow and red cables to each other without having to do any butchery of the wires.

With that set-up you'll have to manually turn the stereo on and off, but it will work fine, and also keep the memory of radio stations etc.

That grey/blue cable from the car's loom is something I've never used before - I usually leave it disconnected.

I'm not sure what your in-line fuse is doing, but shouldn't it be in-between the live feed and the head-unit?

I can't remember which way the wires are coded from the car, but I seem to recall it's not that logical. For the moment I would start simply and try to identify the live feed and earth wires. Live feed to yellow/red on the stereo and earth to earth (black). If you've done that and got the power going, then I'd start worrying about electric aerials and things afterwards.

[SCOTMCDOT]

Edmundator, you are THE MAAAAAN!

For some reason my inline fuse was connected to something else. Not sure why, i just took the old stereo out and it was like that so i did not mess. As soon as i connected that up to the live the thing switched on.

When i connected the speakers though the bloody sound quality was awful. Will try rewiring the speakers in the morning when it is light, and maybe put some more speakers in as i have some new ones knocking about.

There are only 4 wires (one for each speaker i guess) and 8 on the stereo. Is there a particular way of setting these up for optimum quality. Sorry if i sound like a thicky but i really do not have the hang of stereos.

When i got my first car i was fitting the stereo and was trying to find a live to connect it to (it was a 1974 car, it had never had a stereo before) and out of all the wires i could pick, i chose the indicators so that the stereo would only work when i was going round corners.

[the edmundator]

You'll need 8 wires if you're wiring up 4 speakers (+ and - for each speaker). The original VW system isn't very intuitive and some colours are replicated. I'd check what you have attached to the rear speakers and see if you can find the other end behind the dash somewhere... or else trace them all the way back to the front of the car. Take out the front speakers and have a look what's connected to them as well.

I've had several cars where bizarre combinations of wires have been cobbled together, but individual pairs for each speaker is the only way to get decent sound quality and allow you to use the L-R balance and F-R fader settings on your stereo properly.

[SCOTMCDOT]

To be fair i reckon that as long as i get +/- right it should not matter. It looks like at some point someone has amalgamated the wires into one (hence i have 4). Can split and have 8. If i do them in any order it will not matter as i will never want front/rear left/right etc. Just have them on at the same time and all will be loud.

Incidentally, when i got the stereo working it ejected the 'Halloucinogen -Twisted' CD i had thought i had got stolen a year ago. Result.

[ianaudia4]

What a mare! Having fitted one or two stereos to all my VW's and Audi's over the last 25 years, I may be able to help.

Firstly the grey and blue cable in the car's loom is for illumination, modern stereos have their own lighting, so tape the end up and tuck out the way.
Connect the red and yellow cables together with the red on the car's loom, this will give perm live and will save your preset stations.

For the electric aeriel you should have a blue cable which is the switch, this needs to be connected to the blue cable off the stereo. The red cable off the aeriel needs to be to a perm live, and lastly the black cable on the aeriel is an earth.

The speaker cables are generally green and green/black, purple and purple/black, white and white/black and grey and grey/black.
What I do is get the stereo working and the aeriel lead fitted, then set the fader and balance control to one side front or rear and then try the cables on the loom until the correct speaker is working,then do that until they all correspond to the correct setting. Not too difficult but worth spending some time on doing a good solid job.

Bin the scotch locks as well, they are pants.

[SCOTMCDOT]

Ta for the help. Is in, but not brilliantly, but working. At least i have sound for the journey. Will set it up properly when i get back tomorrow so that the stereo a) fits in properly and b) sounds right.

This is the furthest i have driven the Rocco, so will be fun. Going to go down the A1 as its a bit more interesting than the M1, but trying to remember where the speed camera are is a pain when you dont drive down it too often anymore.