Radio

Hello
I have an L reg 850 GLT with a std Volvo radio. Looking to replace it with a new tuner + single CD. Got a couple of questions, if anyone can answer them I would really grateful.

The current set up has the two dash speakers driven direct from the radio and the main door speakers driven of the external amp in the dash. The radio is connected to the amp by a round DIN plug. The two dash speakers are connected along with power etc via a square plug in the back of the unit.

Spoke to Halfords and they could only supply an adapter kit that had square plugs and only had connections for 4 speakers. They denied all knowledge of a Volvo with an external amp, and then went on to try and persuade me that it had been modified. I don’t think it has because the layout matches the one detailed in the Haynes manual that I have, although the wiring colours are different.
Would I be right in thinking that I need to by a new radio that has a pre-amp output that will go to the amp for the door speakers and a standard output that can go to the dash speakers?
If so does anyone have any advice on a good cheap unit + possible source? and where would I get all the necessary plugs etc to connect up to the existing wiring.

Also does anyone know why my wiring colours don't match the manual.

Thanks in advance

Chris

Talk to the guys at ICS in Leicester (www.mcd-direct.co.uk) they seem to be decent people and they know their stuff.

ASAIK Volvo have used external amps on their stereos for quite some time.. However I don't doubt that a good quality HU will be able to drive the door speakers without the use of the Volvo amp (as the amp is matched to the HU I would think that using this amp with a diff HU would not give the best results - but ask the experts).

As for wiring colours - this seems to be a Volvo thing. I have fotted rear speakers to my V40 and found their were wires already in place for the rear speakers. However these were not the same colour as the speaker wires in the loom behind the stereo - I had to check with my firendly Volvo dealer that the wires in the rear were indeed for the speakers, and not something else...

Stu

I fitted a Minidisc HU to my '93 850. The Sony unit is ISO but Volvo's connections are different. I bought a lead to convert the existing wiring into ISO. However, as you point out, there IS an amp there too. I can't remember exactly what I did but recall an empty connector on the converter lead. I think I just unplugged the speakers from the amp and connected to the lead thus bypassing the amp.

Sorry I can't be more specific. It was a year ago now that I fitted my new stereo. I'm not sure if my front dash speakers work but I do have sound front and rear and it sounds better than when I had my OEM head unit in so I'm not complaining.

Andy

Hi I am just a bit muddled here as to why the dash tweeters are powered straight from the head unit but the door speakers are powered from an external amp.First question is were is the cross-over ie the part that only allows high frquences to the tweeter and the lower ones to the door speaker.As in earlier advice i would simply bypass the seperate amp altogether and use the new head unit to power all speakers as most new headunits give at least 50watts per channel this is more than enough to drive the standard volvo speakers.Get the adapter loom from halfords,a new head unit i recomend sony or pioneer and a few crimps or conn block to bypass the extra amp and your away.

There is actually no crossover governing these speakers!
The midrange in the doors get the full frequency range and the tweeters (if you could call the that) in the dash have an in-line capacitor soldered in at the lug to filter only the higher freqencies through.
In my 96 850 when I removed the radio to locate the amp, I found that the cable goes from the back of the radio to the amp then the speaker wires run back past the back of the radio (right at the bottom) and are terminated in the same type of plug as the speaker side of the 'Volvo to ISO' loom!
So I unplugged it and plugged it into the loom and hey presto! it all worked, no cutting cables and crimping etc, all the speakers worked off the head unit!!!!
for the loom try www.autoleads.co.uk and search for Volvo under the product section!!!!

Yep, that sounds more or less like what I did with my stereo.

Hi everyone
Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. Thanks for all advice, had a quick look under the dash and I can see all the connectors on the amp etc. Just got to save up the money for the unit.
Watch this space!!!!!


Thanks again