speaker wiring for Sony stereo

[brad360]

I've been attempting to fit a new Sony GT250S stereo. I have power and lights, but no sound.

In the troubleshooting list under "no sound" it suggests "The position of the fader control "FAD" is not set for a 2-speaker system." Or maybe it could be "the ATT function is activated" (whatever that is)

Does anyone know how do you set it for a 2 speaker system?

I tried turning the fader fully in both directions.

It has power and seeks and finds stations.

The original radio was a turn-the-knob style, 1986 360GLT. It only had three wires for the two speakers, so I connected the two striped wires, one each, to two striped wires on the new radio. Two plain wires from the new radio were both connected to one plain wire. Does each speaker need a seperate -ve wire? I don't see why.

There are two pairs of unused wires from the new radio, for non-exsitant rear speakers.

Anyone have any ideas?

[brad360]

Is there some home-brew way to solve this fascia problem?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Volvo-stereo-fasc ... dZViewItem

[Chris_C]

Mk3 300's can take a din stereo with a lil bit of filing to the orig facia, and I reckon look better than the autoleads adaptor. As for the sound, I'd check your wiring first, check which channels you've connected the speakers too. Also make sure you are running 2 wires per speaker, don't run one wire and ground to the chassis!

[petefarrell360]

With regards to the fascia, don't forget it's an Australian car, which I don't think they ever got the Mk3 style heater controls and stereo spacing, I could be wrong, but they tend to mostly be the earlier style. So in which case they normally had a larger Volvo radio fitted, meaning you'll need an adapter fascia. I don't think it's worth trying to make something that's secure and well fitting, those fascias aren't the prettiest things, but they work.
Pete

[Chris_C]

Yeah, they are mostly mk2's, but I know at least crusin' volvo has a mk3 over there

If needs be, I'll swap a facia for a mk3 snowflake air con button

[brad360]

I think the 2 wires per speaker is the problem, I most certainly am not doing that, hopefully have not damaged anything.

The original radio only had three speaker wires.

Can I unscrew the speakers, cut the wires, join on new wire, and pull it through to the radio? Or must I open up the dash more to get to the wires?

Or will that single wire diverge into two if I pull it a bit?

Where is a good place to find a permanent +ve so the station memory stays on? My car has had a switch fitted where the ashtray was, to turn the radio on when the car is off, maybe i'll just leave that on and remember to turn the radio off.

I think mine is Mk 3, newer style than the 84/85 model.

[Chris_C]

If you pull the radio out (I'm not sure how Sony's come out, but it'll be in the manual (which even if you don't have will be on the net somewhere). Once thats out, you should see about 6 inches from the connector to the stereo, will be another connector, a white sqaure one, about an inch per side. (this may have been cut off...) Basically, you should see on the car side, the sony has been connected to a green, black/red strip and a brown, as well as 2 pairs of grey/blacks. The brown is earth, and out of the green and black/red stripe, one is a permanent 12V, the other should come one with the ignition. The 2 pairs of grey blacks are your speaker wires.

Run these grey and blacks directly to each speaker, and job should be a good'un.

When you say you only have 3 wires going to the speakers, do you mean you share on wire between both speakers?

All the wires you need should be there, good luck hunting! Give a shout if things have been so hacked you can't suss it out, someone will be able to!

(Simple way to tell if you have a mk3 (as I think you only got mk2/3's over there) is look at your front bumper, if it has the indicator repeaters, its a mk3, if the repeaters are in the wing, it's a mk2)

[brad360]

yes, it just has three wires for the speakers, the original Volvo radio. it seems the newer Sony doesn't like it. The sony is new out of the box, I have the instructions.

My front bumper is like the red 300 at the top of this page, so are my wheels. is that series 3?

[redline]

a bit basic but this is what you should be aiming for,



I usually run the permanent live back to the battery with an in line fuse

[brad360]

Thanks for that.

Fig 10.31 in the Haynes manual shows the old turn-the-knob tadio having three speaker terminals at the rear, two -ve speaker wires sharing one terminal.

My car just has three wires for the speakers, the original speaker wires behind the radio are: blue, blue with white stripe and white with blue stripe. I had assumed the striped ones were +ve and had connected both new radio -ve wires to the plain blue wire. I pulled the plain blue wire out as far as I could but can't see it split into two to go to two speakers, so maybe it is not the -ve as I had assumed.

Could it be one of the striped wires is the -ve?

Can the two speakers share a common -ve wire on the new radio, or won't it like it for some reason?

I'll have another play with it this weekend.

Can i damage the radio by this trial-and-error approach?

I definitely have the power supply OK, but I might short out a speaker connection.....

[redline]

I think tbh , you might as well run new better quality speaker wires to the front speakers direct from the head unit ( remember the original speaker wires are at least 15 years old).

The only pita is getting them through the door.

I cant remember if the speaker wires are joined into the loom with the central locking wires or if they are run seperately ,

If they are seperate you could remove the speakers , connect the new wires to the old and use the old wires to pull the new ones through from inside the cabin.

you could cheat and find where the wires FROM the speaker come out under the dash just inside the cabin and connect new wire from there to the head unit but remember the more connections you have there is more chance of problems and sound distortion.


what ever you decide , good luck , you would be very unlucky if you damaged the head unit as long as its only the speaker wires you are playing with

[SteveP]

I'm still using the original speaker wire in the doors and my speakers are amped 50w by an external amp Sounds fine though, but I would've ideally fed new speaker wire through - the original stuff is very thin!