information and tips taken from all users contributing to "Stock Amp is 4 channels!" thanks abssorb, Spark, ppro, and DanielNTX

I did this mod and love it! This is definitely the way to go in order to get cleaner sound and the ability to modify frequency, and gain from the front speakers/tweeters vs. the rear subwoofers.

I have an SRT6 with infinity without navigation.

I replaced my factory head unit with a Kenwood KIVBT901 that has bluetooth with microphone and pandora, with back up camera option. It has i-pod, 1/8 AUX jack, USB, 3 sets or RCA's front, rear, and sub, with a built in equalizer that lets me adjust the front and sub frequency and gain separately.

I read through the various threads of this mod and they were very helpful. However, there is one document/picture that is absolutely critical (what pin # slots correlate to which location on the actual plug). The diagrams in the other threads show which pin is which wire from the head unit and from that you can decide if you want to use the factory wire loom for the front or the rear since they are wired together as a single wire at the head unit. I chose to cut the rear input pin wires # 3, 8, 8, 9,& 10 at the amp and ran new wire up to the new head unit converting them to a set of RCA's to plug into the pre-amp outputs for sub. Then from the factory wire loom plug behind the head unit I converted the front door speaker wires to RCAs as well to run into the new head unit's front pre-amp outputs. This lets you adjust the front door speakers independent of the sub woofers (rear)

Things to point out;

1. the VW wiring harness adapter carried by BestBuy has to have the yellow and red wire swapped (continuous power vs. acc key ignition power).
2. the blue amp power up/turn on wire needs to be installed.
3. RCA's center pin and corresponding internal center wire is the positive and the external wire and ring are negative.
4. The amp turn on wire in blue with a dark green stripe and is located in power amplifier A plug pin position 5 (see my picture of where to install it in the VW/Best Buy head unit wire harness adapter plug).


speaker polarity and location according to pin # (thanks ppro);

AMP pin 6 - Right Door speaker input (-)
AMP pin 7 - Right Door speaker input (+)
AMP pin 10 - Right Sub input (+)
AMP pin 9 - Right Sub input (-)
AMP pin 1 - Left Door input (+)
AMP pin 2 - Left Door input (-)
AMP pin 8 - Left Sub input (+)
AMP pin 3 - Left Sub input (-)


Factory wire loom with amplifier power on wire (in center)
IMG_1717.jpg




VW/Best Buy aftermarket head unit wiring harness adapter for stock wire loom(note yellow wire is on the bottom in the center).
IMG_1718.jpg



Yellow wire is on the bottom in the center and red is on the side (need to be swapped)
IMG_1719.jpg




Swapped red and yellow wires, red now on the bottom in the center (to correspond with the crossifre configuration tested with power tester), and
Installed amplifier power on wire (this is the only position that the new adapter is missing a wire compared to the factory wire loom) Extra wires can be removed from the new adapter that are for the rear left and right positive and negative channels (4 wires total), didn't install the power antenna wire.
IMG_1727.jpg




Cut and split an RCA cable, inside wire +, outside wire is -. Red plug is for right channel and white/black plug is for left channel
IMG_1729.jpg




Sample harness layout with only 1 set of RCA's
IMG_1731.jpg





amplifier plug
IMG_1732.jpg




amplifier plug diagram with corresponding pin locations for orrientation (this was the critical one for me that was missing from previous posts)
amplifierconnectorpindiagram.jpg




duplicated diagram from previous posts showing which pin from the amplifier goes to which high level speaker input from head unit.
detailedamplifierdiagram.gif



This is a duplicated diagram from previous posts showing the entire system wired up as a schematic only missing the amplifier power on wire (pin 5 on the amp).

AlpineintoCrossfireexample.jpg

 

I did this with mine as well except I went from my RCA plugs all the way down to the amp plug to use all 4 channels of RCAs from my deck to the amp instead of using the factory wiring like it appears you have done. Just a slightly different way of achieving the same thing though. Well worth the time to do this. I now have a headphone jack input and Sirius satellite radio. If I bought the tuner I could have HD radio and an iPod dock as well.

 

I didn't run 2 sets of wires since the factory wiring harness had one set routed already. I do have both sets of RCA's (although not pictured above), using the factory wiring harness for the front and running new wire for the rear.

Unfortunately my son blew the passanger rear subwoofer last night after this mod.......



Here is a diagram of the wires that I cut at the amp and ran new wire to the RCA's at the head unit for the rear/sub
amplifierconnectorpindiagramcorrected.jpg



These are three of the four wires I used for the new wire which are the rear/sub pin inputs
IMG_1734.jpg


Here is a previously posted pic of the amp pulled down under the carpet on the passanger side floor board
stockamplifier.jpg


Here is another previously posted diagram schematic of the factory head unit and amp
radioandamplifierschematicdiagram.jpg

 

I'm planning on going with the same head unit very soon. Do you have a camera yet? I'm trying to decide on what camera and where to mount.

I installed an older Kenwood, but decided to wait till I get the new one for this mod. BTW, I picked up a reverse wire harness (would allow you to install the OEM headunit in another car). I'm going to cut the rear channel wires from the amp and bring them up to the factory connector, then use 4 pins/wires out of the reverse harness for the factory harness, since the adapter I'm using already has front/rear RCA connectors. Hope that makes sense.

Thanks for the post. I've been meaning to look up which wire is + in the RCA connector.

 

No I don't have the camera, the 10 dsc changer, or the HD radio module yet. I do like the quality of the included mic for hands free bluetooth calling. Very clear and has three settings to adjust it (gain, echo control, and some other adjustment).

It has one rear USB and two 1/8" AUX jacks one for AUX and one for i-pod. It also has LT and RT audio i-pod output with 1 video i-pod output (haven't read up on this feature yet).

It is easy to figure out and has a lot of settings for fine tuning the audio with x-overs and equalizers.

It is just black and looks out of place on a silver console..... Yep, your wiring set up makes perfect sense, wish I could have got that harness instead.

Since one of the subs is blown now I ordered some Kicker CVT654 to replace them.

 

Any chance you could post some pix of it installed? Maybe one showing the dash lights? I've been thinking about painting the silver inside gloss black anyway, but then I'd want to get the black MB switches. I already want to switch all the interior lighting from green to blue, but just have bigger projects than to get that deep in my daily driver...

 

Any more updates on the head unit? I'm thinking about springing for one of these this week. Thinking about getting it from amazon.com.

 

I keep forgetting to take a picture of the head unit. I m happy with the bluetooth feature although as most headunits connects a little slower than I'd like. There is no 1/8" AUX adapter facing the front and the USB is also on the rear of the head unit so I have loose cables that I have to tuck into the netting on the passanger side foot well. The FM radio doesn't have a button to press that automatically goes to a preset station like 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 etc. It searches for stations every time by pressing the search forward or serach back button, or as usual, I still haven't read the manual and you can but I just haven't figured it out yet. No problems to report so far though.

 

That all sounds good to me. I don't like plugs on the front side. My current Kenwood has rear USB cable, and I too have it tucked into the passenger footwell net. I plan on eventually routing the new one to one of the storage compartments. I will eventually get satellite radio, and will probably never listen to FM. I haven't really listened to FM since 2003, before I got my first Sirius receiver. I was reading last night that it will display text msg's, which I was not aware of. That's a big plus for me, since I don't call much anymore. This way if I get a text, and read and call them back without taking my phone out of the console.

BTW, does the green match the dash pretty good, and where did you get your headunit?

thanks...

 

yes, it actually has a crazy detailed set up on the exact color within any color spectrum, I was surprised by this.

 

Which unit are we talking about here?

 

Kenwood KIVBT901

 

Well, I finally got around to ordering... Can't wait to get it installed. Gonna start looking for cameras. Figure I'll get he head unit installed, and the amp wiring all worked out, then go after a camera, and get it wired up. Really leaning toward the ones that bolt in with the license plate, but just can't decide.

 

How different is the wiring for the infinity system with nav? I got a wiring harness from crutchfield and I only have sound going to my tweeters.

 

If you look at post 3 with the diagram.. the tweeters piggy back off the door speaker.. I can't see how they would work by themselves.

 

I will definitely be doing this mod... Hopefully this weekend. I just got my KIV-BT901 installed last night, and so far love it. I was a little bummed when I went to bed last night, because I couldn't find any random for MP3's and there's no attenuator. Well, stumbled on the random while driving in this morning. So, feeling much better. An ATT button on the unit would have been nice, but can hit the power button if needed. Remotes are just junk drawer/glove box jewelry for me. I need to hurry and get a back up camera and Sirius receiver now.

BTW, the radio presets are pretty easy to get to. Kinda stumbled on that too. While listening to a station you want to keep, hit MENU, PRESETS, select the desired number and just hold in on the ****. I like this better than my previous Kenwood, because there are more presets, and it actually lists the station frequency rather than "PRESET 1" etc. You can also change it so that hitting the search button will either SEEK or go to the next preset.

My only issue is that I can't get it to snap into themounting sleeve. I had the same problem with the previous Kenwood. I haven't even tried to figure out why, or search to see if others have had the same issue. Not a big problem.

Oh, I mounted the microphone at the top inside of the driver's A-pillar trim. This worked great, till I forgot and flipped the visor down this morning... My original thought was to drill a hole and mount just microphone end sticking out of the center of the map light cover. Will need to find another cover though to practice on.

 

I intend to do this head unit too. Mostly for the backup camera feature. Sure would be interested to know what camera you guys install and how it works.

 

I'm going to try a cheap 2 hole license plate mount from amazon. Figure if I don't like it, I'm not our a lot of money and can try something else. Plus that gives me two quick easy mounting positions.

 

Finally, got around to doing this. Everything went well. Put the pins from the other harness in the factory harness, and soldered everything up. I used the yellow butt crimps to cap off the the unused wires from the headunit.

Sounds even better now. Just need to replace the blown driver's door speaker.

 

is there a hardness available now that doesnt require any modification to work?