Radio Hack

Afternoon All,

After reading dozens of threads on replacing the standard radio I thought there must be a way of bypassing the amplifier fitted to my 2004 HSE and read through the RAVE manual.

Attached are my findings, revision 1 which work, how you achieve it is a different story as I basically jumpered the inputs and outputs on the amp connector C0491 under passenger seat for my pioneer bluetooth head unit.

The drawing shows input/output pairs but as yet not +/- for true hifi buffs as I only listen to audiobooks.

The only initial problem I had was in the photo attached, it was using the phone, as this seems to be routed to the front speakers and I had connected rear speakers, discovered this by using fade/balance settings.

Hope this helps as it is non destructive and can be reverted back to original on selling.

John

Interested to know why you did this ?

I simply installed my Blaupunkt bluetooth head unit and utilised the existing wiring (at line level output) to drive the system.

I tried that but power from LR head unit not present on pioneer...did'nt power up.

Is yours Hi line with Amp and CD changer ?

I did try an Alpine unit which worked as you described but i put that down as already having been powered via ignition when l tried, as l just unplugged and replugged before buying a replacement.

John

All you need to power your unit is +12v switched, +12v constant and earth/ground.

They are all presented in the plug to the LR units. You might need a converter loom.

ebt

Thanks EBT,

Happy about all that, done many head unit changes over the years.

On the back of the original LR head unit are 3 additional connectors blue, green and yellow.

Blue is C0983 going to CD changer pins 18, 19 and 20
Green is C0922 with a single Pink going to Module ICE spliced at SJ8 and on to CD interchanger.

Just tried it straight through again so something along the line is not powering AMP hence the need to bypass it.

As asked previously do you have an AMP/CD changer as it makes a difference.

This information is for others with an HSE or Freelander with so called "Hi line" Harmon Kardon kit, if yours works then you can just disregard it and count yourself lucky

Cheers

John

Hi, sorry, I had the Becker Sat/Nav/Harmon Kardon installation which was a straight conversion

Surely they must have just picked up/created a switched +12v supply from their head unit and passed it through one of the spare connections either in the power connector (ie not the speaker connector) or one of the other 3 ? (One must be for the steering wheel remote though ?)

ebt

I had my Becker head unit removed and replaced with a Kenwood BT DAB head unit. They used a conversion loom and I also got the steering wheel controls working using a lead from www.incartec.co.uk.

Bump

I have a '98 K1.8 FL1. It arrived without a head unit. I'm planning on adding a blue tooth capable unit before Christmas.

Can anyone tell me what wattage the original LR speakers can handle? A lot of the head units I've been looking at seem to put out 50w - will the LR speakers cope with that max' output?

No problems. The 50w rating given by head manufacturers is peak to peak not RMS and you will not have any issues.

Am I right in thinking the Becker head unit is the single din unit with the hk system and sat nav?

I have swapped a few head units and installed a sub or 2, nothing fancy. The volume button has stopped working on our radio and although we can still use the steering wheel control, I have always wanted an aux port and quite liked the idea of Bluetooth phone.
I would like to replace the head unit with something that is more capable but do not want to loose the function of the steering wheel controls (which before has just been a new connector) but most importantly i don't want to loose the sub or amp or 6cd changer.

If I get a new head unit, with the correct leads, will everything work as it should?

Sorry if this has been covered. I have read too much and my brain is struggling tonight

Yes the Becker is a single DIN unit.

Providing you know what was fitted originally you can get the relevant leads.
Best place I have found is www.incartec.co.uk