Not to sound dumb but..., (radio install electronic question) Options

[stateofidleness]

hey guys, im wanting to get the radio working in my car... when i bought it, it had an old mazda cd player "installed", and by installed, I mean "placed in the dash hole and not hooked up to anything" lol...

it DOES have the antenna cable run and connects fine, but i dont know exactly how to wire it for power and everything...

is there a walkthrough for this or can someone give me a quick and dirty howto?

for you guys with newer cd players and "systems" (read newer speakers and possibly a sub and amp), how do you have it wired and what all was involved in the installation process?

Thanks for the help!

[Dave_Darling]

You need to figure out what the wires that plug into the stereo are supposed to do. They'll be color coded, but it may not be obvious which wires do what. Hopefully you can figure out where the stereo came from and check the wiring diagram for that car.

There are some things that are pretty common, though. A source of "constant" power, a source of "switched" power, and a ground. Two leads for each speaker (though some have one for each speaker and a single common ground for the speakers). If an external amp or a power antenna is controlled, there will be power wires for those.

But you need to figure out which colors they are--and for that you'll need some kind of diagram. If you're lucky, there will be one on the stereo chassis. Proably not, though, if it's an OEM one from a car. But at least you can dig up the wiring diagram for that car...

--DD