stock radios

entirelyturbo · Post by **entirelyturbo** » Thu May 08, 2003 9:16 pm

I think I got it: Basically you need a wiring harness that has a plug to fit the new stereo, and the other end needs to fit the stock wiring in the dash.

I might do this later on, and when I do, I will take my head unit out, take the wiring harness to my friend, and tell him to put a plug on the stereo end that fits the stereo I'm going to show him.

I'm going to sound like a stupid customer: Does a CD player from, say, a new Legacy or Baja, etc. etc., fit? (Not WRX 6-disc changer, ciper can tell us that fits).

mgjs1 · Post by **mgjs1** » Sun May 11, 2003 11:06 pm

OK, I have the harnesses and I am about to "adapt" them. At the stereo place I got them from, they noticed one white/yellow wire coming from the harness that they did not recognize. For that reason they were hesitant to do the adaptor themselves (liability?). Anyway, does anyone know what this white/yellow "extra", "unkown" wire is?

I am about to go check NASIOC for wiring pin-outs, but if anyone knows I would be much appreciateful (new word).

Also note ... others doing this may need to buy an antenna extender (I did) to reach up from the driver side "pedal area"... my changer did not come with one, and the old stereo has an 18" lead coming out of it to reach down there...

Again, I am about to go check NASIOC for wiring pin-outs, but if anyone knows ...

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Sun May 11, 2003 11:08 pm

Which pin on which connector does the mystery wire connect to?

Post by **Legacy777** » Sun May 11, 2003 11:28 pm

not sure if this will help or not.......

http://www.main.experiencetherave.com:8 ... iodiag.jpg

mgjs1 · Post by **mgjs1** » Mon May 12, 2003 3:45 am

Thanks for the help. I did the adapter and it is working fine... almost.

I went to Circuit City and they pointed out that the "yellow/white" wire matched up with the orange wire on the old harness, making it the dimmer wire. I believe them, but now that I have it installed, the only problem I have is that the "dimming" function appears to be reversed!

That is... when headlights off (day) the green backlight is ON, and when the headlights are on (night), the green backlight is OFF. I am pretty sure this is going to be a problem... and I think this is the dimming function of my old stereo (which made the green LED dimmer when headlights were on)...

Otherwise, changer/tape/AMFMradio are all working great.
What is the deal? Any ideas?

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Mon May 12, 2003 3:49 am

Look at this thread for dimming info: viewtopic.php?t=873

Post by **Legacy777** » Mon May 12, 2003 3:49 am

the dimmer wire should have a 12v constant on it when parking lights are turned on. Or at least that's how the stock legacy stereo system is setup.

If the WRX radio is backwards, you will need a relay that is rigged up where it is a reversed type setup.

mgjs1 · Post by **mgjs1** » Mon May 12, 2003 3:58 am

So, am I gonna have to build one of those little circuits to invert the function? Another thing that seems above my pay grade.

At least that explains what is going on though, thanks! It is amazing the problems that have come up and already been figgered out.

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Mon May 12, 2003 4:17 am

If you don't need continuous dimming (i.e. you just need it to either be on or off), you can do something much simpler. Josh's suggestion involving a relay is one way.

Wait -- this shouldn't be this way. The WRX stereo interfaces to the dash illumination the exact same way as ours. There are 2 dimming wires. I think your problem may just be that your aftermarket harnesses are doing something weird with the wires. Do they bring out both? Most just bring out the positive illumination wire. If that happens you may need to add a wire for the negative illumination line.

Do your harnesses have both the orange and the white/yellow wires?

mgjs1 · Post by **mgjs1** » Mon May 12, 2003 4:40 am

Well, I don't have time to take the stereo out again tonight, but here is what is happening after my little test ride around my neighborhood.

With the HL off, the backlight is BRIGHT green.
With the HL (or parking lights) on, backlight is VERY DIM green (so dim i thought it was off).
In BOTH cases, there are no lights to the buttons... and I think (hope) that these are supposed to light up ... I can't see a thing out on the road.

I don't know what the wiring is like.
If this is getting too detailed for thread posting (and more suited to personal discussion in IM, PM, or elsewhere), let me know... I don't really know newsgroup etiquette.

Thanks again.

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Mon May 12, 2003 12:20 pm

It's better to discuss things in the public forums if there's a chance anybody else could use the information, be interested, or be able to contribute.

Well, one thing to do is verify what the stock WRX stereo's behavior is supposed to be. Some devices do actually run brighter with the headlights off, the idea being that if the lights are off, it has to compete with daylight, while if the lights are on, the ambient light is lower.

Look at the wiring diagram Josh posted. Pins 2 and 5 on connector i24 are the illumination wires. I'm not certain, but I think 5 is the positive one and 2 is the negative one. You could verify this by turning on the headlights and using a multimeter.

Now look at the WRX stereo wiring diagram ( http://www.ravensblade-impreza.com/modi ... iowrx.html ). Pins 1 and 7 are the illumination wires. 1 is the positive end and 7 is the negative end.

If you get both wires connected, you should get the exact same behavior you would get in a stock WRX.

magicmike · Post by **magicmike** » Mon May 12, 2003 1:42 pm

The orange wire on an aftermarket plug like Metra for example is the illumination 12V, and the orange/white is the dimmer.

Mike

mgjs1 · Post by **mgjs1** » Tue May 13, 2003 6:56 am

vrg3 wrote:...Some devices do actually run brighter with the headlights off, the idea being that if the lights are off, it has to compete with daylight, while if the lights are on, the ambient light is lower.

Precisely so... I think that is what is happening. Bright green background for daylight. And, I think after more test driving I have determined that it is dimming properly, it is just far too dim... too dim to use, even on a dark night! BUT, the good news is that the entire thing, buttons and LCD screen all light up a little... just too dam dim (hah).

Gotta get a little more juice when the old headies are on!

BTW - no multimeter owned here, so I can't pursue that just yet. Also a novice with wiring diagrams, etc, so getting good smart responses out of me there is gonna be tough.

Post by **Legacy777** » Tue May 13, 2003 2:12 pm

Just for clarification......does the kit you installed the head unit with have a dimmer lead & illumination lead?

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Tue May 13, 2003 2:20 pm

Matt, try just disconnecting the illumination wire/wires completely, and see if that gives you what you want.

mgjs1 · Post by **mgjs1** » Tue May 13, 2003 3:50 pm

Ok, I will try to disconnect illumination wires, but not until later... I am moving cross country and can't get to it until... geez, who knows when I'll have any semblance of a routine again?!?!

Gus · Post by **Gus** » Wed May 21, 2003 2:56 am

Anyone know if a late 90's model Impreza/Forester Clarion CD player add-on unit will connect to the stock 80-watt Clarion head unit in the early Legacy Turbos? The plugs and connections on the CD player look similar (in pictures) to the back of the oem unit.

Thanks,

Dave

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Wed May 21, 2003 3:09 am

I don't think they'd drop right in; I do know the connectors on the stereos of my '97 Impreza and '97 Legacy were different from my '93 Legacy.

Gus · Post by **Gus** » Wed May 21, 2003 3:13 am

I know the main head unit plugs are slightly different, but I'm questioning the round plug on the early head unit for the cd player. Have you tried plugging a later cd into an early head unit?

Thanks

Dave

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Wed May 21, 2003 3:26 am

Oh, sorry, I misunderstood. I don't have any hard facts on that one.

But aren't the stereos in BC/BF Legacies made by Panasonic rather than Clarion?

magicmike · Post by **magicmike** » Wed May 21, 2003 1:37 pm

Gus wrote:Anyone know if a late 90's model Impreza/Forester Clarion CD player add-on unit will connect to the stock 80-watt Clarion head unit in the early Legacy Turbos? The plugs and connections on the CD player look similar (in pictures) to the back of the oem unit.

Fisrt of all the radio you want to use HAS TO HAVE Changer controls on it. If so, then 90% chance it will work

Mike

Gus · Post by **Gus** » Wed May 21, 2003 1:39 pm

The one in mine is a Clarion. They're the double din 80-watt AM/FM/Cassette with goofy preset EQ with three selections (Jazz, Rock and something else). I think they were probably in all the Turbos. It's not a bad stereo, but if it wasn't double din and I wasn't so damn lazy, I would just replace it. Just sliding a CD in underneath it would be much easier. I'm not trying to impress anyone, I just want to play CDs

Thanks,

Dave

Gus · Post by **Gus** » Wed May 21, 2003 1:46 pm

No, I don't think that's the case at all. The OEM Clarion has a socket on the back that you can connect a single CD player to. Just like the hokey OEM two-piece Clarion setup that came in the late 90's Impreza and Forester. The head unit on those was really hokey, but the CD player add-on was about the same as the early head units. There are a lot of the later CD players available out there and I would like to add one of those to my early head unit.

Here's an example of my head unit with it's matching CD player on Ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... 2415585370

The later Clarion add-on CDs for the Imprezas and Foresters look very similar and have similar connectors. Someone has had to try this before, I'm sure.

Thanks

Post by **Legacy777** » Wed May 21, 2003 2:07 pm

no, the stereo's are made by clarion.....or so think.

Dave,

do you have unit, or are you just wondering so you don't buy a paper weight. See if you can get a picture of what the plug looks like.

I can snap a pic of the back of my old head unit, and we can try and compare.

Gus · Post by **Gus** » Wed May 21, 2003 2:30 pm

Right, I don't want to buy a paperweight. I pulled the head unit it out to look at it and there is a round plug on the back and a seperate power supply plug on the harness and they appear to match the plugs on the later CD units that I see in the pictures. It seems though, that the plugs on the newer CD units may be slightly smaller. It's hard to tell in the pictures though. If I had a close up of the plug on the back of your unit, I can try to find a close up of the newer CD plug and try to get a better feel for whether they match or not.

Thanks,

Dave

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A forum for 89-94 BC-BF(BJ) Legacy Owners and Fans

stock radios

WRX Changer install in 93 Legacy Wagon

Just did it... WRX Changer in my 1993 Legacy Wagon

inversion circuit

No lights at night...

OEM Clarion add-on CD player compatibility

Which plugs?

Re: OEM Clarion add-on CD player compatibility

Nope

CD Changer controls?

Don't have one yet.