car radio

[strat67]

hey, i have a 1966 chevy truck with no radio in it right now. im going to buy a cd player and an amp for my sub-woofer. can i connect the power from the cd player and amp directly to the battery? or do i need to have some kinda thing inbetween them? or for the stereo to turn off when the car turns off do i have to wire it to the ignition? any help will be appreciated...i know this isnt a car forum but i imagine somebody knows.

 

[jbeng]

Generally, the amp connects directly to the battery thru a fuse of an appropriate size (consult the amp's manufacturer for that). It will probably have a power switch wire to turn the amp's power on/off (check the amp's mfg for this too.)
Usually, the radio/cd player has one wire which connects to source of switched 12vdc power (in the fuse block or thru the ignition switch.) It will likely have another wire which will need 12vdc all the time to keep the clock running and to remember your radio presets (often labelled "clock").
Hopefully, you have the manuals for this equipment, that never hurts (though sometimes confuses). JB

 

[glmclell]

I imagine they used 12V body ground back in the 60's, but thats the only thing you'll want to double check

The thing that might get you is ignition / alternator whine ... there wasn't much push for noise supression back then as there is now (computers and what not)

Sometimes filter caps help with this, sometimes they dont, and you need a noise isolator ... I dont know how they work, but they work well ... my old 85 wagon was real noisy, and the noise isolater cleaned it right up, it installed between the line out on the radio and line in on the amp.

your head unit (radio / cd player) should have a +BAT lead, a GND or BDY lead and a +IGN ignition lead ... bat and gnd go to their respective places, and ign goes to anything that gets turned on while the car is 'on'

be careful not to confuse +IGN and the +ACC lead which is for accessories to be turned on by the head unit ... if your amp has a remote turn on connection, you could connect +ACC from the head unit to the amp's remote turn on... if not, use the ACC to toggle a relay controlling the amp

I seem to remember my Pioneer used red for +BAT, yellow for +IGN, blue for +ACC and black for body/ground.

 

[strat67]

thanks for all of the info, i will be getting my head unit and amp new from best buy or circuit city so it should have the manuals, however i dont want to cut the dash board to fit the head (its made for a radio with knobs and i want to eventually get an original to put in there which is the reason i dont want them to install it)

im sure ill do fine installing them now. Thanks again!