What do i need to do to get the rear speakers and the headrests to work?
I've read the FAQ.
I've seen the recent posts.
I've checked out Crutchfield FAQ 6088.
Convertibles have a separate issue from coupes: the headrest speaker amp.
With the stock system, the headrests and rear (behind the seat) speakers worked.
No matter how I wire the Kenwood deck, only the door speakers work. The headrest amp light in the center console wont even illuminate.
What do i need to do to get the rear speakers and the headrests to work?
thanks,
~j

 

sometimes its better to run new wires for the system instead of using the old one. thats what i did, but then again i was lacking half of the speakers.

 

Vert speaker/amp wiring is as complicated as possible. I have the amp bypassed with wires running directly to the headrest speakers. You'll lose power/volume control from the console, but they'll work. If you want to retain the stock setup, break out the FSM wiring and have at it.

 

It's actually not that difficult. Just know that the headrest amp for an 88 Vert looks for amplified signal, 89-91 Verts look for pre-amp signal. The Headrest amp also looks for a negative trigger from the head unit (aftermarket head units usually have a trigger wire for a remote amp anyway).

If you're using the typical adaptor plug to map your aftermarket unit to your stock harness, it's just the negative trigger wire you have to add to make all good.

 

I don't have the rear speakers solution but this should work for the headrest speakers.
Whatever you do don't bypass the amp for the headrest speakers. If you do this, like RR88 said, you lose volume control and this means the headrest speakers are constantly at 100% volume. Also, you won't be able to turn them off if need be.

I have an 88 vert with an Alpine head unit so you may need to double check that the wiring colours will be the same (they should be, but I'm not sure of that) and I found there are two options for this:

You need to find the wire from the dash that powers the amp, which is either the blue wire with the solid white stripe, or the white wire with the purple cross-stripes (I can't remember which one exactly but that narrows it down.) One of those wires will be the ignition lead (or 'switched power') so if you have that connected already then you know which wire powers the amp for the speakers.

1. (probably not the best method) you can run the amp wire directly to your 12v source, like I did the first time I wired it, but this means that the amp will have constant power even when the car is turned off. If you do it this way you will have to remember to turn off the headrest speakers every time you get out of the car. I tried this and ended up draining the battery after about.. well two days ... so here is the way I have it done now.

2. Both of the two wires I mentioned above that come out of the dash, can be connected to the red wire from your deck. I'm pretty sure the colour codes are the same for all new radio decks but the red wire is called the switched power/ ignition lead. edit: With both of those wires from the dash connected together with the red wire from the deck, this just means that the power from the electrical system isn't supplied to the amp or the deck until you turn on the ignition, unlike option 1 where there is constant power. With this done, the speakers can stay on even when the deck is turned off - I don't know about you, but I rarely turn off my stereo with the car running, so this wasn't a problem for me.

Let me know if this works for you! I hope the wire colour codes are the same for both years.
Cheers.

 

Oh btw the actual sound signals should already be there assuming you wired it with a harness adapter kit. In my car the sound comes from the same wires as the door speakers, so the harness adapter splits it up rather than hardwiring those together yourself.

 

I just installed an aftermarket stereo that I bought from Crutchfield in my 90 vert. It came with two wiring harnesses that were a simple plug up with the existing wiring. My headrest speakers work fine after the new install. I also can control them from the console switch and volume buttons. If you did not buy the stereo from Crutchfield, you should still be able to buy the needed harnesses from them. I considered running new wiring throughout the car but saw what a PITA it would be and figured I at least could try and use what I had from the factory first. While I was at it I changed out the door speakers too. Now I am enjoying HD radio, Bluetooth and USB features with the new unit. It was a great upgrade to make.

 

Thanks everyone.
It was the Brown/Red wire (Negative trigger) The Critchfield FAQ said Blue/White but it wasn't.
My '88 had the Headrest amp bypassed and I wanted to keep the feature this time.
I also think I left the Crutchfield harness in the '88 when it went away.
Anyway, it's all good now and it's thanks to y'all.
Aloha and Mahalo,
~j

 

So, Jimmy and Goldfinger, you just wired in an aftermarket unit using the crutchfield harness adapter and it worked? The headrest speakers, and the 'subs' behind the seat?

How about the trigger wire for the headrest amp? I didn't really understand the detail.

Thanks!