Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

Hi all

Was hoping this would be more straightforward (when will I learn?!)
Any car audio or electronics gurus out there that can point me in the right direction.

I have a new blaupunkt sqr 46 I’m looking to install in my 944 in place of the current alpine head unit which looks to be from the early 2000s.

Is my best bet to start by working out what the existing wires are working backwards from the Alpine head unit manual?
Also any recommendations for what to do regarding an in-line amplifier? I currently have an in-line KMT Alpine amplifier which uses phantom power isn’t connected to my battery battery and runs off the head unit. I’ve seen from a YouTube store on a 928 The chap uses a Sony in-line amplifier.

Lastly, the chocolate box on the Alpine is a 16 pin Connect and the new stereo is an eight pin like the factory standard

Photos attached

OK years ago I did do this for a living. And the stereo in my 944 when I had it was to put it politely a rats nest.
What I normally do is get a bare leaded plug & harness for the head unit. Fit a 5 Amp chocolate block to all the wires & identify what each wire does. You'll have 8 speaker wires, An aerial power wire, an ignition switched live & a permanent live.
The two latter ones need fuses!
After that its a matter of finding each each wire in the loom. By the time I'd stripped out a copper mine from behind the audio, mine followed the Porsche circuit diagram.
Aerial power is for A. electric aerials, B. for amps etc. If its a chunky amp use a relay between this and the amp. Again the live feed should be fused.
Get yourself a cheap multimeter. You can trace speaker wires with a AA battery but a meter is easier. The speakers in a 944 especially the front ones have a hard life & I'd suggest replacement and new wiring. Ignore the old Porsche wiring.
Be warned you may need to crossover the permanent live & switched live, you do in a lot of VW type cars.

Thanks Jim

I hadn’t got around to this for a number of reasons but got back into it today.

I’m now clear on my wiring but wondering if you can suggest a simple quick solution to save me time?

I have an alpine aftermarket head unit in there at the moment. It’s got a 16 pin ISO connector.
The original wiring has been already changed into 2 standard 8 pin adapters, and these go into the 16 pin iso through what looks like a standard adapter kit you can get off the shelf.

If I was to wire in my new sqr 46 I’d probably cut the wires just behind the 2 8 pin female blocks and crimp to the new wiring harness from the stereo.

However I was wondering if you can think of a way I can save trouble and keep my alpine amplifier as well…
I have a brilliant little alpine ktp 455a - it’s a tiny amp that has a simple connector in and out and requires no additional power. I simply plug in the standard 16 pin iso alpine connector that would go directly into the head unit, into the amp, then the output of that is another standard iso back into the head unit I.e. my current output from my harness can either go direct into the head unit or I can put directly into the amp and get the same type connector back into the head.

Since I’ve already got the wiring for it sorted I was trying to find a way to connect my output from the amp into the blaupunkt - would that work?
I didn’t want to cut the harness from the amp - I have been looking online for a male iso to female 8pin connectors but can’t find anything.
Alternatively I sell that amp since it’s designed for alpines and I get a universal one.

Does that all make sense?

These photos might help

The first shows the wiring into the head unit - no amp connected in this set up.
This is meant to show the 16pin connector into my head.
(The RCA cables are to a subwoofer)

The second is the method which its connected to my wiring harness. A 16 pin to two 8 pin connectors is used. The photo shows the male end which joins the block behind which is spliced into the factory wiring.

I think I’m going to keep the wiring as is and plug thr wiring into the alpine amp as is then cut up the connection from the output of that amp and splice into the input for the stereo using crimps with head tubing.
I’ll have excess wiring but will mean I can revert to an allpine system if I want