QuestionI have a 1999 Chevrolet Silverado, i used to have an aftermarket cd player but my truck was broken into and they took that. Now all i have is subs and my amp, I'm not too great with all this and im not sure what wires I need to splice into my factory cd player in order to get everything working.
Thanks, Grant
AnswerHi Grant,
The main difference between the after-market head unit and your factory deck is that the factory radio doesn't have RCA outputs to provide a low-level signal to the amplifier. To get around this, you'll need a device called a line-out converter. It should be available at any car audio store.
The line-out converter will have four wires that connect to the factory speaker wires in your truck. The easiest place to find the speaker wires is the factory radio plug. Another advantage of making your connections there is that you should still have a set of RCA cables from the amplifier at the factory radio location (unless they were damaged during the theft).
Here are the colors of the factory speaker wires in your truck:
-left rear positive: dark brown
-left rear negative: yellow
-right rear positive: dark blue
-right rear negative: light blue
These four wires should be grouped together in the factory radio plug.
You don't have to cut or disconnect the factory speaker wires to connect your line-out converter. The easiest way is to use a quick-connect wire splicing adapter, such as a T-tap or a "scotch-lock". The best way is to strip some insulation from the factory wire, poke a hole in the wire with a small pick, push about 1/2" of stripped wire from the line-out converter through the hole, wrap it around the factory speaker wire, apply solder, and wrap the junction with good-quality electrical tape. Either method will work, but the professional method is more reliable.
In addition to the RCA cables, another wire from the amplifier would have been connected to the after-market deck. It's called a "remote wire", and it activates the amplifier when the deck is powered up. The Silverado radio doesn't have the right output for this wire, so your best option is to tap it into the accessory power wire. This is a yellow wire in the factory radio harness (not to be confused with the yellow speaker wire). It should be located next to an orange wire. If you connect your remote wire to the accessory power wire, the amplifier will turn on and off with the key switch.
Your amplifier may have a "high-level input" or "speaker-level input". This can be used in place of the line-out converter. In this case, the wires from the high-level inputs can be connected directly to the factory speaker wiring. The amplifier will get its signal from the high level inputs instead of the RCA's. If it's equipped on your amp, it would save you the cost of the line-out converter; but it would probably be more work to connect because you'll have to run wires from the amplifier to the factory speaker wire location.
If your factory radio is a "Bose" type, you won't be able to make connections to the speaker wiring behind the factory radio. You'll have to find the wires somewhere else in the vehicle.
Hope this helps!
Brian
