Car Stereos: aftermarket CD player wont work, mitsubishi diamante, rca output

Question
I have an aftermarket stereo for my 98 mitsubishi diamante es and i am pretty sure that i hooked all the wires up the correct way and i get power to my stereo but no sound will come out of my speakers. i've been told that if my car has an amp, certain things will ahve to be rewired because it looks like i have a cord for an amp but no palce to put it, along with 2 more cords. i would appreciate it if you could help it any way. Thank you.

Answer
Hi Brandon,

It sounds like your Diamante is equipped with a factory Infinity audio system.  If so, there's a factory amplifier located in the trunk.  If you're installing a new head unit, then you'll either need to bypass the amp by extending the stock speaker wires directly to the new head unit, or you'll have to integrate the amplifier by connecting the amplifier's inputs to the after-market deck's RCA output jacks.  The input wires for the factory amp are located in the round DIN plug at the back of the head unit.

If you're keeping the stock speakers, then integrating the amp is the best option.  There's a special wiring harness available to do this: Metra's 70-7003 harness.  This includes a connector for the DIN plug, with RCA plugs to connect to your new deck's pre-amp outputs.  (The harness works best if your new head unit has separate front and rear RCA output jacks; if you have only one pair of RCA outputs, then you'll need RCA splitters to connect the 70-7003 harness).

Hope this helps!

Brian