Vintage Radio Wiring Question

[RRoller123]

I am finally getting around to installing a vintage radio that I bought a while ago. Need some help on the wiring.

The existing wiring in the car has a round connector with 4 wires of the following wire colors: RED (fused) , GREEN, YELLOW, BLACK.

The Vintage Radio has 5 wires: RED, BLUE, BROWN, Black (~12AWG), BLACK (~18AWG)

I would assume the red goes to red (power)

Black (heavy) goes to Black, (Second black = ???)

and that the GREEN, YELLOW, BLUE, BROWN are speaker wires and that the speakers ground out their mounting locations?

Can anyone confirm this? Thanks!

[dmwhiteoak]

I would think that the smaller black wire is a common ground for the speakers.You would need more than one wire for the speakers to function. The speakers will not work with just grounding the speaker.

[RRoller123]

Thanks. Hadn't thought of that but it makes sense since the larger Black wire gauge matches the gauge of the obvious Red power wire. I will give it a shot and see what chirps out.

[bradartigue]

That isn't stock wiring. I can see where they taped it in, if you pull it towards you the original wiring should be evident and you can use it as a reference with a wiring diagram.

I know Csaba sells the original 6 plug connectors if you want to make it stock again.

[RRoller123]

You are right, I am channeling Homer Simpson! I will work it back and match the colors to my schematic. Doh! But any thoughts about the vintage radio wiring? The smaller BLACK being a common speaker ground?

[bradartigue]

You are right, I am channeling Homer Simpson! I will work it back and match the colors to my schematic. Doh! But any thoughts about the vintage radio wiring? The smaller BLACK being a common speaker ground?

What kind of radio is it? Many AM radios were one speaker radios.

Get some alligator clips and find the two that run the power, the other ones are speaker. Not sure how else to figure it out unless you have a wiring diagram. You could test for continuity between the red and one of the grounds, but many old radios also had the speaker - on the ground. Go figure.

[RRoller123]

Yeah I got it figured and it seems that here is only one channel working, so I need to decide what to do now. Since I only listen to AM anyway it doesn't really matter!

[bradartigue]

Yeah I got it figured and it seems that here is only one channel working, so I need to decide what to do now. Since I only listen to AM anyway it doesn't really matter!

Old Spiders (until when I'm not sure) the radio console had a speaker in it and a mesh grille, in place of the wood grille that is there. The console will fit your Spider 2000, so get one, get a single 3x5 speaker and rock on, AM style. Either that or get a small amp and split the input line from what you have to get monophonic sound!

[RRoller123]

I wired both speakers in parallel and there seems to be more than enough power in the radio to run 'em both, so AM will work fine!

[dmwhiteoak]

Glad you got it working. Do they still broadcast on AM?

[RRoller123]

It is all we listen to! I used to lead a rock band yet all I now listen to is talk. It is odd but somehow it works.

[supplyguy]

Got a photo of the front? Want to replace my radio with an original looking one and wondering what yours looks like. Thanks.

[RRoller123]

I will take one tomorrow and post. I was told that it came out of a 79.

[fiat218]

Who in god name would listen to Am

[RRoller123]

Me for one! Otherwise the US would look like Stepford. This sums it up pretty well. http://www.youtube.com/user/aimaccuracy