On 4/1/07, Loren Faeth <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
all the stereo installers I have talked to want to remove or bypass the front/rear fader. I kinda like it although it does have a tendency to get dirty and static-y. Has anyone bypassed the fader? How do you do it? The obvious choice it to disconnect the wires attached to the fader plug and solder them together. Is there a better/simpler way?
Take the head unit out, disconnect the wires going to the fader, and carefully slit open lengthways the entire taped bundle from which they emerge, which runs alongside the transmission tunnel to the right of the lever, up under the ashtray. Then pull the contents of the bundle up into the head unit area. It'll be obvious which wires go to the front and rear speakers (use an AA battery on the bare wires to check polarity and left/right orientation), which come from the head unit, and which can be discarded entirely, getting rid of a significant portion of the spaghetti behind the center console. IIRC, to connect both sets of speakers so as to use the head unit's fader control, you will have to re-splice the speaker wires directly to the head unit's harness. (Label them nicely to make things easier for the next owner, please!) In my car, the sound was much improved (not only less staticky but also louder since the factory fader attenuates the signal somewhat). You can leave the disconnected fader switch in place, or take it out and use the rectangular space left in the console for something useful (iPod input jack? Ejector seat? Photon torpedoes?). Alex Chamberlain '87 300D Turbo '93 Isuzu Trooper
