Fitting new car stereo

[crebs]

I've been trawling the forums here looking for specifics on replacing the stock BETA car stereo in my Mk4 2001 VW Golf E. I'm pretty confident building computers, wiring electrics etc so I thought I'd have a go at fitting my own car stereo.

The stereo I am looking at is a Sony BT-2500
http://www.sony.co.uk/view/ShowProduct.action?product=MEX-BT2500&site=odw_en_GB&pageType=Overview&imageType=Main&category=ICA+CD+Tuners#tab

The specific issues I have are:
The golf has effectively 6 speakers: L+R rear, L+R front, L+R front tweeters. How will this fit a stereo with 4x50w? (surely only 4 outputs)?
Do I need to buy a splitter of some sort or new wiring block harness? Which one? Halfords?Any links to specific products would be really handy.

I have uploaded a JPEG of the wiring at the rear of my existing VW BETA stereo and here is a link to the wiring schema of the new stereo http://pdf.crse.com/manuals/3100200221.pdf - you can see where the confusion arises!

Thank you in advance for your replies.:Blush:

Chris.

[chris.fulton]

I have done this on my Golf and the aftermarket CD player I bought also only had 4 x 50W output but it works absolutely fine without needing any splitters etc. All subs and tweeters work and all I needed was a harness adapter which was around £10. It's fairly easy to fit a new CD player to the golfs, 15 minutes should do it. You might also need an aerial adapter but they only cost a few pounds as well.

[crebs]

Thanks for replying.

I've heard about these 'harness adapters' - are they generic i.e. 'one size fits all' or do I need to find a harness adapter specific to my car make and new stereo model? Any specific links for this product?

[chris.fulton]

There are different ones specific to certain car manufacturers and certain audio companies e.g. sony or pioneer. Your best bet would be to go to a local car parts shop or even halfords, tell them what car you have and what CD player you want to put in it and they'll be able to get you the correct adapter. It'll look something like the one in the link below (NB - the one in the link may not fit in this case, it's just to give you an idea of what they look like).

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220154984721

[jjav]

Just bought a Sony mex-bt2500 from http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/tomshardwareuk/ excellent price and speedy delivery , it contains the harness and the ariel adapter, the system is brilliant, good on bluetooth calls and it will play the music tracks on my phone via bluetooth. I fit it in my Bora no probs.

[crebs]

I also managed to successfully install the Sony MEX BT2500 in my Mk4 Golf. The wiring harness that came with it (in the box) simply plugged into the connectors in the dashboard.

I also needed to purchased the aerial adapter - that cost about £15 from Halfords. This improved the reception quality, which was poor without it.

The rear speakers were wired on to the front speaker wires, so they effectively shared the same signals.

All in all a pretty simple process and would recommend anyone at least having a go at fitting their own aftermarket stereo.

Chris.

[Luffers]

Hey guys, I am trying to fit an aftermarket sony stereo head unit and sony cd changer.

The problem I've got is the stereo won't go all the way in because the rca lead's come up against the bracket at the back.

To try to explain better, Imagine if you will, the stereo is virtually all the way in but still needs to go in 1cm so that it clicks into the cage and is flush.

This can not happen because the lead is up against the bracket.

Has anyone had this problem ? And what did you do ?

The only thing I can think of to do is saw or drill into the bracket to allow some space for the lead. I would rather not do this.

Any idea's ??

[ss.raju-golf4]

Yh i had the same problem. You just have to get your hand back there and try and push them all out the way. It took me 45mins to get it right! The other thing i did was take out the pocket and at the back i cut away the parts that allow it 2 clip into the bit at the back but then the pocket will not properly hold in place. Ive done it and havnt had any problems!!

[Luffers]

Yh i had the same problem. You just have to get your hand back there and try and push them all out the way. It took me 45mins to get it right! The other thing i did was take out the pocket and at the back i cut away the parts that allow it 2 clip into the bit at the back but then the pocket will not properly hold in place. Ive done it and havnt had any problems!!


Yes I removed the pocket and thought It could switch places with the stereo. but like you say it requires cutting the tabs off that hold it in place.

I'm leaning towards drilling 2 holes in the bracket.

[jamesey]

The rear speakers were wired on to the front speaker wires, so they effectively shared the same signals.

ive got this problem on a mk 2 sharan , how can i get the 4 powered up on a upgraded 4 output stereo , the beta only has 2 outputs so the rears must be joined the the fronts somwhere , does anybody know where they join???????