JohnnyHaywire Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 Hey guys, I'm installing a new aftermarket head unit (nothing fancy, JVC KD-R330) in my '91 SE and got started this evening. I've got the proper wiring harness adapter from Crutchfield and just realized that I need the "diversity" antenna cable adapter (just ordered). I'm a little confused at this point, though. I pulled the OEM premium Sony CD player and there was a 6-pin round plug for the amp wired in to the factory stereo harness. I've installed several stereos over the years, but this is like alien-cockpit stuff to me. It kind of looks like a factory afterthought to offer this option and they kind of threw together a solution, resulting in some strange factory wiring (I don't believe this area has ever been opened up before on the truck). I'm planning to bypass the factory amp and also install new speakers front and rear, but what I noticed in there, and what is confusing me, is that there seem to be two harnesses for the rear speakers going into the main wiring harness. There is the one that was attached to the OEM Sony CD player, which had the 6-pin amp cable wired in, and that runs up and into the main harness and disappears, and there is also pretty much the same harness coming out of the back of the amp, which also runs up and into the main harness. There is also a 2-pin plug that was not connected, though both male and female ends are present and one end is wired into the OEM stereo harness (I think these control cig lighter light and heater control lights?). I will try to take some pics tomorrow to illustrate better, but I'm thinking that I need to connect the harness adapter to the rear speaker plug that comes out of the back of the amp? Or should I use the one that was originally plugged into the OEM stereo? I read through every post I could find here and also the how-to in the "garage" section, but most of them seem to pertain to dual-amp Clarion units in later (1995) models. If anyone has any 1991-specific experience, I'd be super grateful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpecialWarr Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 I would love to but my harness and wiring was mangled by the PO (he used home speaker wire for the right FD speaker!!)....... I don't think he owned a soldering iron either and was new to taping things together if I can judge from the state of the truck when I picked it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyHaywire Posted September 25, 2014 Author Share Posted September 25, 2014 I hear what you're saying, SpecialWarr, and thanks for chiming in! Sounds like a horror show in there, but glad you were able to straighten things out. Was is the Sony set-up? The one thing I had going for me was that the center stack appeared to never have been opened on mine. The tangle of wires still left me scratching my head for a day or so. But...I have the new stereo wired in and it sounds great! Everything on the dash is still working, as well. I was worried I might lose the cig lighter power or HVAC control lighting after reading the "garage" post on stereo upgrades, but they are good. For future readers, my truck is a 1991 with the OEM Sony single CD player stereo and Sony amp (right behind it) for the rear speakers only. Rear speakers are housed in ridiculously large factory boxes above the rear wheel wells. Short version of aftermarket stereo install: Ditch the amp, use the standard harness for the front speakers and tap into the amp's output speaker wires for your rear speakers. Get the "diversity" antenna adapter. Long version: The only thing that took a little time was pulling apart the speaker boxes that ride on the wheel wells in the back of the truck (nice [ab]use of space, Nissan!). Once I had those apart, I could see which colored wires were powering the speakers (green for the left channel, grey for the right). I then disconnected the amp and removed it, but found the speaker wires from the amp's "out" harness and just connected straight to those. The speaker wires in the amp's "out" harness are twisted together in pairs, which makes them easier to identify. I used the stock harness for the front speakers and all the power/illumination wires. And, of course, all my connections were soldered. Nissan does not use a ground in their harness from the stereo, so make sure you ground it to a screw/bolt on the metal center stack frame. The rear speakers were surprisingly Clarion 6x9, 3-way in the rear. I figured they would have been Sony, but no. The "extra" two-pin plug is still...unplugged. I suppose it's for some option my truck didn't have. The "diversity" antenna adapter is a necessity, so keep that in mind when ordering your parts for a stereo swap. The harness was $10 from Crutchfield and the antenna adapter was $10, too. Free shipping on both. Expect to pay double from Best Buy. I was contemplating trying to use the Sony amp, but I'm glad I didn't. My call to Crutchfield was pretty helpful in a few ways. The tech told me my new receiver was putting out more power than the stock Sony amp, so that was a no-brainer. He was also the one who suggested verifying the wire color of the rear speaker wires at the speakers themselves and then just tapping into those at the amp's "out" harness. He was able to pull up a detailed diagram for the 1991 truck and gave me a few tips that made the whole job pretty simple. Taking the speaker boxes apart was also a good opportunity to clean things up around that area. Also led me to pull out the spare and air it up and to put some rubber pads at each end of the bottle jack frame (which may have solved some of the rattling I had back there). And, as a bonus, I found the PATHFINDER badge that was missing from my hatch. It was hiding behind the driver's rear speaker box and is in great shape. So...I've got that going for me...which is nice. For what it's worth, the stereo is a JVC KD-R300 (only about $60) and it sounds really nice and, for once, I sat down with the manual and figured out how to adjust the EQ and all that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve_RI Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 I took the boxes out of my 92 when I picked it up in 05. I replaced the speakers in the doors and ran a two channel amp. I bypassed all the factory stuff and ran new wires with the aftermarket amp. I've wanted to put rear speakers in the roof for a long time and I just got around to finally getting this done after a donor truck showed up in the local pick n pull. I picked up a reasonable 4 channel amp and ran new wires...sounds good. I have a thread on the subject and I plan to post some pictures on the install. It's not difficult to do, just time consuming. Those rear speaker boxes just took up way too much room. Glad you got this figured out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyHaywire Posted September 26, 2014 Author Share Posted September 26, 2014 (edited) Thanks for the input, Steve. I will look up your thread to see how you went about it. New speakers are definitely forthcoming. PIcs would be great, I'd love to see how you positioned/mounted them. And couldn't agree more, the speaker boxes and the interior-mounted spare are ridiculous. Was mounting the speakers in the roof easier (or better sound) than mounting them in the side panel behind the rear speaker boxes? The side panel was my gut instinct, but I'm not dead-set on that approach, and I suppose the spare tire will kill the driver's side sound if side-mounted behind it. Your idea of the speakers in the roof panel gave me another idea - put the speakers in the roof panel and turn those goofy speaker boxes into removable stealth storage bins? One issue I'm having with the Pathfinder, and similar to my old '86 4Runner, is no secure storage for tools, etc. Okay, here are a few photos for posterity's sake. The OEM Sony single disc CD player, pretty swanky for 1991 to be honest. Worked okay, but a CD (or something) was jammed in the drive, so radio only with this one... Some pics of the harnesses... The only harnesses I used on this were the 10-pin on the right for the front speakers and power/illumination and the 2-pin diversity antenna plug below it. Not sure what that blue 2-pin is for. The 6-pin white plug right above the blue one is a redundant rear speaker harness for non "premium" stereo models. I wonder where those wires go... They certainly did not match my rear speaker wire colors. You can see the 5-pin plug for the amp I removed here and also the 16-pin amp "out" harness in the background with its speaker wires twisted together. This is what I spliced into straight from my JVC's rear speaker wires. The grey and the green bundles are your girls here. The rest of 'em...NFI. And the new JVC in action (no USB for $60, but I ain't complainin'). Previous owner must've quit smoking. Cig lighter and ashtray were gone when I got it. Edited September 26, 2014 by JohnnyHaywire Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve_RI Posted September 26, 2014 Share Posted September 26, 2014 I don't think you have enough room on the side to mount speakers unless they are super shallow or really small. I have seen guys put speakers in the rear taillight access panels with some custom work. The headliner speakers from a 93-95 works fine because it fits without a lot of modification. All you need is the headliner, the speaker bracket, and the roof support that goes with it. You can get away without the roof support, but if you are taking this out of a donor truck it does not make sense not to take it. The sound is fine if you ask me, but it's not the most optimal spot for speakers. It's a truck after all. If you search there have been some cool mods for tool storage in the rear, but you need to get the tire out of there, so I would look into mounting the spare tire on the outside. It can be done, check that out as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desilynn79 Posted November 10, 2016 Share Posted November 10, 2016 reviving an old post i hope... i am not installing a new stereo unit at this point but my rear speakers arent working. all fuses, including amp fuse, are all fine.... thinking the channels for rear speakers on amp are burnt out or whatever... i want to bypass the factory amp and splice them into the factory output wires on the stereo itself. im a little stumped and before i go cutting wire i figured id better ask.... i found a wiring diagram that so far seems to match up to watch i saw while i had it semi apart looking for the dang amp to start with... and the speaker wires, because what is on the back of the stereo doesnt match wire color at the speakers for the rear... i have a 1990 model pathfinder... one amp... located under/ behind the stereo... there is only one set of wires to and from the amp... one plug... in theory from the radio for the right rear speaker is gry/red (or black and white) splice with the grey and red, as well as the grey (or black) to grey left side rear should be green and black (or brown/ white) to green and black, as well as green (or black/red) to green this is according to the diagram (hopefully i can link or attach)--- at link below http://ww2.justanswer.com/uploads/2paulm/2010-03-17_183245_radio3.pdf this should give me sound from the rear, correct? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuong Nguyen Posted November 11, 2016 Share Posted November 11, 2016 There's also another amp out in the back as well. I think back left cargo area next to the door lock timer I think. I could totally be wrong as it's been a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desilynn79 Posted November 11, 2016 Share Posted November 11, 2016 87-92 models only have one amp. called dealer today... so bypassing the amp the way i stated should work , right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desilynn79 Posted November 11, 2016 Share Posted November 11, 2016 i am hoping to get started on this in the morning after i drop hubby at work... once i have sound and can check the rear speaker ill know if they need replaced.. im hoping i get a reply to whether or not my thinking is correct and that i should get sound (providing speakers are any good... they are 26 yrs old...) truck was gently used with no major body damage and normal wear and tear damage to interior (sun damage, small tear in seat) im sure they didnt listen to music terribly loud. for its age i think its in great shape.... be nice to have all speakers in working order though. we will be upgrading the stereo and all speakers in the future so the amp will have to be bypassed either way. id rather not run all new wires although ican if i find i need to or if we later ad a sub and im tucking neat for those wires anyway.. thanks again for any and all help. im pretty sure it will work but double checking never hurts. have a blessed one! Desi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuong Nguyen Posted November 13, 2016 Share Posted November 13, 2016 If that's the case and you have the schematics, then you can bypass the amp. Basically instead of the harness wires going to the amp, you connect to the amp output wires. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desilynn79 Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 Awesome! Thanks! My hubby surprised me and got all 4 new speakers and head unit so i did the complete install and bypass with only a small hiccup which was easy to fix/ figure out...sounds way better. Just need and amp and a sub or 2. Stereo came with a mic to which is aweaome because my pathy is standard and i dont like to text and drive, but now i can safely talk if need be 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuong Nguyen Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 That's awesome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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