wiring a cd player

[mrfoo]

I recently purchased an Alpine cd player and I have read many places that it needs to be directly wired to the battery. I have a '98 XJ and i was just wondering if anyone knows how I would go about getting to the cd player including taking the piece of plastic out that is around that whole section and where I would run the amp. wire through to get to the battery. thank you

 

[imma honky]

I have the CDA-9813. You don't HAVE to run it directly to the battery, but it is recommended. It can be run directly to the stock harness. Mine was not wired to the battery (i went to Best Buy.....won't do it again). My original plan was to run the amp wireing down the inside of the front right fender inside then through the glove box, I didn't want to put any holes in so I went to best buy. They ended up cutting off the built in fuse box (which I didn't find out till afterwords). The front trimming around the radio should be held on by a few screws. I would recommend running the wire through a firewall gromet.....just pick one that has easy access and wont get the wire in the way of anything that moves. Also make sure you have a good chasis ground connection. Hope this helps.

 

[eric91xj]

i've never heard anyone say that before and its definately not true. You really should'nt have to run any wires for the radio except for the remote turn on for the amp. Get a harness adapter from best buy or radio shack or www.crutchfield.com to adapt your factory harness to your alpine harness. Anyway, that plastic rim i believe just pulls right off, there might be a couple screws holding it in, but just look around. Once the ring is off just unscrew the radio and pull it out. As to where to put the amp, you can put it anywhere you want, if its small and your not pushing it hard enough to over heat it then put it underneith the rear seat. If not just screw it onto the back of the back seat with some 3/4" screws. As for the wires i always ran the remote turn on and power wires under the trim along the drivers side and ran the RCA cables under the trim panels down the passenger side and up behind the glovebox into the back of the radio. Don't run the RCA's next to the power cable as you can generate some nasty ground hum's that way. To run the power cable to the battery i'd look on the fireway above the gas and brake pedals and look for some big rubber gromment were factory wires are already coming through from the engine compartement, just put a little slit in the rubber grommet and run the wire into the engine compartment that way.

eric

eric

 

[Georgia Mike]

On the '98 model the trim panel is held in by a combination of 2 screws and a few clips. The screws will be located on the lower portion of it,remove them and rotate the panel outward to unsnap the panel at the top(it'll feel like it's gonna break,but it won't,they're just strong clips to avoid rattles). Buy a radio install kit and wiring harness adapter. These will GREATLY simplify your install. Simply follow the directions on the dash kit and match the colors from the harness adapter and radio harness and you'll be set(most all radios these days have gone to the "international wiring color standad"-including your Alpine). Oh yeah,the ground wire on the XJ will be a strap clipped to the rear of the radio. Get a male spade and crimp it to the new radio's ground wire and just plug it into it. Good luck with it!

Edit:I just re-read your post and realized you were installing an amp,too. The above info is good,although I wouldn't go to all the trouble to run the signal cables and power cables down opposing sides of the vehicle. In all my years of installing (professionally and hobby) I've yet to come accross a situation that deemed this to be a neccessary measure. Most good quality amplifier and CD player combinations (*when using good quality wires*)rarely have noise infiltration issues.

 

[imma honky]

I believe he is talking about the built in amp that is part of the deck. And yes, it is recommended (by crutchfield and apline) that it have a direct connection to the battery.

 

[mrfoo]

my previous cd player was stolen (ripped) out of my dash and in the process it broke that bezel centerpiece. i got a new one and had a jeep dealership put it in but as i look at the old centerpiece and from what i remember, it appears there are two screws that held it on in addition to the clamps. the two screws were in the middle, above and below the center hole. i could not figure out if they actually held the piece on or how i would be able to get to them. My cd player is the 9813 and I have read in many places besides crutchfield that it needs to be wired directly. I had a car audio dealer install it a while back and i just think I could get more power from if i actually wire it directly. But if someone could clarify the situation on those two screws it would be appreciated along with what has already been suggested.