Important! note when you DIY stereo.

If you are using the factory amps with a aftermarket HU you have to wire the blue/white (remote turn on) from the HU adaptor to the blue wire on the wiring harness. The reason you do not hook up the blue to blue & blue/white to blue/white is becuase:

#1. blue = power antenna. We do not have a power ant. so it is useless.

#2. BMW wired the remote power for the factory amp to the power ant. (blue) wire on the harness.

#3. There is no blue/white wire on the wiring harness.. so good luck connecting blue/white to blue/white.

There you go! This should save you time & frustration... A big thanks goes to CLS1000, he is very knowledgeable, and friendly..
If you guys have any HU DIY questions I would recommend him, or You can also ask me.

good luck!

Delirium, sorry about the oterh day I've been busy as hell & my head isn't screwed on quite right. Here was your problem, i'm an idiot sometimes...
the reason your sound cut out on cd was because alpine designs the headunits to retract the ant. when the CD is in use. So, when you turned your CD on, the power from the power ant. would drop, thus cutting off the turn on to your factory amp, and viola, no sound on CD. When you put the tuner back on, the turn on is restored (ant. goes back up) and you have sound again. keep in mind not all head units are like this. Ususally you can use either the blue or blue/white, but in the alpine case, you need a constant for your amp turn on, which means blue/white. You can actaully hook them up together as it won;t hurt anything, but you won't be gaining from it either. blue/white is always amp turn on (power never drops out) and blue is always power any. (power "may" drop) these are standars EIA colors. (electronic industry association) Looks like you got it figured out. I work on so many different vehicled daily it's hard to remember the specifics of each & every car out there w/ out looking at it you know....

Soo...in short for using the HK factory amps and an aftermarker headunit I have to run the headunit's remote power on wire (blue/white) to the BMW's power antennae wire (blue)?

dave

yes. it's kind of misleading but the wire on your harness that reads pwr. ant. is actually going to be used for the amp turn on from your aftermarket head. blue/white to blue

Originally posted by cls1000
yes. it's kind of misleading but the wire on your harness that reads pwr. ant. is actually going to be used for the amp turn on from your aftermarket head. blue/white to blue

Yup, see I told you he was knowledgeable.

Ok, cool. Now if someone can give me an idea on how to get the HK woofer to work off my Alpine 7894 I'd be happy.

dave