I want to wire up one of these MTS stereo thingys, which cost something like 1500 Deutschmarks when they were new, and can now be had on the bay for anything between 5-50 pounds depending how lucky you are

The bottom two on the left:


The problem is both of my examples have had the wires at the back cut at some point, and now I'm not really sure which wire goes where. The beer doesn't help either:



Ugh:


I want to wire up one of these block type connectors:

which should provide everything except the rear speakers.

AFAIK the wiring is as follows (I'm trying to describe a 3x3 block connector here):

123
456
789

1. 12V memory + ################### 2. 12V live (fused) ################# 3. electric aerial
4. left front loudspeaker - (stripe) ##### 5. right front loudspeaker - (stripe) ## 6. ???
7. left front loudspeaker + ############ 8. right front loudspeaker +######### 9. earth -

Then there's a second 2x2 block connector for the rear speakers.

12
34

left rear loudspeaker + ######### right rear loudspeaker +
left rear loudspeaker - (stripe) ## right rear loudspeaker - (stripe)

On all the radios, the wiring colours are different.

On the MTS stereo, the wires sprouting out of the back are

Black
Green (+12V fused)
Blue
Black w. yellow stripe
White w. yellow stripe
Black w. white stripe
Blue w. white stripe
Red

and two colours which look like they may go to the rear speakers
Black
Orange



Any ideas?

Cheers

Tom

black / white = left rear speaker
black / ??? = right rear speaker

blue / white = right front speaker
white / blue = left front speaker

black = Earth return (translation from internet.... )

I guess blue is the +, because it is on the same plug as the black wire.

red = automatic aerial (or amplifer)

that is all what's on my radio:

orange = floor pedal, search sender.
I don't know what that means....?

vØlvØfreak wrote:black = Earth return (translation from internet.... )

ground would be a better translation

so blue + black can't be connected

can;t make anything out of what's typed at the orange though. footpedal sender; why on earth would you need that for a radio? (swap station every time you press the brake or something )

Thanks for that info! Volvo did a kind of foot-activated station search switch, maybe that's what its for ...

Tom

vØlvØfreak wrote:I guess blue is the +, because it is on the same plug as the black wire.

I could guess blue on yours is the + because there's a fuse in the wire (maybe that's the 4 ohm reference on the back?). All the other radios I have, have a fuse on the +12V wire.

But I don't know why it would be on the same plug as the earth

The only fused cable on mine is green, but maybe my blue or red cables were also fused once, and was cut off with the rest. I could imagine amp and e-aerial cables would also be fused if they get their power from the radio.

This really isn't my field, you can tell

Tom

I know someone who has the handbook of this radio. I will send him an email

That's good of you, thanks Mark. Even better would be if he had a CR-101 with intact plugs

Cheers

Tom

I know he has one in his car. He told me ones it has very good sound quality

4ohm is speaker impedance, the output stage will be matched for impedence to reduce losses (if you fit a larger impedance you'll have less current flow) and will only be rated to a set current before you let the smoke out (smaller impedance more current will flow)

I'll have a proper look later if Mark's friend can't find his book Tom

Cheers Chris ... I'll post up how I get on.

Tom

It works


Thanks for your wiring description Mark - it was a great help. It goes like this:

black / white = left rear speaker
black / yellow = right rear speaker

blue / white = right front speaker
white / blue = left front speaker

black = Earth (the - for the speakers are also connected to this)

blue is the 12V+

red = automatic aerial (or amplifer)

orange - foot pedal search

the only one I'm not sure of yet is the fused green wire, it may be for the 12v memory feed.

The second MTS I wired up didn't seem to work as it should unfortunately, but I didn't have time to test it properly. I'll post more of that later ...

Tom

Genuine Volvo battery... +10 BKV points.

Nice one bud

I'm glad I could help you

Haven't heart anything yet about the manuel of the radio... If i hear something from him, I'll let you know

Chris_C wrote:Genuine Volvo battery... +10 BKV points.

That thing lasted at least 8 winters. I say "at least" because the car had it already, when I bought it in 2000 ... The replacement battery is already weakening after only 2 winters. Maybe I'll get another Volvo battery next time ?

vØlvØfreak wrote:Haven't heart anything yet about the manuel of the radio... If i hear something from him, I'll let you know

Thanks for that! There are several buttons on that thing which confuse me totally

Tom