Harness adaptor and new speaker wires. What do I do?

[13ms13]

I'm about to replace the front speakers and install an aftermarket head unit in my R50 MINI Cooper (HU: Pioneer DEH-80PRS, speakers: component - Morel Tempo 6). No amp for now. I want to run an active system, so I will need to run separate wires from the HU to the woofers and to the tweeters.

But how do I connect them? Do I connect the speaker wires directly to the HU, bypassing the harness adaptor?

That will make the white (left front) and grey (right front) wires from the harness adaptor obsolete. Can I just leave those wires not connected to anything and use the rest of the harness adaptor cables that I need? Or, if I use the harness adaptor do all the wires have to be connected for all pins have to be "active"?

Sorry for my chaotic writing this was really hard for me to explain in English! I'm attaching a diagram to help you understand what I mean. Please tell me if my way of thinking is correct. Thanks! //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gifView attachment 26543725

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[Jepalan]

In my opinion, I would just use the factory speaker wires. I would not worry about pulling new speaker wires for your application.

Connect the new speakers to the same white and gray wires you disconnect from the factory speakers. The solid color wires go to the (+) speaker terminal and the striped wires go to the (-) terminals. You leave all the wires connected in the harness to the head-unit. This way is by far the easiest and should work fine since you aren't putting in an extra amplifier.

If you decide to install an amplifier later on, then you might want to pull new larger gauge wires to the speakers depending on how much power your are trying to put into the speakers.

 

[13ms13]

I would happily use the factory wires but if I use them, I have to give up on going active and I will have to install a passive crossover.

If I was installing an amp, I'd be using RCA outs so I'd have problems with the harness too.

There must be some way to run new wires //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

By the way, I was really close to buying an amp but I decided not to install it, at least this year. I'd have to install it in the trunk, only a tiny amp would fit, and with the battery under the hood, I'd have to run miles of expensive cables and take apart the entire interior. Installing an amp would up the costs by almost twice and I wanted a budget upgrade.

 

[Jepalan]

Sorry - I completely missed your comment about 'going active'. Your drawing is not quite right. If you want to run the fronts active then you cannot use the existing rear speakers. The HU uses the rear channel outs to drive the separate component tweeters when DSP is set to active mode (NW).

If you want active fronts, Use the existing factory wires for your front mid-bass, then pull new wires for the tweeters. Just tape off the ends of any unused wires in the harness. You will not be able to drive the rears in this mode.

Otherwise use the passive crossovers and put HU in standard mode and use all factory wiring. Then you can also use your rear speakers.

By the way - that HU has one of the worst installation manuals I have ever read - very confusing.

 

[13ms13]

I see, thanks for your answer!

On a side note, I have a small Sony XM-2545 amp lying around. It's a really nice 4-channel amp and it fits in the side of my trunk perfectly. The thing is, I didn't think it was worth installing because it only puts out 25 watts per channel - and I'd still have to pay for wires (additional ~$100) and take apart all interior panels in order to install it. Do you think it's worth it? Will there be a noticeable improvement in sound quality if I install this amp (compared to amping from HU)?