Hi,

Old stereo is ripped out, but I have a problem. My Alpine 7894 has additional leads for going to the positive on the battery and an earth point.

On my previous car (not Skoda) the fitter chap piggy backed the positive onto a lead under the steering column but on the VRS I've got no idea where this wire is! I'm looking at routing this cable through the bulkhead to the battery directly....... how awkward.

Why do Alpline do this, is the standard practice with other manufacturers head units?

Comments appreciated.

I think if you don't use the internal amp of the headunit ie you have seperate amps then you can connect these wires to the power cables in the wiring loom. However to help with the sound quality, connecting the unit to a dedicated 12v supply without using doorbell wire is supposed to make an improvement. I never noticed it in my 9835 but I never used the internal amp either.

Thanks, tapped the power cable striaght into these and it works. Only problem is the stereo is always on regardless of the ignition state.

Most of the cables read 12v when ignition is off so don't see how I can get the stereo to go off when turning off the ignition. The noticed the Skoda unit can be changed from off or on with ignition off via the control panel.

You will notice that the ISO leads on the skoda the permanant and switched 12V are swapped over. Eg permanant is where switched should be and vice versa.

Some head unit leads have a bullet connector so you can swap these leads over, otherwise you can do it yourself by modding the leads with bullet connectors or buying an adapter. If yo ubuy an adapter you will have a bit of fun fitting it in behind the head unit IIRC.