Folks,

I have a 1991 240.

It still has the stock cassette / FM head unit TD-613 (Volvo PN 1398464) and the 20x4 amplifier mounted to the lower courtesy open-faced glove box just under the environmental controls and in front of the shift lever. The amplifier is PN 3533004 (826 Sweden 1991-11-20). And seems consistently referred to Volvo amplifier model number HA-4120.

Some years ago, I installed infinity brand speakers in the 1991 240 to replace the factory installed speakers in the front and rear door. The infinity speakers "opened up" the sound quality greatly. So, this amp, at least, has good sound quality for my needs. It'd be nice if it was more powerful, yet it works fine.

I have two more of these HA-4120 amplifiers. One has the wire harness (connects to radio, speaker wire harness, power) that came with a spare HA-4120 from the junk yard. That harness is pretty well hacked up, but I'm able to work with it. I also have an HA-2121 amp from a 760 as well as the HT-161 rear hat shelf speakers (new woofers installed, yet needs new tweets and mids - I put in used ones when I put the new woofers in).

Another is in my 1992 GL with the same set up (HA-4120), missing the radio, yet the prior scum owner hacked and slayed the factory wiring harness to install some boom boom junk leaving me with some serious corrections to the non-stereo harnesses in the dash and in the engine compartment. Those electrical repairs are complete. All of the boom boom junk is missing save for some monster cable.

The AM and FM on the 1991 240 TD-613 radio seem to have quit. I've read something about failing diodes on the noise suppression / reception circuit just after the connection to the aerial. I reflowed broken solder welds on the circuit board inside the stock stereo cassette. I think it is an HT-613? I forget at the moment since I put that radio someplace yet can't find it. I just found it.

However, I'd rather have a head unit with with FM/AM(/&SW?) with mp3 playin' CD. I guess I'd want a head unit without power amp out. Either way, I'll stick with the factory wiring harness for the front and rear door speakers as it is a quality conductor.


Can you kind folks suggest a head unit I can plug into the dash?


I found the pin-out of the 6-pin DIN connector between the TD-613 and HA-4120 here:



And a photo image from something similar on an amplifier.



I also found a Web page with some general wiring diagrams. A high level diagram for the 1991 240 radio and amp. It misses a few details I can fill in.



I'd like to use one or both of the other amps in the same or one of the other cars someday soon - hopefully to drive extra speakers. I'd been without a car stereo for a long time and I'm tired of it, save for the hum of the well tuned motor.

Sorry for the long post.

Thanks,

kittsgreyvolvo

Hi K,
I too have been getting by without tunes in my 1991 240 wagon for more than 4 years now!!

I finally have some $$ and time and I am thinking about replacing the original stereo with an Alpine unit (they are fairly discrete looking) and new speakers for the doors.

I have talked to various people about the rear door speakers and wonder if this is a very good spot to have speakers at all.

I have noticed earlier 245s have the rear speakers mounted in the C pillar and so I am VERY interested in how you did that and what challenges you faced in installing them (including speaker size/brand etc).

My car originally came with a kids fold-up seat in the rear. I got tired of the extra seat belt mess and now that my youngest (14yrs) kid is over 6ft I removed the seat and seat belts for it.The left over bolt holes in the wheel wells got me thinking about designing speaker boxes for some 6x9 speakers angled at 50deg or so facing forward and mounted on brackets attached at the lower seat belt mounting point. So this might push in a different direction.

I have been thinking of making speaker enclosures out of cardboard tube and all sorts of things so please help!

rod

It really is counter-productive to use the factory amp(s). As was said, most any reasonable quality current head unit will have a superior amp built in it. The challenge is finding one that does not look like the redlight district of some foreign land sitting in your dash. There is very little to wire on a plain aftermarket stereo install.

You would be going through a lot of effort to keep an amp that at best has about the same output as the outputs on any new head unit.

Crutchfield provides an adapter harness with head units you buy from them. It plugs directly into the head and amp harness. No factory harness cutting required.

I agree with Jessie.

Crutchfield is a little more expensive, but they will give you a wiring harness that will adapt to the standard setup on the Volvo. They also give an adapter faceplate that will make the finished product look - well, like a finished product.

I installed a Sony MEX-BT3700 with some Kenwood KFC-1662S in the front and rear doors of my daughter's 92 240.

The sound is incredible, and I can play MP3s, CDs, Control her IPod and also she can use the bluetooth for her phone. I understand that they no longer carry this head unit - but have another Sony that is very similar.

I know that there are cheaper places - but their service is well worth it. At least to me.

Hope that helps
Charles

Another vote for Crutchfield. Free hookup instructions and tech support make it worth it.

I like the Blaupunkts. They're pretty low-key head units with powerful built-in amps.

Ooop.

Here goes again with the DIN plug:

6-pin DIN connector between the TD-613 and HA-4120 here:


Photo image from something similar on an amplifier Showing left/right/front/rear on amp input.


Thanks.

I have the same exact situation you did : broken td613 radio and good volvo amp that I'm happy with . I'd like to patch a new radio into the old amp rather than track down and hack out the volvo amp .

Question : Did you end up retaining the old amp and patching your new radio into the DIN connector ? How did it go ? Any tips ?

Thanks in advance ( and for the volvo pinout also ) ,

Todd Traver

Hi Todd. Thanks to you and others for writing. The brickboard "notify by email" feature popped today to find five other responses.

WARNING: Electrically insulate / shield the preamp connectors and wires from any metal on the auto chassis between the sound source preamp output and the HA-4120 input. Failure to do so can result in damage to the sound source preamp and the amplifier. The preamp and power amp features on modern auto audio equipment use a floating ground (as opposed to the common ground applications on early 1970s and older auto audio equipment).

I have three of these HA-4120 4x20 amplifier. One remains in my fabulous 1991 240 sedan. I removed the the amp from my awesome 1992 240 GL sedan. I found a third in a sadly wrecked 1992 gold 240 wagon in NE Portland (I gave it last rights and a pat). I also have of the few spare wire harnesses that have the 6-pin DIN wire connector between the radio preamp out and the amp in. The wire harness also includes the connectors and wire that connected the radio head unit and the amp to the 240 4-speaker wire harness and power. In two instances some dink gnawed on the square AMP 14-pin (in two rows of seven) and connected wires at the radio head unit end and amp end for aftermarket radio power connection and aftermarket radio amp out into the speakers. What a mess.

I got two of the after market radio adapter connector sets others mention you can purchase from crutchfield from an ebay auction for 1/5 the price.

So, my experience with the HA-4120 4x20 Amp ......

I experimented with the two HA-4120 amps.

One of the DIN-6 connector cables was cut on one harness, so I pulled it out and wired up a Sony portable CD walkman out to HA-4120 Right (front&rear) and Left (front&rear) input. I used a pure DC out 12V 10 amp (SCSI hard drive case - pure DC, no ripple or sine wave) power supply and connected the remote AMP power on to the +12V.

Each conductor in the DIN-6 connector cable is shielded. A shame to see it cut. I would have used a DIN-6 jack, wired to the CD output via a (probably homemade) patch cord. You have to wire in the +12V remote somehow.

I modded the remaining harness to connect the HA-4120 amp out to four speakers. Two Volvo 740 HT-161 speaker boxes (I replaced all three drivers each a few years ago) and two 4" Volvo 740 door speakers placed in those black plastic speakers grilles you'll find on a later model Volvo 240 rear hat shelf sometimes.

I usually use the HT-161 speaker with a 1980s Technics SA-290 receiver amp as well as the Sony CD walkman for the CD input to it. I know the Technics amp is not very good and also a poor FM receiver (versus any Pioneer Silverface receivers I have that remain packed up in boxes).

The HA-4120 sound quality is way superior to the Technics SA-290 amp. Volume is more than adequate, but I live in apartment so I can't play too loudly. The Sony CD walkman has a three level loudness (off, half step bass boost, full bass boost). CDs are as pure sounding as CDs can be. FM stereo never sounded so good playing through an HA-4120 to four Volvo speakers.

I can't say how it'd sound in your moving Volvo 240 on the I-5 on the way to beautiful, beautiful Bellingham, WA or South to Portland, Chico CA, or the SF Bay Area. I had to plug the west coast a little bit here.

The HA-4120 construction uses two monolithic ICs as power out to speakers. Each IC handles front (right and left) or rear (right and left). Series bridging gets the amp very warm, almost hot, slowly, at low volume. Parallel bridging gets the amp somewhat warm, but not hot, slowly. I'd hope to drive just two rear speakers off it where there were no speakers (rear doors, 1992 240 GL, rear hat shelf 1991 240). Maybe I can drive four separate speakers? I'm uncertain where you'd install eight unique speakers in two sets of four in a Volvo 240 sedan.

...................

My 1990 240 DL wagon has a speaker in each of the front and rear doors. I also found a set of the beefy factory 245 rear C pillar speakers - wired in parallel to the rear door speakers with an Alpine head unit CD receiver that came with it.

I'd hoped to use the HA-4120 in addition to an aftermarket head unit CD receiver. You use the crutchfield Volvo 240 adapter to connect the aftermarket CD receiver to +12 VDC power, -0 VDC ground, remote power aerial, dash lights, and the like. So, it leaves you with the bother of how to connect the spare HA-4120 to other passenger compartment speakers. The Volvo factory stereo wire harness, from head unit to speakers, is a durable beast using top quality stranded copper conductor of a gauge larger than current requires and exceptionally durable insulation (versus the harness insulation in your 1983 turbo 240). So, *carefully* pulling the stereo harness out of a yunkyard 240 with connectors and mounting hardware may help.

It seems to me, an aftermarket head unit CD receiver with power amp out (and even pre amp out) makes the HA-4120 utterly useless (what other posters perhaps correctly assert here). If you can find a modern CD receiver head unit with preamp out only and can make connection between preamp out and remote power switch to the HA-4120 amp, perhaps that may work. Preamp out only radio head units appear not to be made for some time. The ones I found do not have ability to play mp3 files on CD, come with a USB port or jack for your mp3 player.

Of course, you can connect your mp3 player directly to the HA-4120 with some work.

May not be easy to do ... or it'd take quite some time building a speaker wire harness to use the HA-4120 in concert with a head unit that offers preamp out. You'd need to use shielded cable carrying the preamp signal to the amp.

The TD-613 was an okay to fair FM (before it quit) and AM (before it quit) receiver. The tape cassette was fair. There was nothing wrong with it save for it being nine years owld when I bought the fabulous 1991 240. The cassette and radio sound quality was tinny, though. The bass and treble on it helped, if barely. A shame considering how good the HA-4120 is in sound quality.

I am making a patch cord to connect the Sony portable CD player to the HA-4120 amp in the righteous 1991 240. I'll let you know how it goes.

Welp, happy holidayze, everyone. The west coast is the best coast. Cascadia rewls!

Questions?

Thanks,

Bruce
/too much iced tea today ...

Hi Bruce ,

I successfully replaced my failing Volvo radio with SONY and retained the Volvo amp.

( I too liked the Volvo amp and was too lazy to want to remove it
and / or butcher the chassis wiring harness )

I used your pinout drawings, purchased a 6 pin female connector on ebay , wired the SONY speaker wires to it and then tapped into the flat radio connector using crimp T-connectors for power and ground .

Voila - it works great ! It was easy to do with all wiring work taking place right by the radio. I didn't have to butcher any of the chassis wiring , and can reinstall the Volvo radio in 2 mins if needed.

Thanks very much for posting the wiring diagram . Without it I never would have attempted this .

Now enjoying tunes again in my '93 240 ,

Todd

Hi Todd,

Apologies my reply to your post is so late. Operatin' mat the speed of a 1991 or 1992 Volvo 240, all stock, with moon roof and manual tranny!!!! A tail wind courtesy of the ever more floppy jet stream helps! Welp, faster than that 1975 244 I had in 1985!

Congrats on your Sony head unit install while preserving the awesomely fabulous Volvo 240 HA-4120 AMP (PN 3533004) and corresponding factory wire harness!

Does your Sony model head unit CD receiver include a power AMP inside it or is it only a pre-amp output? If preamp output, could you please indicate the preamp out voltage? 2V, 2.5, 4, or ????

I've performed no modifications to the set up in the awesome, yet perpetually reliable (save for my goofy, yet minor, mechaniking mistakes) in the 1991 Volvo 240 sedan. I use a Sony portable CD player D-NF610. The owner manual indicates an output, using the 4.5 VDC cigarette lighter or AC-DC adapter, of .5 milliwatt at a 16 ohm input load, typical of some headphones. I guess the .5 milliwatt output is a fraction of even a 2 volt preamp out from a in dash head unit CD receiver.

On my roadtrips to western WA-state and NorCally last year, the Sorny CD player was more than loud enough and TransWarp (speed limit) velocities. The little HA-4120 amp was loud, clear, and tranduced the CD-quality sound. Yet with a more powerful input the amp output should be louder.

As some make mention, I'd been to Crutchfield and am blown away by the selection and clear logic Mr. Crutchfield pioneers in his Web site. But the modern single DIN radios for a 1991-92 240 saloon (sedan) are sort of gaudy and some are not, yet all have built in amps of 4x22 watts to 4x25 watts.

So, Todd, if you could please, indicate the Sony in-dash single DIN model you are using?

...

The 1992 240 GL I have, in the dark metallic verdigris (green), a prior owner had some ultra powerful stereo in it and hacked up several un-radio-related harnesses. I've repaired some of that damage. It has speaker holes in the front doors and on the rear hat shelf created at the factory. The prior owner used velcro to secure 4" alpine SPS-100A speakers. One the rear hat shelf that person had 5.5" Alpine SPS-130A speakers under the factory black square grilles. In the trunk were the alpine speaker grilles. I'm putting these components back together and figuring out the horrible speaker wire mess. This person had some massive subwoofer box or tube with velcro securing it to the trunk floor carpet (yet nothing securing the carpet). Anyhoo, like to install a CD receiver head unit preamp out only (no built in power amp), connect to the HA-4120 (Volvo PN 3533004), and use the HA-4120 to drive the alpine speakers that came in the car when I bought it in August 2007.

I have one other HA-4120, and would like to use it to drive two other speaker pairs in the 1992.

I had a late 1970s or early 1980s blaupunkt or telefunken AM (MW, actually), FM receiver with preamp only out put. I wired it up in my 1979 245 or 242 GT or a relative's 245. AM and FM reception were beyond anything. I had used a Clarion Hi-Way Fidelity MK-II 300EQB-3 with it and some junkyard pulled speakers and that radio rawked and rolled!!!! Left it behind. Oh well.

cheers,

Egg Nawg.
--
RIP, yet beloved:
1975 244 DL (B20, M40)
1976 242 DL (B21, M46, Moonroof - an SRO?)
1979 245 DL (B21, M46)
1979 242 GT (B21, M46, Moonroof - an SRO? Grey Market from Holland)
Currently owned, beloved, operating, and getting better all the time(!):
1990 240 (245) DL (B230, M47 II)
1991 240 (244) (B230, M47 II, Moonroof. Grey Market from Germany)
1992 240 (244) GL (B230, M47 II, L-jet 3.1, Moonroof)