I'm thinking about installing an in-dash CD player in my 740 Turbo Sedan. It is 100% stock and I don't want to go changing things too much. Any ideas on a good radio/CD player that won't "mess up" the dash and can be removed if I want to reinstall the old radio/tape player?

If you want to keep the stock look, have you considered just adding a cd changer.

The 91+ 940 radio (cr-814) is an exact fit for the existing radio

(td-6141), and will control an alpine changer. I went this route on my '90, as it sits at the airport 4-5 days a week.

Check out ebay. I paid 25 bucks for the radio, and less than 100 for the changer (which fit quite nicely in the glovebox). The adapter cable is available for about 20 from several places on the net.

The cr-814 also has a built in amp that drives 2 additional speakers (dash on the 940, i assume). I'm not sure about an internal crossover.

Brendan

'90 745t m46

Brendan:

What model Alpine CD changer did you use and where did you get the cable?

Thanks,

Tom

Any of the m-bus changers will work.

I'm not sure about the model numbers for the early 90's, but when alpine switched to the newer designations, the m-bus units are the CHM models. ie chm-s600, chm-s601, chm-s611 and so forth.

The adapter cable has the mbus plug on one end, and on the other a mini-din plug that fits into the back of the radio and two wires. One for constant and one for switched power.. easy enough to splice into the volvo harness with radio slack inline splices.

I ordered it through someplace in CA named i think audioetcetra, or something of the sort. Just search on yahoo.

Adapter name: VOL-ALP It fits the 940/960 and early 850 radios.

Brendan

'90 745t m46

BTW.. ebay happens to have a cr-814 radio on it now.. only at 15 bucks or so.

Arby,

Most any DIN chasis cd player will work. However you will need to purchase an installation kit for your dash. This kit contains a new trimplate that fills the space discrepancy between your stock radio and new one. It also adjusts for the angle of the dash to allow your cd player to reside in a level position. I bought mine at a local Best Buy store for about $12 maybe. Just inquire at any electronics store that also installs car stereos and they should be able to supply it or at least point you in the right direction. I ended up purchasing a used Alpine cd player on EBAY for around $100. I couldn't be happier with it. The wiring part of the install was the most time consuming but as long as you have diagrams to help you, it is doable. If you have any questions with the process or install just email me and I'll try to help.

I looked hard for a Blaupunkt, but in the end I bought a $220 Kenwood. It looks pretty good, is really easy to use, but not intuitive. The tuner section is very,very good on AM and FM.Couldn't be happier.

I punted on the wiring and ran new speaker wire. It was just too confusing.

I punted and installed an alpine cd changer in the trunk...ran the FM modulator up under the dash and patched into the antenna...the cd pumps into the fm stage at 88.5 whatever and works ok. The control pad I cut into the dash just above the glovebox. If I want to take it out I won't, because the hole would be there, but the piece of trim is available and I guess I could replace it.

I chose not to pull the OEM radio/cassette out because I didn't want to follow the harness to the amplifier. I guess it's possible to leave the amp in and just disconnect it, go around to the chassis harness, so one could reinstall the OEM head unit.

Unfortunately, even with just the FM modulator input rather than a cleaner line level input, I want/need new speakers....paper won't cut it.

So keep in mind that once you go to a CD, you'll then want new speakers, a big amp, and probably a subwoofer. Woof!

I installed a Kenwood unit in place of the stock cassette stereo. I purchased an install kit Gregg mentions from Crutchfield. If you buy theirs

you get the trimplate that Gregg mention in addition to 2 wiring harnesses that mate to the stock Volvo ones, directions and wiring diagrams. Both harnesses attach to the wires that are coming out the cd receiver you choose. The harness for constant power/ignition on power/antenna/illum.

mates to the connector in the radio cavity that the stock unit was plugged into. The other harness plugs into the connector that you unplug from the

factory amp and feeds the speakers in each door. No cutting of the stock

wiring is required going this route. And within 30 minutes or less I could put the stock unit back in. I highly recommend the Crutchfield kit. And like JohnB said, after doing this the weak link will then be your stock paper cone speakers. I replaced the fronts with Boston Acoustics 5 1/4's

and Polk 5 1/4's in the rear. Sound is very clean for not having an amp.

And base is quite good considering no subwoofer. If i were to add anything it would be a CD changer. Good luck.