I have a 1987 740 that I would like to connect a kenwood tape player/radio to. I think I can get a match-up for the wires, wit hthe exception of the black plug in cable from the amplifier. The kenwood plug will not accept the volvo cable (different number and arrangement of pins). My question is will this radio work if I just connect the speaker wires, power wires, etc., without connecting the amplifier. I don't need high-power sound, so does the radio/tape have an internal amplifier, with the volvo amplifier under the dash just serving as a "boost" mechanism? I hope this is the case, as I can't see how to connect the anplifier cable to the kenwood unit. thanks in advance for any help/ideas.

I had a similar issue with a Blaupunkt I that I put in our 745T. I got a harness kit from Crutchfield. I called them and had it in a few days. Cost was about $10 or so. I ended up pulling the factory radio and amplifier and wired the supplied adapter harness right to the speaker wires. Worked great!
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D '90 745T 216k, '88 744GLE 128k, '96 328i, '73 911T 100k+

I believe the Kenwood has a built in amp. On the box it should give watts/RMS or something like that. The Volvo is the first auto I've dealt with that has an amp stock for their radios. Probably something to do with them being made by Alpine. Anyway, I would just bypass the amp altogether, maybe even take it out. Your Kenwood head unit should give you ample output.

Keith

You really need to check the specs on your Kenwood to se if it has an internal amplifier--no way we can guess that from here. If the only output from the Kenwood is labeled "speakers" or "line level" or the like, it's probably internally amplified. Are the wires labelled on the Kenwood? If so, do the wires have designations for speakers?

Do not try to run speaker/line level output from the Kenwood through the Volvo amp--the amp is designed for much lower level input, and you will fry it in short order if you try to "boost" a speaker-level signal with it.

You might try searching the site with the Kenwood and model number, in case there is a prior post which will ansewr your question. Also hunt up the Kenwood website and get the specs from them for your model number.
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We have met the enemy and they is us. [Pogo] S70 T5 cop car : Rough Rider suspension, Walmart fog lights, eBay speakers, ambiance by Pall Mall, trim by Le Duc d'Tape, 8-channel THD by OEM amps