Anyone good with Saab audio out there??

Hello everyone:  I'm a new one in here, but i think my problems will be old hat for those of you who are experienced installers.  Here are the specs:

1986 Saab 900S 16 V; OEM stereo has already been replaced with one that i replaced for this current upgrade.  I am not doing anything radical here, just want some good tunes, clear sounds, and some volume.  Got a Kenwood KDC-119 Head Unit, 2 Blaukpaunt 4" for the front, and 2 Kenwood 4x10" for the rear.  All of the speakers are in and and the wiring is all set up.  Here are my problems:

1.  The head unit is extremely hot after about only ten minutes of use.  All four speakers worked well at first.  Then things started occurring. More in a minute.  After stopping and coming home, i pulled the head unit out and could not even touch--i actually burned my fingers.  The entire space insid ethe dash was very hot as were the wires.

2.  The sound would be fine for about two or three minutes and then a crackling noise and the volume would decrease to a low volume still with the distorted sound.  The receiver's wattage is definitely capable to supply the four speakers, so i am worried here.

3.  The system's lights will not shut down when the car is powered off.  The antennae will not go up either and no FM reception.

4.  When the system does the stuff in #2, i power off the system wait a minute and them powered it back up.  The volume would be fine for a minute or so and then do the same thing all over again.  Also all of the modulations i had done in terms of EQ were back at default and the clock was reset--obviously the memory wire...

Any and all ideas/help/curses, etc are appreciated.  Like i said, i'm not looking to enter a competition here or anything, but would like to have some decent stuff rumbling through my lovely Saab.  Thanks everyone

beno1

kent,ohio

First of all you have the CONSTANT and the IGNITION wired wrong. That's why the HU will not power down when you turn off the car and you loose all presets and clock memory. The overheating may be because:

• Your speakers are wired in parallel and the deck is trying to output a 2 ohm load.
• Your ground wire is not sufficient , that's why you are experiencing the heat and the poor sound quality
• Make sure that the Power antenns lead of the Kenwood is infact outputting a 12 volt signal when you switch over to TUNER on the HU. Otherwise try using the REMOTE TURN ON lead ( BLUE/WHITE or BLUE wire ) for the antenna
• If you have no antenna up you have no FM reception. Look above and se if this helps
• If the heat probelm pursists them you may want to re-wire the speakers without using the OEM wires

Thanks for your help Jeff:  I have been checking out a number of resources, and some people over at the saab forum also suggested what you are suggesting.  I also contacted Crutchfields and they as well tolkd me some of the same things.  I guess i know what i have to do all day tomorrow...but it is worth it.  Another question:  when i hooked up the red power and the yellow constant before, the unit would not power up.  when i hooked them up together the unit powered up, but as you said, the system stayed on the tnire time and would not shut off.  I just hope the heat is not too extreme for the system.

I'll post a reply in the afternoon tomorrow with my results. Thanks again!!

Have the rear speakers also been disconnected from the factory amp (under the rear seat)?  If you've run your own, brand new wire from the radio to the rear speakers, all should be fine.  But if you found a way to tap into the factory wiring instead, the amp must be disconnected.

I usually run two pair of speaker wire to under the rear seat, where I unplug the factory amp, and then neatly splice my new wires into the factory wires that go to the rear speakers.  Of course, I never cut off the factory plugs; you want to be able to revert to stock someday, if necessary.

If you have a multimeter, unplug the radio, and measure the DC resistance across each pair of speaker wires...it should be somewhere in the range of 4 ohms.  Next, place one of the meter leads to ground, and touch the other lead to each of the eight different speaker wires (two per speaker)...... if you get a significant reading on any of those, that wire is shorted to ground someplace.

The power antenna is probably failing to rise because the power antenna wire has not been connected.  I think it's a white wire, but it's hard to test now, if the factory radio is gone.  You should pretty much have two extra factory wires left over.....one is dash illumination, the other is power antenna.....hook up to the one that is NOT illumination.