amp control/remote

I just bought a 1983 Mercedes 300D to run on biodiesel. The old Eclipse head-unit seems to be shot, but the car has a working ADS amp. All I want to do is play my ipod. I got a cheap Dual cassette head unit because it has a 2.5" jack in the front.

I am having trouble connecting the Dual to the amp. The Eclipse had blue/white and ORANGE / white both to single orange wire to the "remote" on the amp. The Dual does not have that those wires. I assume these wires tell the amp to go on when I turn on the head unit. Can I make this work with the Dual or do I have to eat the cost of that and get a head unit with some sort of amp control?

there is no blue with white wire on the dual's wiring harness?  that should be the only wire neccesary to turn the amp on.....but im not familiar with ads' product....that and some rca connections should be all that you need....the orange white should be a dimmer control lead that would normally be hooked to a dimmer circuit in the vehicle.....hmmmmi wonder if the previous owner of your mercedes knows something that nobody else does but i doubt it......dont get me wrong a better headunit would make a world of difference but it shouldnt be required.....

If there's no blue/white, try using the blue wire. If it only works on radio, you can connect to the red wire (accessory). However, this will turn on your amp whenever the key is turned, independent of the radio.

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My ex once told me I have a perfect face for radio.

Dual has black, red and blue, no blue/white. The Eclipse has ORANGE / white and blue/white to Orange and Orange ends up in the ADS remote.

To make it easy, I should have gotten a head unit with those wires. Crutchfield says that the blue on the Dual should go to the Orange on the ADS.

What head unit should I get if all I want is to control treble/base and use the amp?

Thanks.

sounds to me like the previous owner wanted the head unit to dim when it was powered on. strange. anyway, the dual tape dech probably doesn't have an amp turn on. alot of the cheaper decks don't. even the "top of the line" dual doesn't have a dedicated amp turn on, only an antenna turn on. just use the red acc. wire for the amp turn on. idealy, you need to use a relay, but can be done without.

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Whatever you do, DO NOT let the white smoke leak out of the wires.....

It would be in specs. of almost any HU if it has an ext. amp turn-on wire. I don't think that the dimmer and amp turn-on wires should be hooked-up together.
Dimmer should only work when your lights are on.

true, dimmer shouldn't be hooked to the remote turn on wire, but shouldn't hurt anything if it is. it'll just dim the unit when it comes on which could be why someone had it wired that way, the unit was too bright and didn't have a contrast setting and they couldn't find the dimmer wire........or they might just have not known what they were doing.

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Whatever you do, DO NOT let the white smoke leak out of the wires.....

Thanks for all the input. The red out of the Dual should go both to the red electrical in the car and the orange of the amp? What kind of relay. I've never done this before. Thanks.

a relay isn't nessesarily needed. usualy, the acc. feed from the car is enough to run a deck and the amp turn on. if you want to use a relay, any standard bosch style relay will do. terminal 85 to ground, 86 to vehicle acc., 87 to +12v fused, 30 to the amp turn on.

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Whatever you do, DO NOT let the white smoke leak out of the wires.....

I found a blown fuse in the yellow wire out of the battery. I must have blown that today. It all started to sink in (my brain). I realized that the yellow wire is constant. I hooked the yellow wire to the orange wire "remote" on the amp. That turned on the amp, so I plugged iPod into the amp with a Y to RCA cable. I then realized that the yellow wire was a bad source to power the amp because it would stay on all the time, draining the battery. I next realized that the red wire could go to the amp since it turns on when the ignition goes on. I got the Dual to play the radio, but could not get it to play the ipod through the 2.5" jack in the front. Either I have a bad cable or the Dual is defective.

Do I even need the Dual, assuming I can get it to work? I wanted it for two things:
1. A switch, which I no longer need since Im' using the switched red; and
2. A privative equalizer. I realized that the iPod has a built-in equalizer.

So, do I need the Dual?

If you're not happy with it, return it. All you need is a deck with an aux in- it doesn't have to be the 2.5mm jack, or be on the front. You can always use adapters and run an extension cord to a spot that's convenient for you to use.

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My ex once told me I have a perfect face for radio.

By the way, the amp power should have a designated power source that is coming straight from battery.

I returned the Dual and everything is working pretty well. My complaints are that the rear speakers are louder than the front (as expected since they are bigger) and that perhaps I could get more bass out of all the speakers if the iPod equalizer would let me. What low cost item should I consider (an equalizer perhaps)? Thanks.

Set the fade controls towards the front. If you want bass, I suggest saving up and purchasing a subwoofer and amp.

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My ex once told me I have a perfect face for radio.

geepherder, thanks for the reply, but I think you are missing a few facts.

1. I have an amp.
2. My speakers can put out more base that I can access from the EQ iPod.
3. I don't have any equipment to fade between front and back, thats the whole point of the question, what equipment should I get.

Otherwise, great post.

An external eq should fix the problems with fader and bass gains.

So can I assume your ipod is the sole source of your system, then? If so, I second Mike's recommendation of an eq/preamp.

I was under the assumption you were using another deck. Some decks with built in eq's allow you to tailor the sound for each source, so you could save one eq curve for ipod, another for cd, another for radio, etc. I believe this would be your best route.

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My ex once told me I have a perfect face for radio.

The iPod is the sole source right now. I can either go with a head unit or an EQ, depending on which does the most for the least money. I never expect to use a CD again and rarely listen to the radio.

What brand/model equipment would you recommend? Thanks.