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Pinout of 13 pin din Amp Connector on McIntosh HUs

70K views 23 replies 18 participants last post by  gen2lover 
#1 ·
So, being as I want to install my own Kenwood Excelon headunit in to my VDC, the McIntosh has to come out. I DO, though, want to utilize the amp under the seat provided with the McIntosh system. That way, I just have to add a sub amp and sub and I'm done.

Only problem is, the McIntosh deck connects to the amp with a 13 pin changer style DIN cord. All aftermarket HUs have RCA jacks for their line out. I pulled the deck out tonight, yanked the interface board, and determined the pinout of the din cable. All channels are line level.

The deck model number is PF-23431-A.

As you look at the female DIN cable coming from the deck: (X is a pin)
Code:
4   3   2   1
X   X   X   X
8   7   6   5
X   X   X   X
12  11  10  9
X   X   X   X
      13
       X
1: Front Left +
2: Front Left -
3: Front Right +
4: Front Right -
5: Amp Turn-On/Remote
6: Ground
7: Rear Left +
8: Rear Left -
9: Not used
10: Not used
11: Rear Right +
12: Ground
13: Rear Right -


Feel free to distribute this info anywhere! :)


Put the HU all back in, now to make a din -> RCA adapter and figure out where to mount my sub amp/sirius tuner/Music Keg!
 
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#2 ·
Other Outputs

Sorry to revive an old thread, but...

Do you know if the McIntosh unit has speaker level outputs as well? I'm trying to retrofit a McIntosh unit into my Nissan Frontier, and am trying to figure out the wiring.

On the standard Subaru wiring harness, the standard plug has the speaker level outs. This unit has the 13 pin changer style din, but does that mean there are "also" line level outs?

Does anyone have a mapping of all the wiring for a McIntosh Head Unit?

Thanks,

mike
 
#3 ·
Subaru McIntosh 13 pin diagram further info.

The Subaru Outback 2002 McIntosh System consists of an AM/FM/Weatherband/CD/Cassette Stereo Control Center (preamp). A 200 watt Amplifier under the right front seat. This amp has a four Channel input but a five channel output since it adds a subwoofer channel. This amp features a 6 band, 4 channel parmetric equalizer. It has two front tweeters as well as front and rear right and left 6.5" coaxial speakers. The subwoffer is a 6" X 9" mounted in the right rear cargo area on wagon models and the left rear parcel shelf on sedan models. There is special acoustical treatment in this vehicle which makes a great difference.

I put a Butler Car Tube Amp (TDB 575+) in with an Alpine PXE H650 imprint DSP. I wanted to keep the McIntosh HU and have it so upon selling the car I could simply detach harnesses and then clip wires under carpets and all would be restored to the original factory system. I have not modified the speakers but later intend to swap out the front speakers for Hybrid Technologies middle line L series. I double checked this below wiring info and it was accurate. My system works perfectly and I was careful to solder all connections as this is too much work to have noise from somewhere unknown. I noticed after listening to my modified system that the original McIntosh amp shunted (ie X0) the lower frequencies from the front and rear speakers to the sub in the back. I suspect this was to allow a less powerful amp to be used. I have much more power now (75 watts min per channel, 200 on channel 5 -with the special plus + model) and the sound is richer. BTW, you can get 13 pin female connectors to "tap" off the car DIN from showmecables.com but let them solder the wire to the female DIN.

Subaru Mcintosh wiring harness for Outback 2002

View is facing factory wiring harness connector for McIntosh Stereo CD Cassette player
(Information from: http://www.northursalia.com/modifications/misc/wiring/radiowrx.html )
I have changed the color coding from the above Australian link to correspond with my US model Subaru. 90% agreement.

1 2 3 X X 4 5 6
7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

1 Violet Radio Illumination Light +
2 Red/Yellow Right Front door tweeter/speaker (+) (Brown/white at Speaker)
3 Brown/White Left Front door tweeters/speaker (+) (red/yellow at speaker)
4 Blue/Yellow Right Rear door speaker (+) ( blue/yellow at speaker)
5 White/Red Left Rear door speaker (+) (blue/yellow at speaker)
6 Blue/Red Main Fuse box, fuse no. 2 (15A) (battery - continuous power)
7 N/A Unused (Remote Turn on)
8 White/Black Right front door tweeter/speaker (-) (Green at Speaker)
9 Green Left front door tweeter/speaker (-) ( White/Black at Speaker)
10 Yellow/Green Fuse and relay box, fuse number 9 (15A) (ACC - switched power)
11 Black Chassis ground
12 Red/White Right rear door speaker (-) (red/White at Speaker)
13 Red/Black Left rear door speaker (-) (red/White at Speaker)
14 Green Remote Amp Turn On
? Orange/White Radio Illumination Light (-)


Metra Electronics Corp. Subaru male wiring harness number 70-8301

1 orange Illumination
2 gray Right Front +
3 White Left Front +
4 Violet Right Rear +
5 Green Left Rear +
6 Yellow 12 V battery/memory
7 N/A
8 Grey/Black Right Front -
9 White/Black Left front -
10 Red 12 V ignition/Acc.
11 Black Ground
12 Violet/Black Right Rear -
13 Green/Black Left Rear -
14 Blue Power antenna or Remote turn on


Subaru 2002 Outback Macintosh amplifier (under right front seat) wiring harness
(Information from Personal visual color code verification and Subaru web site paid access to wiring diagrams which do not include the DIN diagrammed further below)


1 Red/Black Power
2 Violet Right Front +
3 Pink Left Front + (Strangely, on my unit the polarity of 3and 9 was reversed! I believe my factory amp was wired in error)
4 Light Green Right Rear +
5 Orange Left Rear +
6 Violet Subwoofer +
7 Red/Black Power
8 White Right Front -
9 White Left front -
10 Black Ground
11 Black Ground
12 White Right Rear -
13 White Left Rear -
14 White Subwoofer -



Subaru 13 pin Din cable wiring diagram
( information from: http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4426&highlight=MCINTOSH ) and http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/worklogs/100994-my02-subaru-liberty-b4-audan-worklog.html

audan post dated 4-15-2007. This DIN cable appears to be male at both ends but I have verified it only at the amp end. It carries a line level output to the amplifier.


The view is as you look at the female DIN coming from the deck: (X is a pin)

4 3 2 1
X X X X
8 7 6 5
X X X X
12 11 10 9
X X X X
13
X




1: Front Left+
2: Front Left-
3: Front Right+
4: Front Right-
5: Amp Turn-On/Remote
6: Ground
7: Rear Left+
8: Rear Left-
9: Not Used
10: Not Used
11: Rear Right+
12: Ground
13: Rear Right-
 
#4 ·
Hi Guys,

I have been reading this thread with great interest because in my 2002 VDC the McIntosh head unit has been getting errors with the CD player.

I was curious to know if using the line out connections from the new head unit to the McIntosh amp has worked well.

I know that I would need to solder in RCA connections on the wires to the amp. Has anyone done this? Did it work out?

Thanks.

John
 
#5 ·
A belated thanks, Shane ("condensr") and "GREENWOLF," wherever you are.

I've incorporated this information, along with pictures here (post #12 in my Subaru 'Stock HU info' thread on NASIOC).

Here's a better pin-out of the HU's 14-pin power/illumination harness (which has the speaker wires on other Subarus without the Mc system).

Pin 14 has always been for the power antenna control or antenna booster amplifier (never for a speaker amplifier). Pin 7 has always been for the Subaru's dimmer circuit (while this is the "negative" side of all the illumination bulbs, it has a variable voltage, and not simply ground).
 
#6 ·
Pin 14 has always been for the power antenna control or antenna booster amplifier (never for a speaker amplifier). Pin 7 has always been for the Subaru's dimmer circuit (while this is the "negative" side of all the illumination bulbs, it has a variable voltage, and not simply ground).
So pin 7 (and not pin 1??) would be what I hook up to the deck in order for it to dim w/ the dash lights?

What should I use for a remote wire for an amp if not pin 14??
 
#8 ·
Thanks for the posts guys. Without this info i would have never been able to swap the McIntosh deck in my outback out to a nice new JVC unit that plays MP3 etc...

Only thing that bugs me is some annoying RF whine. I used an old CD stacker cable to make up a replacement cable to the amp. Iv tried many attempts to shield the RCAs but still get RF whine. Any ideas?


All my attempts haven’t altered the amount of RF one iota. Iv even earthed out the shield from the cable to the back of the deck but no change. Has anyone else had this problem, and if so how have you resolved it?

PS. My best mate, has exactly the same problem with a B4 that he swaped the McIntosh deck out on, but he has just lived with the whine for a few years now.
 
#9 ·
alternator whine

I have the same issue, I replaced my McIntosh with a JVC R820BT, I now I have a terrible alternator whine. When the key is switched to just accessories ON there's no noise. But when you turn the whole car electrical system on, or start the car the noise is there and fluctuates with the RPM of the motor. I've tried using my phones audio output to run a signal into the RCA cables that bring the signal into the amp and this gets rid of the noise so it's definitely the head unit and not the amp or cabling harness. But I'm not sure what to do next, I might try putting an alternator noise suppressor between the battery and alternator, but this seems like a hack solution to me.
 
#10 ·
Generally noise issues with radios (and I have no experience with the Mc system in your OB) are ground related. I would remove the radio from the car but still use the wiring and see if the noise changes. It might be something as simple as ground the H/U to the chassis or it could actually be inside the new H/U. It's good that you found that the noise goes away with a secondary source so you know it's related to just the radio.

Just as a side note Pioneer radios used to be (and some still are) notorious for burning up a pico fuse in the RCA output circuitry if the radio was powered up and an RCA cable was unhooked.
 
#11 ·
Hey guys, been reading A LOT about replacing my 2001 VDC's McIntosh unit with an aftermarket double DIN one. What is the procedure using the pin out diagram for wiring the new HU while keeping the sub and amp? I'd really like to keep the amp and sub but would like bluetooth and whatnot without having to use one of those hideous tape player line ins. Any help would be great!

The big thing I'm curious about is how you wire the harness that comes with the new unit (say, the one Crutchfield gives you) to the one behind the dash. I called Crutchfield and they basically said I had to skip out on the amp and sub and re-wire the whole car.
 
#12 ·
I've been working on this for a couple of days. I created a custom harness with RCA cables and a 13 pin DIN cable I bought off eBay.

Everything works great - sounds even better than the stock McIntosh head unit, but I'm also getting the whine.

I'm going out of town tomorrow, but I'm planning to work on it some more when I get back. I have a couple of ideas regarding ground, but it's still a work in progress.
 
#15 ·
Muting plug is a diagnostic tool- you can make one for almost nothing. It's generally an RCA male plug with the shield wired to the hot pin- shorted. Mute. Can't possibly contribute a signal to the amp.

Re-routing grounds to head unit & amp usually do the trick. You could also try re-doing your custom harness with different cable- shielded, or maybe make up something from twisted pair.
 
#16 ·
This is odd. Before I installed everything back in the dash, it seemed to be working perfect - no whine at all. I'm now getting a faint whine since it's all back in the dash.

Ugh... I really don't feel like ripping it all apart at this point. I'm going to try listening at each speaker to see if I can isolate it more. I'm wondering if the front right door speaker could be it, since it's about blown - popping and crackling. Or, maybe there's a short or loose connection going to it.

The battery terminals have some light corrosion, which the dealer didn't do a very good job of cleaning. Do you think this could be a factor?
 
#17 ·
Your speaker ever end up blowing? I had a crackle with my Mc unit (debating replacing it) and now my front right is totally blown and back right is starting to blow out...

Also debating just rewiring it all since the mc amp is supposed to do 8 ohms, and uh.. yeah good luck finding 8 ohm drivers. But of course new head unit + amp(s) + speakers adds up real quick..
 
#21 ·
just got a 2002 VDC OBW 3.0 every thing seems to work but no sound dealer has tried 3 different HUs and still no sound any help will be appreciated!!!!!!
check fuses in / on / around the amp under the passenger seat.
 
#23 ·
Talk about waking the dead. You having an issue with the McAmp / sub?
 
#24 · (Edited)
For anyone still doing this stuff, here is a link to a guy who details the wiring to a T. It addresses the whining issue as well. (Basically, don't hook up the shield of the RCA cables to the negative input of the amp. Rather, connect them to the chassis of the amp via the DIN cable shield to prevent the whine.)
Also a link to a service manual for the amp and a resistor hack to bump up the subwoofer output portion of the amp.

 
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