So, when poking around under the dash panel (under the steering wheel), what do I find but a rather thick Monster cable? I couldn't tell where it came from or was going to, but I imagine I'll see more when I try to put in my old CD player this weekend. Old in the sense of, I bought it several months ago for my older Bonneville before it was totalled.

Looking in the trunk, it doesn't appear that there are any rear speakers in there right now, which isn't a problem at all since I already have some nice Pioneer 6x9'* I want to install anyway. But, strangely enough, I see more cables and some with RCA-style connectors! What in the world would these be for? I'm somewhat of an audio n00b obviously, but could there be an amp hiding in there somewhere (and how would this work with my CD player if it was there)? Why so much aftermarket cabling?

Oh, and also...it looks like the gain slider is gone somehow. The area where it would be, is still there, but the slider itself is nowhere to be found. I imagine this isn't really too important anyway since I'll be using an aftermarket CD player, but would it be too difficult to replace? And how would it affect the CD player?

What else....Oh yes, it sounds to me like only the speaker in the driver'* door panel is working, but I haven't even bothered to see how to fade or anything on the CD player that came with the car (also aftermarket), so I'm not sure if the right side one is not there or not connected or what. I do have front door panel speakers (4x6) that I used in my old Bonneville, but it looks like these will not work in the new car, correct? Ironically, I drove around the '92 SE for almost six months with only rear speakers, because I didn't get around to (and never felt like) installing the front ones until literally the week before it was rear-ended and totalled. So I wouldn't have a problem running with just the rears for a while.

I think that'* it for now....thanks in advance for any help!

Edit: One more thing....would the same wiring harness that I used in my '92 SE work fine, or is there a different one I should get? I do remember a wire or two being unused last time....would this affect anything the SSEi has that the SE didn't? (The auto headlights, the power antenna...I really don't know :P ) For example, I remember a "system remote control" wire that wasn't used...What is the meaning of all this???

Edit 2: I've been reading a little more, and it appears that the gain slider controls a separate amp for the rear speakers...? And that there may be possibly two sets of connections per speaker as opposed to just one...? I haven't yet bothered to look and see if the tweeters are back there are not, but there is clearly a place where they would have been in the past. So if I installed my rear speakers, would it go through the CD player'* amp...or the Bose amp...? And which would be better (and how would I switch between the two, if this is possible)? This just gets more confusing as I read more...there'* still the issue of those RCA cables I see back there, and I have no idea why they're there or what they're for. Any help is much appreciated!

Chances are that the cable was used for an aftermarket amp. Do the wires go into the trunk? Do they go in behind the head unit? You could probably use them if you knew what they were for.

I managed to install my CD player without too much trouble, and even got the wiring correct for the power antenna. I did buy a new wiring harness, but it turned out that I didn't need it. Of course, I only figured this out after I started cutting wires....

In any case, whoever installed the previous aftermarket CD player really ghetto-rigged the wiring. That was why only one speaker was working....the other one wasn't even connected! Luckily though, they did use another harness, leaving the factory connector alone. And apparently the wires I saw did at one point go to an amp in the trunk, but that amp is no longer there. I don't really have a use for the wiring since I don't have a separate amp, but I'm also not going to bother to remove it either, just in case I do get one in the future.

I was going to try to install my rear speakers today, but it looks like the plastic things that the speakers actually screw into, aren't there at all. So I'll have to find new ones, but I imagine that shouldn't be too much trouble.

What color was the wire under the dash? Sure it wasn't the main SIR system wire to the airbag on the drivers side?

It was purple....once I looked around some more, it was obvious that it was an audio cable, since I saw the two RCA connectors in the area behind the CD player, and two more from that cable coming out in the trunk.

Oh, and where would I go about finding the plastic speaker mounting things? I guess whoever took out the rear speakers from the car before, just took out the whole thing (speaker + plastic riser) without bothering to unscrew them.