Radio/Stereo: Who has replaced a SC901

[JimmyC]

Ok... I have lost the will to live (again). After spending all morning searching the UK, US and Swedish websites I still am none the wiser.

Who out there has replaced their SC901?
What did you replace it with (exact model number of the Headunit please)
Did you manage to get the centre speaker wired up and working?

If you can answer the above 3 questions, then be prepared that i'll be following them up with:
Are you still running with the Dolby Surround sound plugged in?
Where do the "Main" and "sub" leads go now?
Are you still running with the 4x100W amp connected?
Where did you buy the converter cable (DIN to RCA)?
Where did you get the ISO converters from?

The 3cd changer has now given up the ghost, and I can't stand my 100mile daily commute without a CD player.

Thanks

[capt jack]

We replaced the SC901 in our S70.........with an SC805. The multichange mechanism was very unreliable and kept eating CDs, when it bothered to work at all.

The SC805 was a straight swap, with all the connectors matching up, no adaptors were needed. It's been in and working for a couple of years now with no problem.

Our local independent Volvo specialist sourced the replacement unit for us within a matter of days, but I believe that these units come up on Ebay frequently

The other option is to go for an after-market unit - but finding a double-Din unit - or an acceptable single-Din and appropriate trim panel might be a bit bit of a challenge.

Good luck

Jack

[ian_w]

Originally Posted by JimmyC

Ok... I have lost the will to live (again). After spending all morning searching the UK, US and Swedish websites I still am none the wiser.

Who out there has replaced their SC901?
What did you replace it with (exact model number of the Headunit please)
Did you manage to get the centre speaker wired up and working?

If you can answer the above 3 questions, then be prepared that i'll be following them up with:
Are you still running with the Dolby Surround sound plugged in?
Where do the "Main" and "sub" leads go now?
Are you still running with the 4x100W amp connected?
Where did you buy the converter cable (DIN to RCA)?
Where did you get the ISO converters from?

The 3cd changer has now given up the ghost, and I can't stand my 100mile daily commute without a CD player.

Thanks

Fitted a CD changer in the boot to mine to fix the problem. Your C70 is probably pre-wired for the changer ( remove LH boot side panel and you will see where it goes ). Used Volvo changers are about £60-80 off Fleabay and should just drop in.

[malc-c]

there's a 901 up for grabs on fleabay for £200 Here

Or just a 6 CD changer here Currently at £63 with just over a day to go

[JimmyC]

OK... I have done LOADS of searching now... and I have a solution. I'm posting it here to help others who also have a SC901 and want to change it. I took oodles of photo's, but to simplify things, I'll just show a couple here.

Starting off then. We have the stock setup:
Attachment P1000492. I have a Dolby Surround processor, 4x100W amp in the boot and a centre speaker in the dash.
The back of the SC901 looks like Attachment P1000495. You can see that there is a MAIN car ariel, but also a SUB ariel. This is also known as the "Diversity" ariel and it is supposed to help with receiption in poor areas. The MAIN ariel is a standard ISO ariel connector (so no adapters will be needed for that).
Then there is CD Changer socket (mini din), the Dolby connector, and the Amplifier connector. There are 3 sockets above. The 14 and 10 pin sockets are standard in (nearly) all volvos, but the green 5-pin socket is "special" since it connects to the centre speaker in the dashboard.

OK. Pinouts for those connectors
SD14 (14pin)
1 - Nothing connected but would be Left Dash Speaker +
2 - Nothing connected but would be Left Dash Speaker -
3 - Blue&Yellow cable, Antenna
4 - Green&Brown cable, Battery
5 - Nothing connected, can't find out what this WOULD be for
6 - Black cable, Ground
7 - Nothing connected but would be Right Dash Speaker +
8 - Nothing connected but would be Right Dash Speaker -
9 - Nothing connected but would be Telephone Mute (see below).
10 - Pink cable, Rheostat (this allows the illumination to dim)
11 - Nothing connected but would be another ground
12 - Red/Black cable, Battery
13 - Yellow/Violet cable, power when in Accessory mode of the ignition
14 - Black cable, Ground

I have an "aerial down switch" that allows me to retract the aerial even when the stereo is still playing (for the neatness of the lines when the roof is off). This harness has all of the above connections as a "pass through" even though the SC901 stock harness only has the above colours. This has allowed me to wire in a Nokia carkit and do the telephone muting on the 9wire.

SD10 (10pin)
1 - Nothing connected but would be Left Rear Speaker -
2 - Nothing connected but would be Left Rear Speaker +
3 - Nothing connected but would be Left Door Speaker -
4 - Nothing connected but would be Left Door Speaker +
5 - Nothing connected but would be Right Rear Speaker -
6 - Nothing connected but would be Right Rear Speaker +
7 - Yellow&Black cable. This is the speed volume control
8 - Nothing connected Dont' know what this would be for
9 - Nothing connected but would be Right Door Speaker -
10 - Nothing connected but would be Right Door Speaker +

You'l have noticed that none of the speaker connections have anything in them. That's because the Amplifier runs all 10 speakers... 10? Yes, the centre speaker is run from the next connector

Green 5pin
1 - Black cable, Ground
2 - Nothing connected, don't know what it is for
3 - Brown cable, no idea what this does
4 - Blue&Black cable, Centre Speaker -
5 - Blue&White cable, Centre Speaker +

I took the top off the centre speaker, and only the "-" and "+" cables arrived there. I don't know where the Black and Brown cables went.

OK. Now for the replacement unit. I looked at loads of stereo's. The only MUST HAVE is that it must have 2 pre-outs at the back. I went for the Kenwood KDC-W6537U since it plays MP3 cd's, IPODs and USB sticks. Others that have seen have gone for DVD, slide out screens, double din's you name it.

The "magic" that connects the NEW stereo to the Volvo connectors is:
PC2-37-4. The books all say that this doesn't work on the C70 with a premium sound, but what they mean is that it won't work the speakers. That's ok, we have an AMP to do that, what this DOES do is give us POWER.
You then need something that can convert from the 2 RCA pre-outs on the back of the new unit, and the Amplifier connector. There appear to be 2 sellers, QuickBrick Motorsports with their "HU Adapter Cable" and Soundlinx with their VOL02RCA. Personally, I'm a geek so I built my own!

The install was as simple as sliding out the old unit, sliding the new one in. Use the two adapters between the old cables and new unit, and that's it!
I clamped the telemute cable of the Kenwood onto the #9wire of the SD14 harness so that my nokia kit works.

This still left a "hole" in the dash. For £17 (inc vat) Volvo will sell you a 8CD box that fits into the remaining single DIN space. Part numbers 9192749 and its surround 9192751.
As you can see in attachment P1000587 it looks pretty neat.


So what am I left with?
I have a Dolby surround processor that does nothing (but I really don't miss it).
I have a diversity aerial cable that isn't connected to anything (Some people "splice" this to the main aerial, but I haven't bothered).
I have a CD changer cable, but never had the cd changer anyway
I have a centre speaker that does NOTHING.... well... maybe not! in the next could of weeks I will have a "play" at connecting the Nokia carkit so that it uses the Centre speaker rather than its own.

I hope this helps anyone else who is frustrated with the SC901 not playing CD's and who thinks they are stuck with no other options. If you want to know more (like someone comes across this thread in years to come) then reply to this thread and I'll help where I can.

[malc-c]

Glad to hear you have a result.

I've one question, regarding the Nokia car kit. I have an old bracket with cabling that has been garaged fitted and have the same 901 audio unit. I would love to remove this, however as its wired into the audio unit have left it well alone. You mention the telephone mute wire, is this the only wire that would be connected to the 901 to enable the phone to work through the speakers (I don't have the phone so its no use to me having the car kit installed)

For info - I don't have the centre speaker / 6 cd option - just the normal 3 cd version of the 901

[JimmyC]

You mention the telephone mute wire, is this the only wire that would be connected to the 901 to enable the phone to work through the speakers (I don't have the phone so its no use to me having the car kit installed)
If you have the Amplifier, then it must be a pretty whizzy harness that has been used to get the phone to work through the cars speakers. I read about one being sold over the internet, but for simplicity sake I used the stock car-kit as much as I could. The MUTE wire that I mentioned (pin 9 on the 14pin socket) merely sends a signal to the headunit to mute all sound that it is producing and tell it to put the words "Telephone mute" on the display. The car kit that I use (Cark-132 I think) has a dedicated small square speaker to play the voices through.

For info - I don't have the centre speaker / 6 cd option - just the normal 3 cd version of the 901
in that case, you'll still have a space in the back of the 901 for the "green plug" that drives the centre speaker...just not the plug itself. You'll probably have the CDchanger wiring inplace as well.

[malc-c]

Thanks for the reply. I'll have to do some further investigation on what is actually connected between the unit and phone kit

[pangster]

others might find this useful:

http://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showth...light=pangster

here's my stereo fitted:

[1stRaven]

Originally Posted by JimmyC

.....
You then need something that can convert from the 2 RCA pre-outs on the back of the new unit, and the Amplifier connector. There appear to be 2 sellers, QuickBrick Motorsports with their "HU Adapter Cable" and Soundlinx with their VOL02RCA. Personally, I'm a geek so I built my own!
...

Just for info (since I have tried to purchase one), soundlinx no longer make the vol02rca lead.

I have tried quickbrick but after a week, I've heard nothing back so guess that they may also not make it any more.

Jimmy, any chance you can give us the wiring diagram for making our own adapter.

Cheers
Ryan