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My experience of swapping a C70 amp in a V70

Help, Advice and DIY Tutorials on Volvo's P80 platform cars -- Volvo's 1990s "bread and butter" cars -- powered by the ubiquitous and durable Volvo inline 5-cylinder engine.

1992 - 1997 850, including 850 R, 850 T-5R, 850 T-5, 850 GLT
1997 - 2000 S70, S70 AWD
1997 - 2000 V70, V70 AWD
1997 - 2000 V70-XC
1997 - 2004 C70

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Goupil
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Volvo Repair Database My experience of swapping a C70 amp in a V70

Post by Goupil »

Hello,

I spent the last 2 days working on swapping a P80 C70 amp into my 1998 V70, and I've seen a some informations on the net that didnt match what I had so I'll share my experience.
This will be purely electrical, as the rest is well documented :lol: As usual, remember to unplug the battery as you'll have to lift a seat with an airbag.

This only applies to cars that already have an amp and the SC900/901 unit.
I recommend reading Fiodor's thread for cars without an amp anyway, it has a lot of pictures that will give an idea of what you'll have to do.
viewtopic.php?t=93646

The C70 amp I have is the 4x100W, it also exists in 4x60 and 4x75W variants. Here it is next to the factory V/S70 4x50W unit.
Image

You might want to look at this video first, this is what got me started into this idea


My install is different in 2 points:

1. Power supply

One thing I noticed on the C70 amp is that the power supply cable are THICK :shock: Meanwhile the stock amp power wires are barely bigger than speaker wire.

Looking at the diagrams, the factory amp (16/2) shares a 15A fuse (N°7) with the head unit
Image

Meanwhile in the C70, the amp runs off TWO PARALLEL 30A fuses (9 and 12, each on different main fuses) !
Image

Although you probably wont be listening to music at max volume all the time, I definitely wouldn't recommend using the factory wiring to power this big thing.
The C70 amp is a rebranded alpine V12 and people have pulled impressive currents with them.
https://www.amp-performance.de/en/122-A ... -F400.html

So I ran a pair of thick wires all the way to the battery, with two 30A fuses.A single 40A would probably be fine, I just used what I had and matched Volvo setup.
Ran the ground wire to the ground point under the A pillar, under the dash.

See the linked thread at the top on how to run the power wire, I did pretty much the same thing.

2. Speaker wiring

At the end of the HandyDan video is an instruction sheet on which wires to connect, but it didnt match with what I had so I did some digging.

The 1998 wiring diagram has two schematics for the S/V70 with 4x50W amp, called MOD1 and MOD2. What's the difference ? I dont know, other than some speaker wires have different colors :lol:

MOD1
Image
MOD2
Image

If your have a MOD2 car you're in luck, I've already done the work and this is how I've swapped the C70 plug onto my V70 :)

05/2023 EDIT: There was a mistake in my original table (quite sure the C70 schematics are wrong about the red/black and red/white colors) + forgot to dissociate the two red/white wires)
Image
If not, you'll have to take both the C70 and mod1 schematics and match up the channel wires

After some soldering/crimping I now have a C70 amp plug on my V70.
- The twisted green-brown wires in the back are the 12V that used to power the amp. Make sure to insulate them properly ! Black ones are grounds.
- There are two white-red wires ! The one on the 2pin green plug goes to the front right, main plug one is front left.
Image
Yes I vacuumed the car after taking that picture :mrgreen:

You can then plug everything in (power + speaker + 8 pin from HU) and use the Left/right and Fader settings on your SC900/901 to make sure the channels are where they should be.
Last edited by Goupil on 29 May 2023, 11:06, edited 1 time in total.
1998 Volvo V70 B5254T M56
1994 Volvo 945 B230FT M90
1985 Volvo 240 B230E

scot850
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Post by scot850 »

Thanks for the information. I now have to decide if I want to even try this, especially as my wife is now the main driver of the 'R' when in use in the spring/summer/autumn months. It is sleeping for 4-5 months a year due to our excessive use of de-icing agent and salt here.

Neil.
2006 V70 2.5T AWD Polestar tune
2000 V70 R - still being an endless PITA
2006 XC70 - Our son now has this and still parked in our garage
2003 Toyota 4Runner V8 Limited
2015 Kia Sportage EX-L - Sold
1993 850 GLT -Sold
1998 V70 XC - Sold
1997 Volvo 850 SE NA - Went to niece in California - Sold
2000 V70 SE NA - Sold

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Goupil
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Post by Goupil »

That was one of the job that's been on the list for a while, I started having issues losing entire channels so that got me motivated !

Still need to replace a dead speaker and I'll have a fully working audio setup again
1998 Volvo V70 B5254T M56
1994 Volvo 945 B230FT M90
1985 Volvo 240 B230E

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Post by Clemens »

Nice job. Now repeat for an 855 with 8 speakers, please ;-)
Summer: 1996 855 R
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Post by b2fkb0 »

Well done and thanks for noting the double power leads to the c70 amp. Since there is an optional subwoofer oem package that was available on the c70, there are outputs for such. However, since I added the amp to the original 8 v70r speakers (center dash is powered from the 900/901 radio) it has not blown the 15amp fuse. Also my friend who showed me this mod has never blown his fuses as he’s only running the 8 speakers as well in his v70.
I totally agree that to safely get the most out of that quality alpine amp the additional wiring would be in order. I’ll add this to my video when I get a chance! I very much enjoy learning about these amazing cars and it is amazing what we can do with them with the help of an awesome community!
Dan (HandyDan)

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Post by b2fkb0 »

Clemens wrote: 29 Jan 2023, 01:25 Nice job. Now repeat for an 855 with 8 speakers, please ;-)
The v70 setup only powers 8 speakers (center dash is powered from the radio), so just doing the wiring crossover and it should work. Note that your amp is likely under the radio so there is work running from there to under the seat or wherever you place it. Hope that helps.
Dan

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Post by BEJinFbk »

Clemens wrote: 29 Jan 2023, 01:25 Nice job. Now repeat for an 855 with 8 speakers, please ;-)
Take a closer look at the diagrams.
The V70 also has 8 speakers.
(Unless it has an SC-900/901 with
the Dolby option, then it has 9
).
'98 V70 R - Well Equipped for Life Up North... ;)

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Post by BEJinFbk »

b2fkb0 wrote: 31 Jan 2023, 16:18 Well done and thanks for noting the double power leads to the c70 amp. Since there is an optional subwoofer oem package that was available on the c70, there are outputs for such. However, since I added the amp to the original 8 v70r speakers (center dash is powered from the 900/901 radio) it has not blown the 15amp fuse. Also my friend who showed me this mod has never blown his fuses as he’s only running the 8 speakers as well in his v70.
I totally agree that to safely get the most out of that quality alpine amp the additional wiring would be in order. I’ll add this to my video when I get a chance! I very much enjoy learning about these amazing cars and it is amazing what we can do with them with the help of an awesome community!
Dan (HandyDan)
I'd absolutely agree that a heavy B+ run fused at the battery is a must.
Probably not vital to run a ground up to the battery, though. A solid chassis
ground with a short run of the same gauge to a seat bolt should be fine.

It's also worth pointing out that the OEM subs available in the cabriolet
seatbacks ran off of the same two rear channels of that Alpine V-12 based
amp as the rear kids and tweets with the aid of a pair of 3-way crossovers.
There was also a nifty little switch ( 3/146 )in the rear of the center console
to defeat the crossover's sub outputs.
.
00 C70 Vert Radio w Amp Diagram.pdf
(235.28 KiB) Downloaded 153 times
.
00C70 Vert Radio w Amp component locations.pdf
(220.11 KiB) Downloaded 122 times
.
I've had a 4x100w for a while, and my plan is to eventually go for the
underseat option and use a sum-mono passive crossover to a single
10" in the back. The only real difference is that my method is to avoid
cutting the 4x50 amp connector off of the amp harness. I'd prefer to
use individual connector pin pigtails.

A mating male pin on a short length of wire can be plugged into the
existing V70s OEM amp harness connector and then just land straight
on the amp's terminal strips. ( The way that Alpine intended :wink: ).
I'd prefer not to chop up the stock amp harness so that I can run it
all back to stock if I should ever decide to. Who knows - With some
digging, I may even be able to find the right plug housing for the
male pins. But that's just another plausible reason to keep putting
this job off. Like maybe talking to that guy at HexiBase about
coming up with a wicked cool, RTA matched and custom
contoured sub enclosure... And finding some matching
carpet for it so that it just blends into the wheel well.
Maybe an active crossover? Throw in a nice
EpiCenter bass processor? Then I'll need
a sweet place for that knob up front.
Next step - DynAudio all around.
And Great GooglyMoogly -
Those sets are getting
impossible to find...
Where Does It
All END?


Best Of Luck to All! :D
'98 V70 R - Well Equipped for Life Up North... ;)

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