Which in dash cd player is better?

In Dash Cd Player won't power on.?

• I took my brother's Alpine cd player out of his old Monte Carlo that isn't runinng and installed it in my 84 Caprice Classic with a wiring harness so i didn't have to cut my wires and it won't power on. I Double checked that the wiring is correct and used an electrical tester to verify that it was getting power to the cd player and I also took off the faceplate and it seems to be getting power to the faceplate. Anybody have an idea why it won't turn on and what I can try to get it to turn on? I heard that some cd players have an anti theft system that fries the cd player when removed but his car battery was dead so I don't see how it could have fried it. Any help would be appreciated.

• Answer:

  First, pull any on-board fuses (some high-end units have a small fuse at the unit as backup for the preamps. With the faceplate off, look for a tiny hole with a reset button in it...about the size of a bic pen point. You should have 2 power lines, most likely one yellow (constant) and one red (switched feed), and you need to confirm that both have power. The constant line keeps the clock and presets in memory, and is hot at all times...while thefeed (heavier red line) is only on when the key is on, or in the accessory position. The small light under the faceplate confirms the constant, and you need to check for a feed at the unit's power line by poking a small hole in the insulation AFTER the splice (close to the unit), and pulling the key back to ACCS position. *patch the small hole with tape when done. Also confirm a solid ground (black line), and if you can't confirm it by sight, then place the tester between the yellow (constant) and the black...the tester should show hot (read 12volts) thus confirming both lines. Some older units have an internal trip that will disable the power supply if removed, but the reset switch should bring it back...and for the record, this happened before you touched it, when his battery died...has the same effect. Also, use one confirmed-good speaker to double-check your outputs, especially if you're using old speakers and-or guessing about the connections.