new stereo sucks, what to do now

[dogstar]

Ok, I took some stereo equipment from my truck and had it installed into my sho. Now it sounds worse than before with my factory system with my Kicker CVR's hooked up to the factory sub amp.

One problem is that the powered antenna goes up with the ignition not with the stereo powered on or off. There is engine noise coming from the front speakers. Bass is way off and not powerful.

I had this system in a few cars and it was loud and deep, what gives why it is not now? I have went through the adjustments and it got better but still off. How do I find out that they indeed bypassed the factory amps?

Items installed: Mb Quart amp RAA2400 to the Kicker CVR'S, 2005 model, Front speakers is Infinity Reference 6032cf 6.5-Inch , head unit is JVC kd-g230.

Thanks for your input. Bryan

 

[kevinspann]

Okay.

Pull the head unit out, and see what they used to tie into the factory system. These cars are "dual wired" for regular, and for JBL systems. There is another plug off to the side from the factory, that can be used with the regular Ford stereo adapters VS a bypass harness ETC.


The antenna thing is common, if the headunit does not have a dedicated antenna power wire, then it will be always up when radio is on.

If they knew about this and used this, the amps in the trunk need to be unplugged. Radio will blow a fuse if not.

If they used an amp bypass harness, the amp should already be "unplugged"


I have Infinity Reference in the front of my car as well. If I got something else, I'd try to find something that puts out better lower frequencies - they can sound kind of tinny, where the highs are too high.

I may be/am talking out of my ass on this though.

 

[dogstar]

I give them the bypass harness but is there two places to hook it up to or only one? What are you meaning "the amp should be "unplugged"?" Do I need to unplug the factory amps in the back?

 

[dogstar]

Now I really do not think the done the radio install right. Should have done it myself. Ok I unplugged the black JBL amp and had no sound from the speakers at all. So if I am right from doing searches on here, I just need to move the amp bypass plug in the dash from one plug to another?

 

[dohcsable]

The black jbl marked amp should be bypassed with a jumper(if you don't have "premium sound" there will only be one silver amp on the pass side.). That allows the head unit to power the 4 in car speakers......it took me 4 tries at best buy to get the correct install kit for my 92.


Also, is the harness in the dash cut so you can't put a stock head unit back in? That will make things harder.

 

[dogstar]

Ok, been doing some investigating on whats going on with the stereo. First the shop didn't check if everything was working right. Only one rca wire is getting signal, that is why my subs is off.

The bypass harness that was given to me with the car by the po who had a system in it looked like this but all wires in picture was made into one harness, no do it yourself stuff.



Was this the right way or have you heard of this being all made into one harness?

 

[dohcsable]

The one on the left is supposed to be the jumper harness to bypass the factory jbl amp(the black one). The other two I believe are to be attached to your receivers harness and make it plug and play.


I'll pull the radio out of my 92 tomorrow and take a look at it and try to get pictures to help you.

 

[dogstar]

Does anything go to the jbl amp or do you just unplug it?

 

[dohcsable]

Unplug the amp and plug that connector on the left to each of its connectors.

 

[dogstar]

I wasn't given that connector. What I was given was like the one in the middle but was two of them wired to the one on the right. Was all done at the factory, not someone doing it themselves. Looks like I need the right connector.

This is the one I had. Not my picture.

 

[dohcsable]

my apologies, I didn't get home until after dark so I couldn't take a picture for you. I'll try for tonight.

 

[Eric VerValin]

When I put harnesses in the look like they came from the factory too. Maybe because I've built robotics before at a factory? lol Anyways, those aren't factory harnesses. Looks like an aftermarket harness for whatever radio they had in there.

The one there is a plug an play harness for your radio. What you're looking for is the other half of that light grey one, and there should be a black one inside there on the left hand side. Mine was push pined in place and I had to pop it out of there.

That little square one has all your speaker wires. LF,RF,LR,RR... blue is the one to turn your amp on, and the others are the keyed power wire, the constant 12v, ground, and the others that are escaping my brain.

Take that, look where it would plug in at, and you should be able to figure out what is what if you work backwards. Get some masking tape, and label them one at a time. Shouldn't take too long to figure out what's left.

Also.... how are you running your system? Are you going to use the HU to power the front speakers? Or are you going to split up your amp using the subs on one channel, and the front speakers on the other?

Either way, your headunit would do a better job powering the sub's than the factory amp. Neither would be good for the subs. Check the top of these threads... there should be a wiring diagram that should show what everything is.

These are the ones your looking for.... check the thread link below for more good info....




http://www.shoforum.com/showthread.php?t=111838

 

[dohcsable]

Here's what you should have in the back.

Here's mine behind the dash

Both oranges and the solid blue wire were not used at all.......ignore the solderless ****, it was only intended to last 6 months

 

[RonPorter]

Here's what you should have in the back.

Here's mine behind the dash

Both oranges and the solid blue wire were not used at all.......ignore the solderless ****, it was only intended to last 6 months

No Show on the pics.....for me, anyway.

 

[intimdatr]

The blue wire is the remote for power antenna.

 

[dogstar]

Thank you for the pictures and your advice and help. I am taking the car back to the shop who put in the stereo. I am not pleased with it at all.

 

[dohcsable]

No Show on the pics.....for me, anyway.

I phail at posting pictures with my phone......

 

[SHOBlu]

I don't post a lot anymore, but I've installed quite a few systems in my cars, each one better than the last. The system the OP is installing is a relatively simple one. Here's my take on it.

Question.....Did the install shop use RCA cables or speaker (high level) wires to get the signal to the sub amp? If they used the speaker wires then the sound would be seriously degraded, especially if the HU and amp aren't configured properly. If your head unit (HU) has preamp outs (RCA cables to get the signals to the amps) then it most likely has an internal crossover. You should be able to split the signals, IE. Some HU's will power the sub as the rear speaker through the pre amp (with a low pass filter) and then run the mids/highs off the HU's internal amp as the front speakers (with a high pass filter) .Personally, I would bypass the entire JBL system and do the following.......

-Read both the HU and amp manuals! All the info on set-up is in those two documents.

Amp wiring.......
-Power (+) dedicated wire from battery to amp
-Ground (-) amp to body in trunk
-Run RCA cables from HU to amp, red to red..... white to white
-Run amp on/off trigger wire from HU (unless amp has soft turn on/off)
-Run wires to sub, making sure their in phase....... positive to positive, negative to negative

Head unit wiring.......
-Wire HU to non JBL connector in dash (power, ground, amp and antenna turn on/off)
-Wire speakers from HU to factory speaker harness making sure their in phase........ positive to positive, negative to negative.

Set up............
-Configure HU to run the mid/high speakers first (read manual!)
-Configure HU and sub amp to run sub (again, read manuals!)
-Depending on the HU, you might have to run full signal to the rear speaker (sub amp) and the amp will do the low pass filtering.

I prefer to keep my SHO far away from mobile audio installers. Some, cut and hack factory harness' doing more harm than good. Plus, your married to the shop if things aren't right or go wrong.