Radio wiring nightmare, feel free to chime in
05-07-2010, 11:59 PM
#1
Radio wiring nightmare, feel free to chime in Long story short, only my right rear trunk speaker was working, in my newly acquired 98 formula. I took out the interior panels and pulled out the head unit, basically trying to find whats up, and this is what I have:
-All speakers have been replaced with rockford fosgate stuff.
-Kenwood HU not wired to much of anything
-Sail panel connectors are just cut off
-Monsoon amp is MIA
-Monsoon amp harness connector is cut off, big bundle of cut wires there
-Stupid 150w amp in the floor of the trunk, this is connected to the HU via RCA cables, 4 of them.
-Stupid 150w amp is wired to some kind of crossover thing, can't identify it
-Stupid 150w amp output had about 40 miles of blue speaker wire going to behind the HU, spliced to hatch speaker wires only
-Crossover thing wired to the sail panels with another 40 miles of blue speaker wires
-Door speakers wired to thin air
-Stupid 150w amp wired to battery with speaker wire
What the hell do I do? I'm thinking I may have to get a radio harness from a wrecked car? I really don't know its so hacked up I don't know where to begin. I just started chopping the blue wire out and have measured out over 50' of it so far. It had bundles behind the HU and in the trunk.
I'm wondering if the door speakers and hatch speakers will work OK wired directly to the HU, and then use the RCA cables to the stupid 150w amp to power the sail panel speakers? I really don't know much about wiring stereos but this is the worst job I have ever seen in my life.
-All speakers have been replaced with rockford fosgate stuff.
-Kenwood HU not wired to much of anything
-Sail panel connectors are just cut off
-Monsoon amp is MIA
-Monsoon amp harness connector is cut off, big bundle of cut wires there
-Stupid 150w amp in the floor of the trunk, this is connected to the HU via RCA cables, 4 of them.
-Stupid 150w amp is wired to some kind of crossover thing, can't identify it
-Stupid 150w amp output had about 40 miles of blue speaker wire going to behind the HU, spliced to hatch speaker wires only
-Crossover thing wired to the sail panels with another 40 miles of blue speaker wires
-Door speakers wired to thin air
-Stupid 150w amp wired to battery with speaker wire
What the hell do I do? I'm thinking I may have to get a radio harness from a wrecked car? I really don't know its so hacked up I don't know where to begin. I just started chopping the blue wire out and have measured out over 50' of it so far. It had bundles behind the HU and in the trunk.
I'm wondering if the door speakers and hatch speakers will work OK wired directly to the HU, and then use the RCA cables to the stupid 150w amp to power the sail panel speakers? I really don't know much about wiring stereos but this is the worst job I have ever seen in my life.
05-08-2010, 03:52 AM
#2
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Wow, what a mess. I don't even know where to begin.
There are some unknown factors here:
1. Are the head unit, speakers, crossover, & amp in good shape?
2. Is the amp 2 channel or 4 channel?
3. Do you have full range speakers or subwoofers in your sail panels?
4. What are your expectations?
(Do you want a nice system or something similar to stock?)
5. If you plan to upgrade what's your budget?
The cheapest route would be:
1. Rip all of the wiring out except for the rca cables & the amp turn-on wire.
2. Wire the door speakers & rear speakers to the head unit.
3. Install a new 8 gauge amp power wire & ground wire. Trust me you
don't want to use speaker wire in place of power wire.
4. Wire the sail panel subs to the amp, but make sure that the amp
has a low pass crossover so that you only send bass to the subs.
(The above scenario is assuming everything you have now works & you
have subs in your sail panels.)
Of coarse since you have your car torn apart, now would be a great time
to upgrade if you have the money. It just comes down to what you want
out of your system.
There are some unknown factors here:
1. Are the head unit, speakers, crossover, & amp in good shape?
2. Is the amp 2 channel or 4 channel?
3. Do you have full range speakers or subwoofers in your sail panels?
4. What are your expectations?
(Do you want a nice system or something similar to stock?)
5. If you plan to upgrade what's your budget?
The cheapest route would be:
1. Rip all of the wiring out except for the rca cables & the amp turn-on wire.
2. Wire the door speakers & rear speakers to the head unit.
3. Install a new 8 gauge amp power wire & ground wire. Trust me you
don't want to use speaker wire in place of power wire.
4. Wire the sail panel subs to the amp, but make sure that the amp
has a low pass crossover so that you only send bass to the subs.
(The above scenario is assuming everything you have now works & you
have subs in your sail panels.)
Of coarse since you have your car torn apart, now would be a great time
to upgrade if you have the money. It just comes down to what you want
out of your system.
05-08-2010, 03:56 AM
#3
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Oh, one more thing.
The amp turn-on wire should be wired directly from the
head unit to the amp. If it's wired in some weird way,
you might want to replace it too.
The amp turn-on wire should be wired directly from the
head unit to the amp. If it's wired in some weird way,
you might want to replace it too.
05-08-2010, 01:11 PM
#5
Wow, what a mess. I don't even know where to begin.
The cheapest route would be:
1. Rip all of the wiring out except for the rca cables & the amp turn-on wire.
2. Wire the door speakers & rear speakers to the head unit.
3. Install a new 8 gauge amp power wire & ground wire. Trust me you
don't want to use speaker wire in place of power wire.
4. Wire the sail panel subs to the amp, but make sure that the amp
has a low pass crossover so that you only send bass to the subs.
(The above scenario is assuming everything you have now works & you
have subs in your sail panels.)
The cheapest route would be:
1. Rip all of the wiring out except for the rca cables & the amp turn-on wire.
2. Wire the door speakers & rear speakers to the head unit.
3. Install a new 8 gauge amp power wire & ground wire. Trust me you
don't want to use speaker wire in place of power wire.
4. Wire the sail panel subs to the amp, but make sure that the amp
has a low pass crossover so that you only send bass to the subs.
(The above scenario is assuming everything you have now works & you
have subs in your sail panels.)
I just want to be able to listen to the radio, same as stock is fine. I'm not big into stereo systems I just like to listen to radio while I'm on my way to work or whatever. Here are some pictures after I have undone all of the blue wire and taken out the amps and such, whats left over.
05-08-2010, 08:01 PM
#6
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Well it's a mess but it's not quite as bad as I was thinking.
Photo #1
That's a 4 channel amp. It's nothing special, but as long as it
isn't damaged it should work decently.
Here's a link to check out all of the features & specs:
http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/CarAu..._ICBM-773.aspx
Photo #2
The red wire is the power wire. You'll run that from the battery
back to the amp. The black wire is a ground wire. You'll run that
from the amp to a grounding point.
I can't tell for sure what the rest are. You'll want to run an amp
turn-on wire & 2 sets of unmodified RCA cables from the head unit
back to the amp.
Photo #3
I think these are your sail panel speakers? They are indeed full range.
You can tell because of the tweeters.
Photo #4
That's a mess. You're probably going to want to search your kenwood
head unit product number & find a wiring harness diagram. The power,
accessory, & ground wires will be easy. But figuring out which speaker
wires are which might be hard without a diagram.
Photo #5
This is kind of weird. The 4 inch speakers are full range speakers.
But it seems like he added tweeters & wired them in paralell with
the full range speakers.
Photo #6
I assume that's the old monsoon wiring.
You shouldn't really need it.
Photo #1
That's a 4 channel amp. It's nothing special, but as long as it
isn't damaged it should work decently.
Here's a link to check out all of the features & specs:
http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/CarAu..._ICBM-773.aspx
Photo #2
The red wire is the power wire. You'll run that from the battery
back to the amp. The black wire is a ground wire. You'll run that
from the amp to a grounding point.
I can't tell for sure what the rest are. You'll want to run an amp
turn-on wire & 2 sets of unmodified RCA cables from the head unit
back to the amp.
Photo #3
I think these are your sail panel speakers? They are indeed full range.
You can tell because of the tweeters.
Photo #4
That's a mess. You're probably going to want to search your kenwood
head unit product number & find a wiring harness diagram. The power,
accessory, & ground wires will be easy. But figuring out which speaker
wires are which might be hard without a diagram.
Photo #5
This is kind of weird. The 4 inch speakers are full range speakers.
But it seems like he added tweeters & wired them in paralell with
the full range speakers.
Photo #6
I assume that's the old monsoon wiring.
You shouldn't really need it.
Last edited by OSU Football Fan; 05-08-2010 at 08:07 PM.
05-08-2010, 08:32 PM
#7
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Your front speakers are probably full range. So that means you don't
have any subwoofers in the car. So you'll probably want to decide if
you just want to run just full range speakers or if you want to add
subwoofers to your system.
If you don't want to add subwoofers to the car here's what you should do:
1. Wire the power wire from the battery back to the amp.
2. Wire the ground wire from the amp to a ground point.
3. Wire the front channel of the head unit to the front channel of
the amp with a set of RCA cables.
4. Wire the rear channel of the head unit to the rear channel of
the amp with a set of RCA cables.
5. Wire the amp turn-on wire back to the amp.
(Now your amp should be up & running)
6. Wire your front door speakers & your sail panel speakers back to the amp.
7. Connect the front left door speakers & the left sail panel speakers to the
front left amplifier channel. Wire them in parallel for a 2 ohm load.
8. Do the same for the right front door & sail panel speakers.
9. Cut the white adaptors off of the back speakers.
(Don't disconnect the tweeters from full range speakers)
10. Wire the rear speakers to rear channels of the amp.
(Because the tweeters are wired into the full range speakers, it should
already be at a 2 ohm load)
If all of your equipment works well it should sound decent.
You'll be running all of your mids & highs through the amp.
The amp will be running all 4 channels at a 2 ohm load.
If you decide you want to run a sub in the trunk or 2 in the sail
panels this setup can be reconfigured.
Good luck man.
have any subwoofers in the car. So you'll probably want to decide if
you just want to run just full range speakers or if you want to add
subwoofers to your system.
If you don't want to add subwoofers to the car here's what you should do:
1. Wire the power wire from the battery back to the amp.
2. Wire the ground wire from the amp to a ground point.
3. Wire the front channel of the head unit to the front channel of
the amp with a set of RCA cables.
4. Wire the rear channel of the head unit to the rear channel of
the amp with a set of RCA cables.
5. Wire the amp turn-on wire back to the amp.
(Now your amp should be up & running)
6. Wire your front door speakers & your sail panel speakers back to the amp.
7. Connect the front left door speakers & the left sail panel speakers to the
front left amplifier channel. Wire them in parallel for a 2 ohm load.
8. Do the same for the right front door & sail panel speakers.
9. Cut the white adaptors off of the back speakers.
(Don't disconnect the tweeters from full range speakers)
10. Wire the rear speakers to rear channels of the amp.
(Because the tweeters are wired into the full range speakers, it should
already be at a 2 ohm load)
If all of your equipment works well it should sound decent.
You'll be running all of your mids & highs through the amp.
The amp will be running all 4 channels at a 2 ohm load.
If you decide you want to run a sub in the trunk or 2 in the sail
panels this setup can be reconfigured.
Good luck man.
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05-08-2010, 10:46 PM
#8
Okay well I got it all ironed out, I used your advice and re-wired the door and hatch speakers to the HU directly. I then wired the amp back in and used that to run the sail panels. It sounds about like a stock system. It will be fine for right now and I will eventually try to make it a little better. It didn't look "that bad" because I was working on it for about 4 hours already, that was progress 
I also took out all the butt connectors and spliced, soldered, and enviro'd alll of the connections. I might not be good with stereo setup but I'm an aviation electrician by trade so I can at least do wiring. The only thing I'm worried about is the sail panel speakers. They cut the holes out bigger with a dremel or something and screwed the speakers into the car with self-tapping screws, they bend the speakers and cause the trim panels to not fit correctly. I can't put stock speakers back in because the holes are too big now. Not sure what to do on that, maybe some metal patches.
I also took out all the butt connectors and spliced, soldered, and enviro'd alll of the connections. I might not be good with stereo setup but I'm an aviation electrician by trade so I can at least do wiring. The only thing I'm worried about is the sail panel speakers. They cut the holes out bigger with a dremel or something and screwed the speakers into the car with self-tapping screws, they bend the speakers and cause the trim panels to not fit correctly. I can't put stock speakers back in because the holes are too big now. Not sure what to do on that, maybe some metal patches.
05-09-2010, 12:19 AM
#9
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If you ever decide you want more bass it will be simple to
add a subwoofer. Just wire the sail panel speakers to the
front 2 channels of the amp & wire the subwoofer to the
rear 2 channels of the amp.
Sorry about the long posts. I get wrapped up sometimes.
I'm glad everything worked out well for you.
add a subwoofer. Just wire the sail panel speakers to the
front 2 channels of the amp & wire the subwoofer to the
rear 2 channels of the amp.
Sorry about the long posts. I get wrapped up sometimes.
I'm glad everything worked out well for you.
05-09-2010, 01:20 AM
#10
If you ever decide you want more bass it will be simple to
add a subwoofer. Just wire the sail panel speakers to the
front 2 channels of the amp & wire the subwoofer to the
rear 2 channels of the amp.
Sorry about the long posts. I get wrapped up sometimes.
I'm glad everything worked out well for you.
add a subwoofer. Just wire the sail panel speakers to the
front 2 channels of the amp & wire the subwoofer to the
rear 2 channels of the amp.
Sorry about the long posts. I get wrapped up sometimes.
I'm glad everything worked out well for you.
