Help me with my stereo

[baller5040]

I have been stumped with my stereo for the last two days. I just installed two new speakers in the dash. Had to replace the old ones due to age. I put in the news one and then hooked everything back up the sounded great and then I could only hear my subs and none of the speakers would play. I checked all the fuses the inline, one on the stereo, and under the dash ( just in case). Checked all the speaker wires make sure the negative and positive were not touching on all speakers. I have heard that there is a safety on some systems that if a positive and a negative touch puts it in a safe mode so no damage will be done. If that is true how do i get it out of that mode. Any help would be great I'm just stumped at this point....

[Billett]

A little more info would help out:

what year of truck is this in?

are you using an amp or just hooking it all into the head unit?

what kind of speakers/amp/head unit are you using?

It may be something as simple as a loose connection when you screwed the wires down in the amp. Give a slight tug on all the ends of the wires to make sure it is all tight and making good connection.

[baller5040]

its a 1982, i have a amp its a 600w with two sub and the speakers are 4 of them they are coming from the stereo, head unit is a sony CDX-M630. I checked all the connections, seem like they are good. would the amp cause the main speakers not to work?

[Billett]

If the speakers are not connected to the amp at all then I wouldn't think that the amp would have an effect on them. But just to be sure, are the subs set up to the right impedance (ohms)?

Are there any settings in one of the menus on the head unit that could effect this?

[baller5040]

Yes they are. Now what if i wanted to run all my speakers from the Amp? i Have 2 6x9s and 2, 3 1/2, and 2 eight subs. with a 6 channel 600w amp

[tubbedII]

A 6 channel amp? Channels 1-4 would only take running of both new speaker and RCA wires making sure the fronts are on channels 1&2 and the rears are on 3&4. If your deck does not have 3 sets of RCAs (Front/Rear/Sub), it should have 2 and you'd only need to run 1 new set of RCAs and split them at the amp.

For the sub wiring, you'd have to give more details on the set up. What impedance are they and are they single or dual voice coil. Also, need more info on the amp. Can it be bridged and can it handle a 1,2 or only a 4 ohm load at it's lowest. Lastly, it'd be good to know the wattage on both the speakers and amp just to make sure you're not over powering anything in your wiring.

[baller5040]

The Amp is a Dual XPA4100 and its actually a 4 channel my bad it was late last night. The HU only has 2 RCA's. here is the specs of the amp:

CEA-2006 Power Standard Specifications
(reference: 14.4VDC, 20Hz~20kHz)
Power Output: 50 Watts RMS x 4 channels at 4 ohms and < 1% THD+N
Signal to noise ratio: 72dBA (reference: 1 watt into 4 ohms)
Additional power output:
75 Watts RMS x 4 channels at 2 ohms and < 1% THD+N
150 Watts RMS x 2 channels at 4 ohms (bridged) and < 1% THD+N
Dynamic power: 600 Watts at 4 ohms
Frequency response: 20Hz~20kHz (-3dB)
Maximum input signal: 6V
Minimum input signal: 200mV
Speaker output impedance: 2~8 ohms (stereo), 4~8 ohms (bridged)
Bass boost: 0~12dB @ 45Hz
Crossover range: 50~500Hz, 12dB/octave
Power supply: 11-16 VDC, negative ground
Fuse: 25 amp ATO x 2
Amplifier dimensions: 13.69" x 2.13" x 9.17" (WxHxD)
(348 x 54 x 233 mm)
Typical installation dimensions: 16" x 3.25" x 9.17" (WxHxD)
(406 x 83 x 233 mm)


For the speakers i will have to go double check what they are i'm not 100% sure.

[baller5040]

Anyone know if i hook my speakers to the AMP if i have to have a crossover for them or a set of tweeters that have built in crossovers????

[tubbedII]

Your amp has a built in crossover so you'll be fine hooking them up to it.

With the 4 channel amp, you could use channels 1&2 for the 6x9 and bridge 3&4 for the subs. However, in order to not blow out that side (or the whole amp), you'd need to know the impedence of the subs and not wire it below 4 ohms. Then just run the other speakers off the deck power.

I personally like hooking all speakers up to an amp though simply for the crossover feature to clear up distorsion...but for that you'd need to purchase a dedicated sub amp.

[Billett]

^that, if you want the best sound you'll need an amp just for the subs. And no matter what anyone tells you, you don't need capacitors on a budget build like this. I've seen that advice way too often...

[baller5040]

would it be better if i got a second amp and ran the speakers off those and ran the amps in line?

[tubbedII]

Your 4 channel would run the 6x9's and the 3 1/2's and then you'd get a 2nd amp for the 8" subs. They would be running totally seperately, but you could get a fused junction to wire the power.

Before you that though, find the specs on the subs.

[baller5040]

Reading the specs on the Subs they have a Impedance of 4 Ohms

[tubbedII]

Ok...single or dual voice coil? And what's the rms watt rating? This way you can get an amp that fits it correctly.

[baller5040]

i think it single with a 100 - 200 watts. I wouldnt be able to run these off the amp with the speakers that i have right now? just for the time being time i can get a amp.

[baller5040]

its a 200 watts RMS sorry

[tubbedII]

Could you? Yes...but now that I know the speaker and amp combo, it actually makes for a less than ideal situation.

You'd only be pushing 50 watts to each sub as you'd have to wire channel 3 to 1 sub and channel 4 to the other. Bridging channels 3&4 wouldn't help in this case since you'd have to wire the speakers for an 8 ohm load which should drop the 150 watts down to about 75, and then they share that for less than 40 watts going to each speaker.

The part I least like about stereo systems is the wiring, so if it were me and I was planning on purchasing an amp for the subs, I wouldn't bother wiring this amp to them. I'd just set all the wires down ready for the new amp while wiring the 2 sets of highs to the current amp.

[baller5040]

Ok, well i'm not looking for the best and loudest right now on a budget. Just a radio that can be a little load and sound pretty decent.

Wiring the Speakers to channels 1 and 2 and then the subs to channels 3 and 4 right?

[tubbedII]

I definitely understand the budget issue. So yea, wire the 6x9's to channels 1&2 and the subs to 3&4, and then the other speakers just off the radio power.

Just be careful when adjusting the levels on the amp and stereo when tuning the subs. Listen for distortion which is harder to hear in a sub so maybe do it without the other speakers on. My friend blew his last set of under powered subs just because he had the amp and tuning cranked up to try and make up for the lack of power and it was distorting the speaker which blew em.

[baller5040]

The radio is still having issues with producing sound through the speakers not sure whats going on with the HU.

[tubbedII]

Well, you could run both the 6x9's and the other smaller speakers off channels 1&2 in parrallel. Parrallel just means you have 2 sets of wires coming off the amp channels in order to connect the speakers. Assuming they are both 4 ohm (you should check to make sure though) and then the amp would see a 2 ohm load and run 75 watts to them rather than 50...the speakers share this though so each would get half of the 75.

The amp may run hotter though due to running at 2 ohms though, so keep that in mind.

So, you can do this here...you can simply omit the smaller speakers...or you can spend some $ and get a sup amp...or you can spend some $ and get a new deck.

Hope that helps!

[BR3W CITY]

Just a possibility, if you have 2 sets of rca....are you sure you have the subs connected to the "sub" rca, or does it only have a "front" and "rear" rca?

If you plugged the subs into the front rca, it will send the speaker signal to the sub and turn OFF the regular wired output to the speakers (since it thinks the sub is the speaker). If you only have a "front" and "Rear" rca, make sure the subs are plugged into the "rear" rca...then enter the Setup menu in the head unit and make sure you have the settings for Sub output correctly.

Some head units let you turn sub output on or off manually, or change the rear output from speaker range to sub range. The wrong configuration could lead to no sound, or only certain frequencies, because your telling the head units crossover to send the wrong set of frequencies to the sub....if that makes any sense.

[baller5040]

The stereo has its own set of RCA for the subs. I know those are right. It also has two aux RCA hook ups for like Ipods and stuff.

[Billett]

Wait... how many RCA sets total then? if those are aux inputs then the set you have your subs in is the only set of out ports. also in post 7 you said there were only 2 rca ports so I'm a bit confused

[baller5040]

one rca out for the subs and there are 2 sets of other ones i suspects are rca ins.