No Sound from a Kenwood Head Unit

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brotherRAM

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Hey all. I am new to the RAM forum. In fact.....I don't own a RAM truck.

However, my brother does. He has a new-to-him 1999 2500 Cummins. This truck is his new baby.

For Christmas I got him a new head unit, the Kenwood KDC-X997 (Link here).

We did the install ourselves. The head unit powers on fine....but no sound.

His original head unit was the basic unit with a tape deck, not the infinity system.

Any idea what we could have missed? Or any idea where to start diagnosing?

Thank in advance!
 

BlackMagnum2000

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Unfortunately I can't really answer your question, as I'm having the same problem. However if I were you/your brother, I would find a small speaker outside of the truck and take one of the output speaker wires coming out of the head unit (assuming he got a harness adapter to plug in to the OEM ) and wire it to the speaker to see if the head unit is giving sound. If this speaker works then you have a wiring problem like myself. I've seen a black/blue site coming out of the harness that splits out before the harness' plug. I'm not really sure what this wire does, however I believe this is the culprit for my problem, and possibly yours. I'm sorry if this was hard to understand what I'm saying, I'm very tired lol. I wish you the best also if I solve my problem I'll post here just in case your brother is having the same problem

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BlackMagnum2000

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Sorry for the bad picture but this is the wire I believe is the problem. Does anyone know what it's for/what to do with it ?

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Johnn123

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Black wires are generally grounds. You need that hooked up to some metal for it to work there sir. At least I think thats what that wire is, I could be wrong.
 

BlackMagnum2000

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I don't think it is a ground. I tried connected it to the other ground wire, like someone suggested somewhere and it had no effect. Maybe it needs to be separate I'm not sure. I didn't think it was a ground wire, since it has the blue stripe. But hell idk. I hate f'ing wiring

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Johnn123

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Try touching the metal sleeve the deck is in while the radios on and see what happens. I hate wiring too it confuses me so much lol. Could also be the amp remote wire. It come from the deck or the truck?
 

BlackMagnum2000

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It's not the remote wire. It comes from the truck. And I have the amp remote wire hooked up anyways. My subs are working great.

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Johnn123

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Id try touching it to metal and see what happens. Im out of ideas after that :p
 

BlackMagnum2000

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So I tried grounding that wire out and it had no effect at all.

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Johnn123

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Hmm odd. How did you wire it, did you get a harness to clip to the factory connections or hard wire it straight to the deck? Somethings not right here, you getting power to it?
 

BlackMagnum2000

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I used a clip to adapt to the factory connections. And yes I get power. My subs work. Also I tried connecting it to a speaker outside of the truck sepatate from the wiring harness and it worked. So it must be how it's wired

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Dodge96Ram

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If you have power but no sound, double check and be sure you wired the BLUE/WHITE wire on the new stereo into the SOLID BLUE wire on the black plug that clips into the stock harness in the dash. Very common mistake, i see it all the time.
 

BlackMagnum2000

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If you have power but no sound, double check and be sure you wired the BLUE/WHITE wire on the new stereo into the SOLID BLUE wire on the black plug that clips into the stock harness in the dash. Very common mistake, i see it all the time.

Yes that was exactly my problem. Huge props to this guy for helping me solve my issues.

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