Need help with audio system installation

[troutspinner]

Disconnected both amps for subs and just wired amp and LC8i for 4 interiors. Have 12v to amp and 12v to remote in on LC8i and amp. Checked volts from head unit to LC8i speaker input, have 5.9v from both ground to positive and ground to negative. Voltage does not change when I turn the volume up or down.

Since you left the LC8i in place, I assume none of your amps accept high level input. Being that you are getting consistent voltage from the HU while changing volume, I would definitely follow Bkhsvt advice.

You are not the first to have this issue with a Dodge HU. I've seen some posts over at the Charger and Jeep forums with similar issues. If this is something you are not familiar with, maybe a local audio shop has experience with these HU's and can help you.

 

[troutspinner]

Here is just some info, I don't know if it means anything but today I installed my front components but only the passenger side, that is all that time allowed me . Anyways, I ran new wire and disconnected the old speakers in the door and dash and left the connector unplugged and neatly zip tied away.

With this and the ohm issue, I fully expected my other stock connected speakers to not work but they still do. I would think if there was an ohm issue, they would not. That is not to say when I do the other side I won't see issues, I'll let you know that tomorrow.

 

[stevelcl9]

See my above post, but a lot of newer dodge/ram/jeep/chrysler radios will not output signal unless it sees resistance on the speaker outputs. Aka a speaker....so you get a resistor and wire it in parallel in each speaker output. Try attaching your speaker to test....

Etrose is asking if you have your amps turning on through signal sense or 12v turn on. Basically asking are the amps on....this is easy to tell by just looking to make sure they are lit up. A multi meter will go a long way here by testing your input/outputs at the amp.

Good luck

Because I am using a processor the inputs are not seeing a resistance from the head unit. I was informed by others also to use resisters. What size resisters do I use???

 

[Souths1der]

I'm interested in how to wire resistors inline as well. Just recently I upgraded the software of my stock RA2 head unit and now I get no sound. I'm running a DSP and then a couple amps after that. After reading this thread I took an old 3.5" speaker and tapped the speaker wire before it enters the head unit and it worked. So now I need to figure out how to wire resistors inline. I'm not sure what ohm resistors to use and if I need to put them on both positive and negative wires. Do I use a 4ohm resistor to simulate a 4ohm speaker? Any help would be appreciated.

 

[reek]

stevelcl9, just responded to one of your other threads, didn't see this one. Did you ever resolved this? I'm dying to know.

I think I did just about everything you did but with an LC6i. When I used the GTO-speaker sensing remote on for the amps, they all came on but only hiss and no sound. Lots of clicks and thumps when I pushed the radio buttons. Running directly to my hi level inputs on my amps also didn't work. Running trigger to turn on the amps didn't work.

If you got the resistors to work what ohm did you use?

 

[troutspinner]

I forgot about this thread. In the interim, I have installed my system without any of these issues. I have the 8.4a/RA3 radio.

My amp does have high inputs so it worked fine. Because of gain issues, I tried a NVX LOC and that worked fine as well. I will be installing a DSP this week but I am not anticipating any issues.

I do not know if my install is any different but one thing I did was tap into the wires coming directly out of the back of the radio, leaving all of the rest of the factory wiring out of the equation as I also ran new wires for my speakers.

Are you 100% certain ALL of your wiring is correct? How are you getting signal? Is that signal wire running elsewhere?

 

[reek]

I forgot about this thread. In the interim, I have installed my system without any of these issues. I have the 8.4a/RA3 radio.

My amp does have high inputs so it worked fine. Because of gain issues, I tried a NVX LOC and that worked fine as well. I will be installing a DSP this week but I am not anticipating any issues.

I do not know if my install is any different but one thing I did was tap into the wires coming directly out of the back of the radio, leaving all of the rest of the factory wiring out of the equation as I also ran new wires for my speakers.

Are you 100% certain ALL of your wiring is correct? How are you getting signal? Is that signal wire running elsewhere?

That's the first thing I was thinking, did I screw up my wiring but pretty sure everything is as it should be. I'm a newb here on the forum but I've been doing this for decades. although, I have been known to have a stroke or two doing routine things in the garage.....

So I got my signal directly from the harness. that didn't work so I re-connected that wiring and tried the factory speaker terminal/wire. that didn't work. The head unit puts out something since it turns on my LC6i but can only get it to output sound when I wire in parallel to factory wire so the signal goes to the speakers AND my LC6i. I don't think it's a LACK of resistance with the sound processor / LC6i that the head unit is seeing but rather too much.

Does your 8.4 have a factory amp? my 5.0 doesn't so that might be the difference. The only solution I can come up with is put a 4 ohm resistor in parallel to my new speaker wires that run to the LC6i. But I've already accepted I'm only getting a sub in there for better lower end, since I pulled all my RCA and new speaker lines out already. If the sound starts ******* me off, I'll tear apart my truck again to try the resistor theory.

I've re-dedicated my sound processor to go in my wifes Tacoma. I hope that goes a bit smoother so I can get my confidence back and so I can get her to stop saying "you screwed up your new truck already?"

 

[AmoAgave]

Sounds like this has not been resolved yet? I'm going to be adding the LC2i tomorrow night with the 5.0 HU. This thread has me concerned.

 

[troutspinner]

Does your 8.4 have a factory amp? my 5.0 doesn't so that might be the difference.

No factory amp in mine. FWIW, I installed my DSP yesterday and had no issues.

Since you are getting something out of the speaker and something out of the LOC, I would look hard at that amp you are using. It could be something wrong with the amp or it could be as simple as a switch in the wrong position.

 

[reek]

No factory amp in mine. FWIW, I installed my DSP yesterday and had no issues.

Since you are getting something out of the speaker and something out of the LOC, I would look hard at that amp you are using. It could be something wrong with the amp or it could be as simple as a switch in the wrong position.

I've quadruple checked EVERYTHING. I've wasted days due to a wrong switch in the past so that's one of the first things I've checked. Sounds crazy, but I swapped all the new parts into my car and pulled all the audio out of the car and everything works. So the hardware is good.

I've actually settled on the following:

took an output signal parallel from the dash speakers and ran it to my sound processor. from there to my amp. The front door speakers are now powered off my amp.

For the rears, I built a "dummy" box for a set of old 3 1/2 inch speakers I had lying around - to isolate the sound but provide speaker level resistance to the head unit. didn't want to use a 4 ohm dummy load resistor due to potential heat sink issues. I hooked them into my rear speaker output. from there, ran a parallel line to my sound processor. that signal then goes to channel 2 and 3. 2 goes into an amp and into my rear doors and channel 3 into my subwoofer amp. All works fine now. Not ideal that the dash speakers are run off head unit power but I've set all my sound levels to the dash speakers. Sounds good. I'm afraid, I might be at risk of blowing my dash speakers as time goes on.

still can't figure out why the headunit is so finicky.

 

[Etroze86]

Well sounds like we are going to have to do what the GM guys did with Bose and Monsoon. Gut everything hope kits come out to either intergrate vehicle functions into the new head units or fab up your own switches.

 

[troutspinner]

Glad to hear you worked it out, though wow! What a pain in the butt!

Had I had those issues with my 8.4a, I think I might have called it and sent all of my audio parts back.

It still makes no sense to me though why one radio is different than the other, especially since guys are swapping 5.0 to 8.4s. I know that comes with it's own issues but I have not heard anyone complain about sound.

 

[rickcaspari]

I am having the same problems with my 5.0 and JBL gto5 ez amp. I have had my truck apart 3 times and rewired 2 times. I did manage to get it to work 1 time and it sounded great, until I turned the key off and back on...nothing. What size and quantity resistors do I need? Thanx RICK

 

[reek]

I think you need a 4 ohm resistor per channel. My concern with this was heat build up. Some of those resistors used for dummy speaker test boxes can get pretty hot. that might be why most come with a disclaimer not to be permanently placed.

I had my truck about 3 or 4 times now and I finally got mine done. I left the dash speakers powered off the head unit. Then parallel wired the front channel into my LC6i channel 1. I then built a "dummy box" for the rear speakers powered off the head unit. It a sealed MDF box with 2 3.5 speakers enclosed out of phase. Off this wire, I paralleled the rear channels to my lC6i channel 2 input, which also gives you a channel 3 output. tech sheet says my LC6i has about 200 ohm resistance per channel. So I think that the headunit is just not putting out any signal when it sees all that resistance. when wired in parallel, that ends up being about 3.9 ohms resistance per channel (assuming 4 ohm speakers in place), which seems to let the head unit put out some sound.

From there I ran the channels 1+2 to amps and channel 3 to a custom sub/amp. I then just level matched all of my amp outputs to the dash speakers. Can't even hear the dummy box. The stereo sounds SIGNIFICANTLY better than what I started with.

 

[rickcaspari]

I think you need a 4 ohm resistor per channel. My concern with this was heat build up. Some of those resistors used for dummy speaker test boxes can get pretty hot. that might be why most come with a disclaimer not to be permanently placed.

I had my truck about 3 or 4 times now and I finally got mine done. I left the dash speakers powered off the head unit. Then parallel wired the front channel into my LC6i channel 1. I then built a "dummy box" for the rear speakers powered off the head unit. It a sealed MDF box with 2 3.5 speakers enclosed out of phase. Off this wire, I paralleled the rear channels to my lC6i channel 2 input, which also gives you a channel 3 output. tech sheet says my LC6i has about 200 ohm resistance per channel. So I think that the headunit is just not putting out any signal when it sees all that resistance. when wired in parallel, that ends up being about 3.9 ohms resistance per channel (assuming 4 ohm speakers in place), which seems to let the head unit put out some sound.

From there I ran the channels 1+2 to amps and channel 3 to a custom sub/amp. I then just level matched all of my amp outputs to the dash speakers. Can't even hear the dummy box. The stereo sounds SIGNIFICANTLY better than what I started with.

Boy, that sound like a pain in the rear. What do you mean by wiring out of phase?

 

[reek]

Boy, that sound like a pain in the rear. What do you mean by wiring out of phase?

If I had a good place to mount the extra rear 3.5s I would have. But instead I built a fully closed box about 5 x 5 x 9 inches. The speakers are mounted inside (pointing in the same direction) to hopefully completely isolate the sound - so I can't hear them. They are wired out of phase meaning one is wired properly and the other speaker has the +/- reversed so they will cancel each other out as much as possible. They're just a cheap pair of 4 ohm kenwoods.

 

[rickcaspari]

If I had a good place to mount the extra rear 3.5s I would have. But instead I built a fully closed box about 5 x 5 x 9 inches. The speakers are mounted inside (pointing in the same direction) to hopefully completely isolate the sound - so I can't hear them. They are wired out of phase meaning one is wired properly and the other speaker has the +/- reversed so they will cancel each other out as much as possible. They're just a cheap pair of 4 ohm kenwoods.

Thanks for clearing that up for me.

 

[popjim52]

I am not as electronically astute as some of you guys here,sounds almost Chinese to me but I tell you this surely has been one serious pain in the ass!!! after making 4 initial attempts at hooking up the JBL 5GTO5EZ to my 5.0 Uconnect factory HU I sent the amp back and had it replaced under warranty,just got back the new one and made attempts at this once again..all Saturday wiring and rewiring once again 3 separate times.At one time without changing anything at all the right side ft and rear speakers worked through the amp and sounded really great...Just didn't understand why the left side didn't work, double checking the left rear speaker seemed it came undone from the mount at door and after hooking everything up once again absolutely nothing came outta the speakers..no sound period..I am sooooo done and think I am at a point where I would like to take it to a reputable install center because I know nothing about these Load resistors you guys speak of and then the talk of the excess heat worries me..I live in the Baltimore ,MD area does anyone know of a reputable install place or
"A GUY"...... That could hook this thing all up?????

 

[choquette]

Is 100ohm good ?

 

[moregrip]

Is 100ohm good ?

I emailed Audio Control about my LC2i, here is what they said:

"When no load caused problems with the factory amp, resistors can be installed across the signal wires. 150 Ohm, 1/2 watt resistors usually work. Attached is a diagram which illustrates this."