Hello DIYers,
I just re-vamped my entire car stereo system after tinkering with it here and there trying to get what I wanted piecing parts together to my factory 95 Lexus system. (Bad move and just more Castle than it was EVER worth, I was trying to maintain the integrity of the vehicle and I should have known better... Hindsight eh!?)
So, new Alpine head unit, with three sets of pre out's (which was the first of many issues I dealt with on prior system "rework". The 24 gauge wire I'm finding out was likely another culprit.) So I ran three new sets of RCA's to the trunk. Wired up a set of infinity 6.5" components in the front doors. Left the pioneer full range. 4" cheapo's in the back door from one of my first attempts. A ten inch "infinite baffle" buyout special from Parts Express (in the end it was a great purchase and is cranking bass surprisingly well for a PA style full range speaker costing me less than twenty bucks)
A JBL 12" sub in a one cubic foot (as suggested in the JBL specs) homemade box made of 3/4" MDF. This sub powered by an 80 dollar 125.2 Kicker DXA125.2 amp. The front components AND rear Pioneer 4" cheapies powered by a 4 channel Sony XM604x amp and a cheapo planet audio amp (claiming 1500 watts max but I know via YouTube that this amp dyno's at 106 watts) no biggie though because this amp is only powering the PA speaker in the back deck.
The Crux of this biscuit: Only issue I'm having (because after tuning this thing it sounds wonderful) is the connection. When I plug in the RCA's in the configuration they should be plugged in, the rear speakers don't work!!! But I can flip flop the sub channel with the rear channel I get sound out of the rear door speakers. (i.e.: subwoofer & rear preout into Sony amp= sound all around... Front and rear preout to Sony= only fronts work.) This makes zero sense to me and it has not only me but my friend who was around for 85% of the build totally baffled and going crazy.. has ANYONE EVER come across this situation?
Also, what is the difference in the front and rear preout connections and the third "subwoofer" preout?
Just to fill everyone in, I just bought a house and buying new expensive equipment is not a possibility right now and that's why I'm using some of my old equipment as well as the new Kicker budget two channel and the planet audio HORRIBLY OVERRATED amp (while I wait on the one refurbished MTX amp I could afford on eBay to get here this week) but I'm just at a loss as to what my channel switching issue might be. Please help!!!
If you've ever seen or heard of this please post to this thread!!! Thanks in advance,
Deaner
I just re-vamped my entire car stereo system after tinkering with it here and there trying to get what I wanted piecing parts together to my factory 95 Lexus system. (Bad move and just more Castle than it was EVER worth, I was trying to maintain the integrity of the vehicle and I should have known better... Hindsight eh!?)
So, new Alpine head unit, with three sets of pre out's (which was the first of many issues I dealt with on prior system "rework". The 24 gauge wire I'm finding out was likely another culprit.) So I ran three new sets of RCA's to the trunk. Wired up a set of infinity 6.5" components in the front doors. Left the pioneer full range. 4" cheapo's in the back door from one of my first attempts. A ten inch "infinite baffle" buyout special from Parts Express (in the end it was a great purchase and is cranking bass surprisingly well for a PA style full range speaker costing me less than twenty bucks)
A JBL 12" sub in a one cubic foot (as suggested in the JBL specs) homemade box made of 3/4" MDF. This sub powered by an 80 dollar 125.2 Kicker DXA125.2 amp. The front components AND rear Pioneer 4" cheapies powered by a 4 channel Sony XM604x amp and a cheapo planet audio amp (claiming 1500 watts max but I know via YouTube that this amp dyno's at 106 watts) no biggie though because this amp is only powering the PA speaker in the back deck.
The Crux of this biscuit: Only issue I'm having (because after tuning this thing it sounds wonderful) is the connection. When I plug in the RCA's in the configuration they should be plugged in, the rear speakers don't work!!! But I can flip flop the sub channel with the rear channel I get sound out of the rear door speakers. (i.e.: subwoofer & rear preout into Sony amp= sound all around... Front and rear preout to Sony= only fronts work.) This makes zero sense to me and it has not only me but my friend who was around for 85% of the build totally baffled and going crazy.. has ANYONE EVER come across this situation?
Also, what is the difference in the front and rear preout connections and the third "subwoofer" preout?
Just to fill everyone in, I just bought a house and buying new expensive equipment is not a possibility right now and that's why I'm using some of my old equipment as well as the new Kicker budget two channel and the planet audio HORRIBLY OVERRATED amp (while I wait on the one refurbished MTX amp I could afford on eBay to get here this week) but I'm just at a loss as to what my channel switching issue might be. Please help!!!
If you've ever seen or heard of this please post to this thread!!! Thanks in advance,
Deaner
"When I plug in the RCA's in the configuration they should be plugged in, the rear speakers don't work!!! But I can flip flop the sub channel with the rear channel I get sound out of the rear door speakers. (i.e.: subwoofer & rear preout into Sony amp= sound all around... Front and rear preout to Sony= only fronts work.) "
Is it possible you have the amps HI/LOw pass for rear channels set to low pass... however the rear channels on your deck set to high pass? Maybe if the RCA's are only playing 80 or 100hz and up... and the amp is set to low pass, you won't get much sound. But once the sub input is connected, it sees the low signals if looking for.
Could it be possible you're filtering the sound right out?
Is it possible you have the amps HI/LOw pass for rear channels set to low pass... however the rear channels on your deck set to high pass? Maybe if the RCA's are only playing 80 or 100hz and up... and the amp is set to low pass, you won't get much sound. But once the sub input is connected, it sees the low signals if looking for.
Could it be possible you're filtering the sound right out?
DS, I have to say "good guess, for sure" though I did think of that and I amazed myself even by immediately jumping to that as a possible conclusion. After twenty years of being out of any tiny variation of mobile audio I surprised myself by thinking as logically as that!
So thank you for the thought but unfortunately that isn't the cause. At first I was convinced that one of the brand new 17' MESA RCA cables I purchased at Custom Sounds was defective, which would really peeve me off considering I ran a bundle of wires through this ancient Lexus breaking dry rotted clips on every panel along the way... But guys I'm not even going to pull the head unit out before I make this declaration.
And please be gentle on an old man going senile long before his time! My bet is that the 1977 model brain of mine is remembering the install differently than it likely is.
I have to pull the Alpine out to put in the mic and the SiriusXM radio antenna and I'll know for certain then but I'm guessing that I was thinking at the time that I'd use the twisted Fosgate pair of RCA's for the front channel and the MESA wires on the rear and subwoofer in an effort to battle any possible alternator whine... Looking back that would make sense, and when I ran that wire it was at about midnight and I had to be back at work 6:30 AM that morning and I had been up entire day from before work at roughly six already that day...
So I'm not going to be surprised when that is what I see behind there. The sad thing is that up until now I was just positive that I had everything wired the way it looked in my head.. now that I've involved the help of you all.... I'm going to have egg on my face and it'll just be a case of simple flip flipped wires. I honestly have been scratching my head since yesterday at about 8 PM...
I'm sorry guys. We should just stop this now. I apologize but you have been very accommodating and I really appreciate the honest attempt at helping me fix what is likely a malfunction in my head and not my system.
Sorry guys, if I find that the wires are in fact wired like I described I will be back for more actual help but until then, let me apologize!
And thank you all one more time!
Sincerely,
An old senile forty-one year old bastard!
I'm curious... you have 4 amplifier inputs and 3 sets of preamp outputs?
LOL!!! I dread taking my '95 SC400 apart for that very reason!
Do you have full range speakers in the rear parcel tray as well?
LOL!!! I dread taking my '95 SC400 apart for that very reason!
Do you have full range speakers in the rear parcel tray as well?
NO worries Deaner... I was born in 77... so not too far behind ya, lol. Helping each other out, is what we are here for. 🙂
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tsmith1315 & Deadly Sones,
Thanks for the understanding and not jumping my case for being a dumb ****!
As for the Lexus tsmith my GS only has one speaker in the back deck as installed from the factory and it was a 10 inch subwoofer (for the Pioneer system with CD changer anyway) I envy you with the SC BTW! I love my GS but I've fallen for the SC in a big way since owning my Lex for sure..
Check it out, I went to parts express and bought a REALLY CHEAP like 17 USD for this "full range" 10" speaker I'll see if I can get the name of the speaker later when I get off but for now just know that it was one of their "buyout" speakers. I'm pretty sure this speaker was made for a PA system or a guitar amp or something along those lines because it doesn't have a foam surround. Instead it has one of those PA style "corrugated" (I guess that's what you might call it, it's just a ripple in the same cone material up around where the foam surround would be on a true SUBwoofer) anyway.
The power rating on it is fairly low, like under 200 watts I'm almost positive and possibly lower than that even, but I put 125 watts to this thing (or lets just say I put a Kicker DX125.2 amp on it) and it is kicking much ***! I mean it is rattling the screws out of the rear brake light!
I actually have a 12" in the trunk in a sealed enclosure and I had it turned off when setting my crossover Q's and getting my new head unit set up. It surprised the living crap out of me!! I had to holler back at a friend that was helping me go over all the wires if I was hearing what I was hearing!
I put that one back there just to fill in the mid bass since I had originally gone back to putting the factory size speakers in which were 4" in all doors... That is why I ended up doing all this work now, because I never got what I wanted out of 4's nor out of a set of 5-1/4's up front so I just did some 6.5" component Infinity's up front and upped the wattage and an Alpine head unit and I'm now happy.. Of course I still have the 1- and the 12 but those are absolutely necessary now.
Thanks again for the patience and being kind guys! This place is pretty damned cool after all!!
Thanks for the understanding and not jumping my case for being a dumb ****!
As for the Lexus tsmith my GS only has one speaker in the back deck as installed from the factory and it was a 10 inch subwoofer (for the Pioneer system with CD changer anyway) I envy you with the SC BTW! I love my GS but I've fallen for the SC in a big way since owning my Lex for sure..
Check it out, I went to parts express and bought a REALLY CHEAP like 17 USD for this "full range" 10" speaker I'll see if I can get the name of the speaker later when I get off but for now just know that it was one of their "buyout" speakers. I'm pretty sure this speaker was made for a PA system or a guitar amp or something along those lines because it doesn't have a foam surround. Instead it has one of those PA style "corrugated" (I guess that's what you might call it, it's just a ripple in the same cone material up around where the foam surround would be on a true SUBwoofer) anyway.
The power rating on it is fairly low, like under 200 watts I'm almost positive and possibly lower than that even, but I put 125 watts to this thing (or lets just say I put a Kicker DX125.2 amp on it) and it is kicking much ***! I mean it is rattling the screws out of the rear brake light!
I actually have a 12" in the trunk in a sealed enclosure and I had it turned off when setting my crossover Q's and getting my new head unit set up. It surprised the living crap out of me!! I had to holler back at a friend that was helping me go over all the wires if I was hearing what I was hearing!
I put that one back there just to fill in the mid bass since I had originally gone back to putting the factory size speakers in which were 4" in all doors... That is why I ended up doing all this work now, because I never got what I wanted out of 4's nor out of a set of 5-1/4's up front so I just did some 6.5" component Infinity's up front and upped the wattage and an Alpine head unit and I'm now happy.. Of course I still have the 1- and the 12 but those are absolutely necessary now.
Thanks again for the patience and being kind guys! This place is pretty damned cool after all!!
Deaner
I was thinking LS, thus my question about speakers in the rear deck and my unspoken confusion about the door speakers. Your GS is a better car to have now that they have aged.
Thanks for the kind comments. I remember well the first SC I ever saw, 1992 in Sandy Springs GA, when they were first introduced. It looked like nothing else out there at that time.
Good to hear the buyout 10 works well, many folks have been pleasantly surprised by inexpensive speakers (I haven't paid attention to a power rating in ages) And good to hear you're happy with your system.
I was thinking LS, thus my question about speakers in the rear deck and my unspoken confusion about the door speakers. Your GS is a better car to have now that they have aged.
Thanks for the kind comments. I remember well the first SC I ever saw, 1992 in Sandy Springs GA, when they were first introduced. It looked like nothing else out there at that time.
Good to hear the buyout 10 works well, many folks have been pleasantly surprised by inexpensive speakers (I haven't paid attention to a power rating in ages) And good to hear you're happy with your system.
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