For All Who Is Haveing Head Unit Problems

[Kustom Toyz]

I have been reading alot of Threads that alot of people are haveing problems with the Factory stocked amp in the rear. I have a 92 EB. I have had the same problem with the amp. My home stereo shop didnt know **** about it and it pisses me off that a stereo is suppost to know or have some kind of a idea about this. I hope I can slove some of your alls problems. I am currently tring to get my company started and all I need is costumers. Here is what I have found with alot of The Explorers. The power connector that has your 12 volts ground ect. Also has a blue wire called MUTE, in most exploeres The mute wire is controlling The rear amp. When installing you new HU you will typical have a red wire for your 12volt, Yellow for your memory and and black for ground blue is normally for and remote as for your "aftermarket" amp which is true. If you take the blue wire marked MUTE and splice it into your red wre 12 volt along with the wire for the new HU. When your turn on your vechicle it will turn on your Factory stocked amp in the rear. It has takeing me about a month to figure this ot due to my a problem I have had with theift. I had to learn what wire was what and finally everything works like its is suppost to. Not tring to step on any toes here but I would just like everyone to know that you dont have to go out and buy a by-pass for te amp, inless you want to. I am only tring to help out all of these people who are having problems with there new HU.

 

[IAmTodd]

The blue wire you are talking about is the amp kick-on. The HU sends a signal over it to tell the amp to turn on and to turn off. If you wire to stay on all the time, you will probably have some slight sound coming over the speakers constantly and draining of the battery. Most Aftermarket HUs have a kick on wire as well as factory. On the stock HU this may also be the same for mute; it just stops sending the signal to the amp and it turns off, although I highly doubt that b/c it would be hard on the amp. The mute is just the HU turning the volume to zero instantly. Hope this clears anything up.

The by-pass for the amp is so you are not "pumping" a signle that has been amplified by the aftermarket HU into the stock amp(which will have lower wattage too). In the long run this way will damage the amp inside the HU. The by-pass gets rid of the stock amp and sends the sound from the HU Amp to the speakers. This is the way the HU was intended to be used when you choose the line level outputs. Its a hole different story if you use the pre-outs on the new HU. So I highly recomend you by-pass the stock amp if you are running an After market HU.

For mine, I had to end up butchering the by-pass harness and run some new wire cuz my local place didn't carry the correct harness. No big deal, was actually kind of fun getting to know the X better So do you HU a favor and take the extra effort to by-pass the stock amp!

 

[Kustom Toyz]

Im not tring to be the biggier person here, but I do know that the mute wire was being used for the factory amp with the factory HU. The fatory HU had a bulit in by-pass the red wire (12v) went into the Head unit and came out to the blue wire (mute) to turn o/off the amp. The blue wire is simply just a remote wire to turn on/off the factory amp. Your other Q, about draining he battery! NO it wont drain your battery if you splice into the Red 12v wire. The red wire only has 12 volts with the ignation is on or in the aux. posstion. The yellow wire 12 constant to keep your memory. As long as you splice into the red wire you will be fine. I have had mine this for about 2 yrs before I upgraded when upgrade I had my truck broken in to and stole everything about $3000 worth of stuff. I had my old HU before the upgrade and put it back into my truck and had it that way for the last 1 1/2-2 yrs. Never had a problem with it no other unusally sound no hums on static, nothing. Again not tring to be the biggier person, but being a highly recomended electerican for car audio and work related problems, I think I know what I am talking about. Thats why I wouldlike to start my own Car audio shop because I know as a customer how it is to be taken for a ride. Please take a look at my site if any Q I am more then happy to take them and anwser them as best as I can.

 

[metalhed]

So you're trying to start a business that caters to audio systems that are 10+ years old and failing? I don't know if there's much of a market for that. Most people replace their stock headunits with much better ones, and will add an external amp for a bit cleaner sound.

There's tons of free information out there on different setups to run, how to install these setups, and how to remove the old setup. So again, I don't see a market for what you're offering.


Not only will an amp bypass give you better sound, but it's better for your aftermarket headunit. Trying to use the stock amp with an aftermarket headunit isn't worth all the effort, especially when it doesn't take much more to bypass..


And also, your logo (back to back K's) is the same style as a fairly large underground rap group, the Kottonmouth Kings. Watch for copyright infringement

 

[EasyE]

HEY THEY AINT THAT UNDERGROUND! lol i love that group.. lol they have had at least one mainstream hit song called "bump " lol but back on topic i know in my area there is a high demand for car audio install and repair. Thats where i come in lol i do work on the kids with there first cars and **** that are still in high school tons of money and have never had there hands dirty once in there life. They trust me because im friends with either them or friends of a friend i have a great word of mouth. And there is no compitetion around except for this place called Eastside performance. I am friends with all of them and i get alot of help from them and when they get 2 busy they send people over 2 me. its perfect. So dont let ur dreams down on your own shop jus keep the customers happy and they will do the same for you.

 

[Kustom Toyz]

Thanks EasyE, I am glad that not everyone is totally nut. But thanks again and I usally never let anyone interfear with my dreams.

 

[IAmTodd]

I'm not "interfearing" with your dreams! I'm just saying that in the long run its better to take the time to by-pass you amp and do it right. I think thats great that you want to open your own shop up. But you have to do thing the right way. Yes, this way works, but its hard on the amp that is in the HU. And I don't like being called a nut thank you very much. I may not know much about audio, but I have studied about the amp by-pass and it is a heavily discussed topic in the audio forum.

 

[EasyE]

oh by far the amp bypass is the best way to go about it because i ahve seen to many cases witht he factory amp and the aftermarket one at the same time goign and u end up blowing you speakers and **** if u want to install aftermarket system amp bypass is the best way and easiest. all you ahve 2 do even be4 u buy the actuall HU harnest. i went to the best buy car audio and told them i have a 93 X with premium sound and they give me the HU harnest and the factory amp bypass all for 17.99 but for jsut the HU harnets is 16.99. good luck and happy installs.

 

[expo5.0]

hey- bypassing the amp should be easy enough for anyone who wants to run a successful business that they shouldn't consider not doing so. why would you ever want to have less rms going to your speakers rather than more?

bypass it and do it right, solder it don't use the crappy plastic "connector" either. check out my thread on the topic.

 

[Rhett]

Damn, this thread scares me. I just had an Alpine HU put in but I'm still using the stock amp. Could I eventually damage my new head unit doing this???
If so I will have to shell out for a new amp I guess.

 

[expo5.0]

not true- is your alpine a non-internal amp version? if it is then just go on using the stock amp until you want better sound. if it has an internal amp go ahead and do the bypass as i outlined a few days ago on a different thread (you may have to search to find it)

if your not sure on whether its internal amped or not just post the model number.

 

[IAmTodd]

Originally posted by Rhett Browning
Damn, this thread scares me. I just had an Alpine HU put in but I'm still using the stock amp. Could I eventually damage my new head unit doing this???
If so I will have to shell out for a new amp I guess.

I ran my Kenwood for 6 months with out by-passing. I don't think it harmed it though. Continuous use like this I think it would kill it. But only a couple months of "normal" use should be too bad on it.

 

[expo5.0]

the real issue isn't killing anything- its how much better it will sound bypassed. just ask mknott

 

[Rhett]

Originally posted by expo5.0
if your not sure on whether its internal amped or not just post the model number.

It's an Alpine CDM-9803. It says 50x4 on the front, so I assume it's got an internal amp!!

I hope my installer bypassed the amp. Is there a way to tell? I know they bypassed the JBL sub amp, but I don't know about the JBL amp for the highs...

 

[Rhett]

Am I gonna blow up my head unit or not?

 

[expo5.0]

you aren't gonna blow up your head unit- its not real urgent.

the best way to check is just to take a peak back there and see if the amp is still connected.

 

[roadkill]

JBL help with the three dash display?!?!

Help guys!

Looks like you're familiar with the stock unit.

For several months, when I start the '92 EB, the radio might not come on- no display or power. One or two starts later, the radio is fine. Other than that, the radio has functioned well. I'd like to save the $$ right now, but if I need to replace, including bypassing the amp...

So, does anyone know what the " - - - " means for the JBL display?

Thanks,

Wil