HELP!! 99 Eddie Bauer w/ Preimum Sound

[tyler3340]

I just replaced my factory cd player in my 99 eddie bauer with a new Pioneer 1900. After getting the correct wiring harness and installing the new unit, I am getting muffled vocals out of my factory sub that comes in the sidepanel of the cargo section in the back. I'm unsure, but i didn't think that vocals were even supposed to come out of that sub. Additionally, I have my Bass settings on negative 6 (lowest allowed on my unit)... and I'm still getting an extreme amount of bass so I have to distort all the other settings to make it reasonable. Anyone know of anything that could help?

 

[JaeKThomas]

i had the same problem kinda had the same problem, do you have the factory sub wired to your rear outputs or the sub outputs?

 

[CDW6212R]

Ditto, the factory Mach radio(not Premium) feeds low frequencies only to the sub. I don't know anything about swapping aftermarket HU's in place of the OEM sub system, I'm keeping my factory Mach(Pioneer) radio. Good luck,

 

[tyler3340]

I dunno man... I pulled the old one out, bought the new harness, and then hooked it up. I didn't make any changes to anything except the cd player.

 

[CDW6212R]

I wonder what the "adapter" harness did with/for your sub signals. The OEM sub signal comes from the smallest of the three connectors.

The factory HU and amp is designed to use and control two overlapping signals. There is a Mute signal buried inside the subwoofer signal, thus the amplifier is looking for that complicated signal. If you really have just the stock system and proper adapter, I would think about removing the stock sub amp from the circuit. I don't know how the adapter is sending a sub signal to the back, that would be a possible issue. The main difficulty of the factory Mach system is that Mute signal. It is hard to mix aftermarket parts on either end. If you remove them all then you can be sure of how aftermarket parts will work.

I consulted with Crutchfield about it when I thought I had a handle on what was going on. That was about five months ago, and they knew far less than I did about the Mach system. They had never heard of the factory mute signal, and had no clue of how to eliminate the signal from my stock HU. I learned what I know of the Mach HU from a pro who only works on those. He added internal RCA outputs to mine, five of them.

Since you have a known entity in an aftermarket HU, why not remove the other oddity of the OEM system, that sub amp. With a normal amplifier for the sub, you would be in control of the output. Your current HU is sending out a full range signal, that's why you are hearing vocals back there.

I don't know how the adapter is creating that sub signal from your HU, that's what you need to know. Good luck,

 

[tyler3340]

Thanks for your post Don. Is there anything that I can do to get rid of the vocals coming from the sub or possibly eliminate some of the "Extra" bass coming from that sub?

 

[CDW6212R]

The only assumption that I can make(not knowing anything about the adapter used), is that you have amplified signals going to the sub amplifier. Those being full range signals you will hear all frequencies, you can install a low pass filter to fix that. But the amplified signal going into an amplifier will create the excess sound, and distorted a lot also.

Surely you have RCA outputs on the radio, why not just run an RCA cable to feed an aftermarket amplifier for the sub. The stock MACH system is 80 watts for the sub, so it wouldn't take much of an amp to feed the small subwoofer. I would pull the sub unit out and hunt for a small amp and a 10" subwoofer speaker for it. Many here have swapped in the larger 10" size with little trouble.

 

[tyler3340]

Thanks again! I think that helps. One more question... I'm not extremely interested in purchasing a new sub or amp for that matter. I think my HU would provide enough power to the factory sub if I did away with the factory amp and just ran power directly from the HU. What would that entail?

 

[CDW6212R]

Well you might have hit on a great solution. If you can get help to figure out which wires at the sub amp are the signal wires, you can tap into those and bypass straight to the woofer. You will still need a low pass filter, to remove the upper frequencies that the subwoofer can't handle.

There are members here who have figured out those wires, search the forum for those threads.

 

[tyler3340]

Thanks a lot Don! I pulled off the panel, accessed the speaker and sub, and then bypassed the sub with some new wiring. I ran it straight from the entrance port of the amp to the sub. I haven't put the filter in yet, I was just checking it to make sure everything worked first and it is all good! If I installed the filter, would it bring more bass into the sub... or just eliminate the vocals coming through?

 

[CDW6212R]

The filters are made to elliminate all frequencies from certain point on. A high pass filter allows highs to go through, like for tweeters. You need a low pass filter, to allow low frequencies. Call around, there will be different frequency choices. You need one with a cut off point like 100, 150, or 200, something like that. The lows that you have now shouldn't change, unless the highs that they are receiving now are interferring with how the woofers work. Thus it may get better, but how much?

Curious, do you recall what wires you used to pass the sub amp, there are about four there yes? Regards,

 

[tyler3340]

Yes, there are four wires going into the amp. I just ran a temporary wire from the input around the amp any into the wire going into the sub. I might not even install a filter because the sound coming through is pretty good as is. Would there be any harm in just leaving it alone?

 

[CDW6212R]

No I don't think so. If you have good connections of the wires it should be fine. The high frequencies going to it aren't ideal for it, but it's no big deal. Take your time, those low pass filters are easy to get at any stereo shops, even Circuit City etc. would carry some.