In my new Z I am having an issue with my stereo. I did a search to see if anyone else has asked the same questions and I got more lost. Most of the threads were about completely replacing the speakers and HU. When I bought my Z06, I have planned on keeping it as close to original as possible because I do not want to have the same problems that I had with my 97 corvette as far as electrical problems. Well, all the original speakers and HU are still in place, which is nice, but there is an amp and sub in the trunk. It looks like it was a professional install, all the factory speakers work but the sub it didn't work. First thing I did was check the fuses. Under the hood, the power wire was hooked up and the in-line fuse was good as well as the fuses on the amp, so I am getting power to amp. The sub is hooked up properly, as I mentioned a very clean install. So I am at a loss. I have not and really don't want to take the factory HU out see how the amp is wired. I do know from removing the kick panel on the passenger side that the wire I believe is wired into the amp turn on switch is going into the passenger side door. Why would anyone wire into the door with the amp turn on? The only other thing I have not checked yet is the ground. I have not had any luck finding where that wire is grounded yet. Probably the seat post. Any troubleshooting Ideas?

Thanks

 

where is your rca cable going to?

 

The RCA is plugged into a small black box with wires coming off if it (don't ask, I don't know)that was located under the sub box. Your guess

 

Did it ever work for you? There's a possibility the previous owner had an aftermarket radio that fed the sub, then removed it but left the sub behind.

Is this a C5Z or C6Z, I'll assume it's the C5 in your avatar

Use a meter or test light or light bulb or anything powered by 12vdc to determine 100% for certain if you have power at the amp. If it lights up when you turn on the radio, that pretty much says it's powered. If big + and ground wires have power, next is checking the trigger wire.

The small black box is prob a line converter. It would convert speaker level signals to line-level that the amp can use. Follow the wires, they're either connected to the rear speakers (not a good source for bass), or they're prob connected to the wires feeding the door sub(s). The door sub would also be a possible source for the trigger wire signal (if they were already running the speaker wires, that would explain their choice of trigger location).

Figure out if you have power, ground, and trigger at the amp, then you can worry about the signal source.

You can try connecting an ipod (or whatever) directly to the amps RCA inputs and see if it plays anything.

 

No it does not work. I use a test light and tested the power wire on the amp. I clipped the negative to the negative side of the amp because I couldn't find a ground without paint on it. The only time the light would come on is when I would clip the negative to the amp turn on wire, which doesn't make sense to me. I did not change any of the wiring, it is exactly the way I found it.

 

"There's a possibility the previous owner had an aftermarket radio that fed the sub, then removed it but left the sub behind."


I do have a C5. I never even thought that maybe they removed aftermarket HU and replaced it with original and just left the sub and amp. That is probably it. I will go back to dealer and maybe they can get ahold of the original owners and find out for sure...Hopefully..

 

I would start by metering the 12v and remote wires at the amp. I've experienced several occassions where the main fuse on the power wire will blow but mend itself back and cause a sever power lost. If you're getting 12V at both of these wires, check your RCA cables. You mentioned they are connected to a Line out converter. Verify the wires are still connected. If all of these check out, your amp could be bad or your sub could be blown. If you don't own a DMM (digital Multi-Meter), most install shops will trouble shoot the system for you.

I just saw where you said your test light would come on when you ran the ground to the remote turn-on. My bet is that your Power wire fuze under the hood is blown. This is why when you grounded it to the 12V remote and touched the 12V (which is now blown), your light came on.

 

Something isn't right.

You need to find/borrow/steal/buy a multi meter ($10 gets a POS, $20 gets a decent one) and check the wires properly. B+ and ground wire on amp should always show 12vdc, trigger wire should have +12v when radio is on.

 

Yeah, that was the first thing I checked. I went under the hood and removed the fuse and replaced with a new one just make sure. I used a test light inside the car by the kick panel to make sure the power was not shorting out through the firewall. It seems fine, but I need to get a Multi-meter to check for sure. I was wondering when I bought the car why someone would disconnect the Powerwire from the battery. My only guess is like someone else mentioned is that they removed an aftermarket HU and put the factory back in before selling it. Which means I will be talking to Dennis really soon about a DD conversion and HU.

 

It has been confirmed, there was an aftermarket HU in the car and when they returned it back to original, they disconnected the sub and amp.

 

get a pac aoemvet1 and hook amp up to stock radio

 

Or you can purchase a line-out converter, connect it to one of the rear speakers for your RCA input and you will be good to go.

 

Not exactly, the bose processor removes a good portion of the low end bass signal from what goes to the twiddlers. However, in C5 it's not that hard to tap the speaker level bass signal in a door.

IMO, the best option to get the sub functioning, short of a new HU, would be the AOEM

 

Thanks for all the help, but the stereo is on hold because now I have to buy tires....JOY!!

 

If the little black box is actually a line converter you can prob splice into the door sub speaker level signal and get everything working for under $10 in parts, for free if you have some splice taps and speaker wire sitting around.