I bought an 01 Z that needs some TLC. One of the first things I'd like to knock out is the audio system. I've not done much in the past shy of hooking up amps/subs. I can do some basic electrical troubleshooting and I do have a multimeter. Now...

The h/u powers up, but I was not getting power to the amp or any sound. I believe all speakers are powered by the JL amp that is a 5/1 and was located under the passenger seat (removed and not in pics). See pics below for the cables and speaker wire running to that location. I found, after removing the amp, that the in-line fuse was blown so I'm currently awaiting a new one to come in the mail tomorrow and I'll replace that and make sure there's power running to the amp.

Objective: I don't care about having a killer sound system in this car. I'm really looking to have something that works and is as good as stock, or slightly better (with the sub) for the least amount of $$ and time spent on this as possible. I would like to replace the h/u with one that looks more appropriate in the car as the current one looks to be pretty old and dated. I'll be reupholstering the interior so I want it all to look nice and clean - if anyone has a recommendation for a head unit based on what I'm looking for please through it out.

Questions: Can anyone help me understand what's going on with the wiring here? It looks like a clusterf*ck behind the h/u with most wires just cut off. I've got wires running up under the passenger seat to the amp and two sets toward the sub, but don't really know what I've got going on or where they're coming from/going to.

Where should I start/what can I test to see what is done and what needs to be done? I'd like to avoid pulling all of the carpet and door panels off but if there are no other options I can go that route.

Any help is greatly appreciated. I'm excited to finally graduate from the F-bodies to a C5z, and ready to get this fixed so I can drive it more!

 

This is in fact a cluster ****.
Does it have stock speakers or aftermarket?
Looks to me like someone might have cut the stock harness?
Maybe they ran a aftermarket radio with stock speakers for a while, then did the amp?

I have an adapter on my after market head unit, I only use 2 wires off of it. The rest are tied up and not used.

All that other **** looks like it would be the radio's amp power to all the speakers.

The RCA's go to the amp, and the amp goes to the speakers of course. So the rest of those wires are useless.

This is just a single din stereo correct? No gps, and brake handle switches and video and blah blah blah?

 

The second picture makes me think they are running from the amp back to the stock wire harness for the speakers? That's what it seems like to me after staring at it for a bit.

I am having trouble trying to figure out what goes to the harness, and what is added.

I have my 01 apart. Looking at it. My harness connector is white. yours is black. Odd...
I tried to take pictures, but like you, it is not easy to get it all in view.

I have only the harness adapter and 2 wires going to the head unit. I think it is the dimmer and the memory back up. I pulled main power wire from the ignition.

I have 2 amps and replaced all speakers, and all wires.

The wires in the second picture appear to run to the speakers.
Color code if followed is usually always this

Right front speaker(+) — gray
Right front speaker(-) — gray w/black stripe
Left front speaker(+) — white
Left front speaker(-) — white w/black stripe
Right rear speaker(+) — purple
Right rear speaker(-) — purple w/black stripe
Left rear speaker(+) — green
Left rear speaker(-) — green w/black stripe

Constant 12V / Memory Keep Alive — yellow
Accessory — red
Dimmer/illumination — orange w/white stripe

Antenna — blue
Amplifier remote turn on — blue w/white stripe

Ground — black

I have no idea what is hanging off the back of the head unit in the third pic. I was going to assume a connector to radio power amp to the speakers.
If you throw up a model and number of the head unit, we maybe able to find some info online.

 

This is my harness adapter. Only pulling form the black and yellow wire. The rest is so useless, I shoved it up by the glove box.

 

 

 

I would "think" that the wires for the rear speakers would have no reason to go to the dash.

I have my amps mounted in the storage area right behind the seats. I the set to the front go under the dash and into the doors. The rear ones go under the rear carpet to under the rear side panels. Subs are routed to the 2 cubby holes in the rear.

I would guess they did not follow the color guide?

Are the blue wires the same color on - and +, or does one have a stripe or something?

They did not make working on it easy at all.

Looking at it more, I think those color striped wires were added? In the picture it looked like it went into the foam covered harness behind it, but looking in mine I do not see anything like that in my car. I have a foam covered harness, but not related to the stereo.

I would probably just kind of start over. Label as you go.

If the head unit can power up and you can test using the wires for the speakers out. Not the RCA, see if you can use one channel to locate the speakers and wire that go to them, and then switch it over to the amp wires once you have found the sound.

 

Would it be easier to just run speaker wires up to the head unit given I'm going to be putting a new one in? I guess the questions is do you think it's easier with this mess to run components off the h/u and run a sub out or stick with the 5/1 amp I've got that powers all component speakers and the sub?

 

I would stick with the amp. If you cannot get it to work, then you will have to still figure out what wires really go to what, then run new ones to all the speakers, mainly the rear ones.

But really if you can get the amp to run the sub woofer, you can easily get the other speakers going as well, unless the amp has a burned out channel which I would doubt.

Speaking of which, any sings of water getting into the car? with the amp mounted down there, and how bad these cars can leak with the weather stripping around the window, it is a possibility. Which is why my amps are mounted high.

 

Edit: Actually read what you said

It looks like the JL 500/1 was running the stock speakers via the stock wiring behind the head unit. Are those crimp connectors on the car side wiring, or the harness from the aftermarket head unit side. There's really nothing wrong with running the wiring back that way, so long as the connections are all made appropriately.

If the fuse was blown on the amp, that is why you had no sound. Putting the amp back in place with a new fuse will probably take care of your problem. That being said, why did the fuse blow? Was it the right size? I would pull the entire power cable and check it for shorts. Sometimes a screw gets run into it, or the insulation gets stripped. This is a very dangerous situation. That being said, it should be an easy fix.

IS that sub just sitting in the tub? If it is you'll probably want to find an enclosure for it to sound even reasonable.

 

What is the model number of the JL amp. I'm assuming it was a mistype but you wrote 500/1 and that is a mono amp. It's a 5 channel amp right?

 

hat was my bad. It is a 500/5 JL amp. It is a 5 channel amp. It’s been like 15* outside so I just haven’t had the heart to pill panels off to hunt wires down on these speakers.

 

 

The good news is that the JL is a good, or even great, amplifier. There is no need to replace that. Straightening out the wiring won't be a big deal. The only wire I'd be really concerned about is the power wire. Trace it back to the battery and make sure there are no shorts. If there are, they can be repaired with a couple layers of adhesive heat shrink, or you can replace it in whole. Probelms with the other wires would result in the amplifier going into protection, which will not harm the amplifier.

It's also possible there is nothing wrong with the wire, and the fuse was undersized. It should be a 50 amp fuse, according to the manual for that amp.

It's weird that anyone would splice into the actual car wires. That is a sign of an amateur installer, maybe someone who didn't want to spend 15 bucks on a harness. How is the head unit's harness connected to the car wiring?

 

So good news. I layered up and decided to work on the car even though its about 10* outside. You guys were helping me out a ton so I want to take advantage while the thread is hot.

All speakers and the amp work!!!

I took the advice from one of the earlier posts and hooked up the RCA cables and then started plugging in speaker wires to figure out what is what. All of the speakers are wired and working. I'm labeling them now. After I pulled the passenger seat out I could tell more of what was going on with the wiring and where they were coming from.

So the amp appears to be in good working order...I've got a pretty good idea of why that amp fuse blew...it basically broke apart and could have shorted on the battery terminals from where it was located. It was a weird fuse, not your typical inline fuse.

Is there a way for me to identify which wire is positive and negative without pulling panels and ohming them out from the speaker to the wire ends?

 

do the blue speaker wires have tracers on them? Usually a line or a dot or something is printed on one side.

You can check the wire colors where they are spliced in to the factory wiring for what is what too.

Or pull the speakers and just visually confirm what leg is hooked up to positive and what leg is on negative.

 

Now that I know every speaker is actually wired, I'd prefer to avoid having to pull the door panels and sail panels off to figure out polarity. Is that the only way at this point? I guess I c What happens if it's wrong? Obviously they'll still play. Is there a way to tell by listening to the speaker or anything?

My left side is spliced into the factory wires under the dash, so I think I should be able to ohm them out as the aftermarket wires don't have any markings on them that I've seen yet. For the right side I'm blind. I don't know where the wires are spliced at or if they run direct to the speaker, but they're at the amp location and worked when I hooked them up.

 

Speaker(s) wired backwards sound out of phase. What does that sound like? No idea. Never done it.

There is a trick to use a battery to find polarity. Not the cars power source. When you have it correct, the speaker cone will more forward. backwards it will move inwards.
I do not know what voltage is safe. I do not know what happens with a crossover involved.

Something to consider, is if you have a crossover. Do you know if you have component speakers? (separate mid range and tweeters) or coaxial? I do not know what putting a multimeter on a crossover will really tell you. Maybe time to try some stuff.

I will go look at my car later today and see if I can ohm anything out to find the answer if a multimeter could help find the polarity. No promises.
My amps are mounted in a sealed box that requires a whole lot of contortions to get the top off. Meaning if I throw an OHM meter on it now, I will get the amps circuitry as well. Also I mounted my crossover behind my door panels. And I always break the shitty clips removing them. So that is not happening.
I also have a crossover for a center channel available under the dash, but those tweeters are mounted in my defroster vent that I managed to put in the bermuda triangle.

 

Yeah, as far as I know there is no way to check electrical polarity short of observing the cone move, or looking at the terminals which are marked.

A long time ago before the days of Time Alignment and other forms of DSP, we'd play one speaker at a time starting with the driver's side front and then going clockwise around the car, and swap the leads back and forth leaving them in whatever polarity sounded best. The goal being that the speakers were as close to being in acoustic phase with each other as they could be.

 

OK thanks guys I wasn't aware of how to test without watching speaker or actually tracing the wires out. By ohming it out I just mean testing the wires for continuity because it goes under carpet and they're not marked for whatever reason. So continuity would tell my + and - at the terminals. Looks like I've got to look at the speakers to get this right.

Bill I have no idea what kind of speakers this thing has but my guess is either stock or an upgraded speaker in stock location and size. At least I'll see what kind of speakers I've got. I have no idea if they've been upgraded or not so that'll be good to know. I will say for having very little air space I was surprised with the subwoofer performance with some tunes I was listening to while testing.