stereo installation
Thread Starter
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Joined: Apr 2002
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From: Pikesville MD
stereo installation
It has taken me longer than I had planned to get my 71 back together as I had some family matters that needed attention and also my car , due to some trauma before I bought it, does not line up correctly when you put things together but with some ingenuity and a lot of effort it looks pretty much perfect. Today I put battery back in and started it. Everything works except that there is no sound from my 4 new speakers. I put in a new radio head unit and 4 speakers, 2 under top dash and 2 in kick panels. The radio indicates that it is receiving a good signal but no sound out of speakers except engine noise interference in upper left speaker. I also tried with my MP3 player in the aux jack but no sound. Any ideas where to start? I hate to take center consoles out as it was not that easy to get it all together. Still have seats out so that makes access easier. I could just bring to shop where I bought radio and speakers and give them the $50 per hour but I am really hesitant to as they are not corvette people, it is so easy to bust some fiber glass or light metal parts, and my interior does not go together as easily as it should. Any ideas are greatly appreciated. Thanks
Team Owner
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 24,125
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From: Columbia Missouri
To be honest is sounds like a bad head unit. It may be something simple like a bad fuse in the back of the head unit. Most head units come with tools to remove it from the front so you can slide it out and access the wiring.
I would pull out the head unit to test and inspect the wiring.
First determine what you 12V constant wire is and that it is 12V constant. Then find the IGN wire and make sure it's off when the IGN is off and on when the IGN is on.
Then test your ground and make sure your antenna is properly installed. In some cases the antenna is actually a ground for the head unit.
Then, with all of your speaker wires out and available, use a 9V battery to test each speaker. If you put the positive side of the two wires to the POS side of the battery and NEG to NEG the speaker will push out and stay out as long as the wires are connected. This is called proper phase. If the speaker is hooked up backwards, the cone will suck in. You want the cone to push outward when the POS and NEGs are correct on a 9V battery.
If all of your wires check out and all of your speakers are connected properly and it still won't work I would suggest unhooking that head unit and trying either a spare or return it for an exchange or refund.
By the way, what brands are your equipment?
I would pull out the head unit to test and inspect the wiring.
First determine what you 12V constant wire is and that it is 12V constant. Then find the IGN wire and make sure it's off when the IGN is off and on when the IGN is on.
Then test your ground and make sure your antenna is properly installed. In some cases the antenna is actually a ground for the head unit.
Then, with all of your speaker wires out and available, use a 9V battery to test each speaker. If you put the positive side of the two wires to the POS side of the battery and NEG to NEG the speaker will push out and stay out as long as the wires are connected. This is called proper phase. If the speaker is hooked up backwards, the cone will suck in. You want the cone to push outward when the POS and NEGs are correct on a 9V battery.
If all of your wires check out and all of your speakers are connected properly and it still won't work I would suggest unhooking that head unit and trying either a spare or return it for an exchange or refund.
By the way, what brands are your equipment?
Thread Starter
Advanced
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 96
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From: Pikesville MD
success
thanks for everyones' help. I got my stereo fixed. I found that the left top speaker had a loss connection (had to be that one, the hardest to get to)! I push on connections (slip over clip type) and all is working. Now as soon as it stops raining I will pull car out put seats and other parts back and clean and drive and enjoy sound system. Lesson to remember, always check and re-check connections, especially ones that hold by friction.
Thread Starter
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Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 96
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From: Pikesville MD
follow up problem?
lesson #2: think low tech 1st: When I got everything back radio fine but next time same thing... this time I took apart and put together with radio on. what was happening when you tighten down top dash to bottom you would lose sound...I discovered that front dash has a brace that the top of just touches one of my connections to the speaker and if you push down a little you lose sound take pressure off ok. Well very hard to reach without taking out dash so I was not able to remove but with a squeeze and all the finger strength I had I was able to bend brace a little bit to clear and also put some foam rubber in between brace and wires at bottom of speaker. In my experience more times than not problems are of this low tech type and spending the time to look visually at the situation as carefully as we can we find the problem.
