Novice to stereo--anyone tell what this is, and what I can replace it with?
 

01 ZO6 with an aftermarket head unit, amp and speaker in the trunk. I haven't had the door panels off yet, so I don't know if the door speakers are Bose, but I doubt it (now). What is this widget? The radio has a hum from the speakers that can diminish/increase if I wiggle the very loose pot inside this thing. It has been there a while, and the wiring is a mess....I bought the car this way. Audio hack installers are responsible, it appears. I assume this is obsolete, what is the best path forward? Thanks for any and all help.


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Pics of the amp and related equipment:

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LOC? I just don't see any rca jacks. Can you post more pics of the wires and what they are connected to?

Thanks for the reply, I will get more pictures and information tonight. :thumbs:

Did you google Soundgate?

Yes, I found their website at soundgate.com but I didn't see any of their products that remotely looked like this. No telling how old this widget is, hoping I could find out its purpose. I believe it ties into the head unit speaker wiring, I will get more information tonight.

The green and purple wires are usually the rear speaker signals in most harnesses. No idea what the two gray wires are. Does it do anything when you turn the POT? Does the volume change on any set of speakers?

As for the equipment, The Head unit looks to be a model of sufficient quality, the sub is nice (Infinity Kappa Perfect) The crossover and amp are ho-hum- although probably functional. The crossover is redundant. Most amps had at least an 80hz active crossover built in, but the better option would be to use the electronic crossover in the head unit for the subwoofer outputs.

Knowing what the wires go to on that little knob will help us know what it's doing. Was the knob somewhere you could see it, or buried in the dash?

this is almost it - I think it's a safe bet it is a LOC - possibly (likely) to integrate the head unit with the bose amps.

I'm almost sure the purple and green wires are the rear speaker wires, I will check tonight for a definitive answer. Thanks very much for your input!

When I turn the knob, it reduces the sound from the speakers, but the pot is so bad (scratchy) it's difficult to tell. The low level hum is what got me to this point, if a put pressure on the contact point between the pot and the little circuit board, the hum gets softer/louder.

As I am not an audiophile, the sound quality is good enough, but the humming/scratching I just can't tolerate.

EDIT: I am looking at/learning what a LOC is.....all of them have RCA connectors on them and this one doesn't?

I think it was probably specifically set up for this application - soundgate sold a lot of factory integration pieces. My theory is it plugged into the factory harness, and accepts the amplified signal from the rear speakers on the head unit. It feeds that signal to the bose amplifiers, and the knob lets you adjust the level so that it is an appropriate match.

You could replace this one with something like and since it has RCA outputs (pretty much all LOCs will) use to integrate back into the factory harness

I'd still look at how the sub is hooked up - there is no point in having the Coustic crossover in the signal chain.

First, thanks for the replies daverulz! It appears that the rear speaker wires (green, purple) from the head unit are wired to this widget, and the grey and grey/white wires go into a different connector and disappear. So it looks like you're right, daverulz. I will buy the new one you suggested and see if I can clean up this wiring in the meantime.

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No problem! I think that should take care of your problem and get the system back to working the way it was. While you're in there I'd throw some zip ties or tesa tape around those wires to get them loomed up nicely. I just hate seeing a rats nest of wires like that!

It looks like maybe the green and purple are the input, and the gray is the output? Summed mono to feed the subs possibly. I'd just verify where those gray wires go. That will dictate how you wire up the new LOC.

Thanks for the help, I have it put back together and it's working with the exception of that "hum" sound coming from the front speakers. I suppose I need to remove the door panel(s), as I don't really know what is in there. I don't hear the hum in the rear speakers. It may have been there since I bought the car, as I can't hear it unless the head unit volume is very low and I usually have it cranked up. The hum is there regardless of the head unit function though, radio or usb input. Any thoughts?

Did you buy a new LOC and it didn't solve the problem?

Yes. I bought and installed it, it solved the other issue (cutting in/out, pot causing scratchy static) but the low level hum is still there. You can hear it when the volume is low, for any function (radio, usb input, etc.).