ANDY Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 (edited) has anyone used a harness like this when installing a after market deck? cause im having some problems i cant hear anything til its full blast and my fronts barely have sound coming out, but the rears sound good but only when its maxxed out. i was trying to do this without messing with the stock amp. any help would be great ive already read an old thread but barely understand it Edited February 7, 2012 by ANDY Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1994SEV6 Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 I'm a bit confused by that harness. First of all, those are colors are never colors I've seen on wires/plugs, much less for audio. And I am very experienced in electronics. Second, the green and purple plugs have black wires coming from them, but the 4-pronged plug has green and wires coming out of it...that doesn't add up. So, ignoring the color of plugs, what are those multi-pronged plugs doing there? You wouldn't want to use those kind of plugs to transfer high-quality audio. And it doesn't look like those plugs are for power. I can get a picture of my stereo harness if you want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devonianwalk Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 (edited) I used to do a lot custom car audio installs and sound competitions back in the early '90's. I recall the universal color codes for 12v audio systems. The connector on the right has the tell tale yellow (constant +), red (switched +), black (ground -), and orange (illumination). What is curious is that both harnesses have the blue (amp turn on lead). Could there be more than one amp? Front and back maybe? There should also be an antenna lead to signal the powered antenna to extend/retract. Other notable "universal" car audio colors are grey (right front), white (left front), purple (right rear), and green (left rear). It looks as if the RCA patch cords send those signals to the factory amp. I would think that your new head unit would have to have pre-amp out puts for those specific channels. The harness on the left confuses me though, It probably connects the power to the second amp? Edited February 8, 2012 by devonianwalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ANDY Posted February 8, 2012 Author Share Posted February 8, 2012 yah the rca cables are the "speaker wires" that plugs directly to the back of the head unit for the factory amp. but since i only have 1 amp its getting all the power to the rear speakers. i was wondering if i found the right wires for the rears could i cut the wires and hook them up directly to the head unt? im getting stressed and pissed that the rears sound like crap Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devonianwalk Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 (edited) i was wondering if i found the right wires for the rears could i cut the wires and hook them up directly to the head unt? im getting stressed and pissed that the rears sound like crap No! Don't do that! The RCA's are carrying 2-4 volts max. You will burn out the amp's inputs by feeding too much power. The average head unit back when I was into stereo's hovered around the 12-15 watt range. One option you might have is to buy a line level converter. I think you can find these at most car stereo stores (even some big box car parts stores). *edit ... my link is merely for refference. You can find them cheaper than the one I quickly Googled! Edited February 8, 2012 by devonianwalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tungsten Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 The best thing to do with the factory amplifier is to take it out and throw it in the garbage. It's too weak for any real speakers. I think the output is something like 25 watts per channel. Then you either install an aftermarket amplifier or just run the speakers off the deck using the internal amplifier of the deck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Puckstoper9 Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 Are you sure that the amp is not blow. When I got my truck I had to by pass the amps. They where done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ANDY Posted February 8, 2012 Author Share Posted February 8, 2012 im sure the amp isnt blown, but how exactly do you by pass the amp? is it disconenct it and run the rear speakers off the new deck? im kinda new to factory amped cars my honda and toyota were cake work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tungsten Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 You just go directly to the speakers. Don't bypass the amp on the stock head unit, only on aftermarket decks that have built in amps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slartibartfast Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 i was wondering if i found the right wires for the rears could i cut the wires and hook them up directly to the head unt? im getting stressed and pissed that the rears sound like crap That's actually what I did. The sound isn't the best, and I can't turn it up very much. The problem is that the stock headunit puts out signal-level output, which the stock amps build up to power the speakers. The aftermarket head, wired how I've got it, is dumping full speaker power into the amps, which power the speakers a lot harder. Of course, I can't turn it up much without blowing my ears out, so I don't think the amps are in much danger. Your RCA harness is built to tap signal output from your head unit, making it act like the factory head. I'm not sure why it isn't working. When I did mine, I make myself a diagram of the wires, and what they did. Sorry the pic is so lousy, it didn't scan well. What Tungsten's talking about is probably better. Completely remove the factory amps (or just unplug/forget about them), then run new wires from the stereo's speaker outputs to the speakers (not the RCAs). My stereo is loud, it's got a little hiss, and I have to keep it turned down pretty low, but it works. I plan to do a full re-wiring eventually (run new wires from the head unit to the speakers). You can hack up the amps and do the bypass there, but then you're still relying on the factory wiring... not the end of the world, but from what little I know of car audio, thicker wires generally means better sound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamzan Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 http://www.nissanpathfinders.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=24612&view=findpost&p=449109&hl=clarion&fromsearch=1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ANDY Posted February 8, 2012 Author Share Posted February 8, 2012 i guess the harness with the RCas are for a setup with 2 amps and i only have one amp for the rears im guessing, but i got the standard harness and im going to just by pass the amp and install new speakers. thanks for helping and thoughts about it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slartibartfast Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 i guess the harness with the RCas are for a setup with 2 amps and i only have one amp for the rears im guessing, but i got the standard harness and im going to just by pass the amp and install new speakers. thanks for helping and thoughts about it Just to clarify, if you have four speakers, you have one amp. If you've got six or eight speakers, there's another amp hiding somewhere. None of that matters with a bypass though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tungsten Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 That's actually what I did. The sound isn't the best, and I can't turn it up very much. The problem is that the stock headunit puts out signal-level output, which the stock amps build up to power the speakers. The aftermarket head, wired how I've got it, is dumping full speaker power into the amps, which power the speakers a lot harder. Of course, I can't turn it up much without blowing my ears out, so I don't think the amps are in much danger. Your RCA harness is built to tap signal output from your head unit, making it act like the factory head. I'm not sure why it isn't working. When I did mine, I make myself a diagram of the wires, and what they did. Sorry the pic is so lousy, it didn't scan well. What Tungsten's talking about is probably better. Completely remove the factory amps (or just unplug/forget about them), then run new wires from the stereo's speaker outputs to the speakers (not the RCAs). My stereo is loud, it's got a little hiss, and I have to keep it turned down pretty low, but it works. I plan to do a full re-wiring eventually (run new wires from the head unit to the speakers). You can hack up the amps and do the bypass there, but then you're still relying on the factory wiring... not the end of the world, but from what little I know of car audio, thicker wires generally means better sound. If you are going to use an amp with an aftermarket deck, be sure to use the line level outputs (RCA) instead of the wires. Those wires are only for the people that do not want to run an amplifier. If you send those to the amp, you can blow the amp or have really crappy sound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nefarious Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 Yeah if you go aftermarket head unit just run new wires to bypass factory amps. The head units internal amp should be a lot better.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ANDY Posted February 9, 2012 Author Share Posted February 9, 2012 (edited) i got the wire schematics from work so i will by pass it, i was thinking of disconnecting it from the amp and running a splice connector type and wiring it up that way just in case i do plan on selling it so i can put the factory am.fm radio back in. but ill post a pretty good wire schematic if it will let me Edited February 9, 2012 by ANDY Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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