2000 PF with Bose system front speakers popping

[Andrew101]

Hi, I recently bought 2000 Pathfinder with Bose system and noticed, that front speakers doesn't work. They just sometimes randomly pop for a second and that's it.

After doing some research, I took off rear amplifier and checked if all the wiring are not loose. They all were in place.

Then I thought, that the problem may be in the factory head unit, because lights on it sometimes didn't work, sometimes work.. So I ordered the scosche wiring interface from crutchfield and installed aftermarket stereo. Rear speakers works great, but I can still hear popping sound from the front ones.

Then I've found the manual and that's what it says:

All front speakers are inoperative

1. Audio amp. relay - Check audio amp. relay.

2. Audio amp. relay ground - Check audio amp. relay ground (Terminal 3)

3. Amp. ON signal - Turn ignition switch ACC and audio unit ON. Verify battery positive voltage is present at terminal 1 of SC audio amp. relay.

Could someone explain how to check audio amp. relay ground and what is the terminal 3?

And how to check battery positive voltage presence? Do I need some tool for that?

Or maybe I can bypass factory amplifier somehow and connect front speakers directly to my aftermarket head unit? Is it possible?

[jyeager]

My understanding is that the Bose equipped sound system only uses the rear amp to power the rear speakers.

The front speakers have a small integrated amp in for each set of component speakers on each side....in the door.

 

The factory service manual will have 3 sections for the audio system, covering the 3 different audio systems available. Are you sure that what you quoted here comes from the section for 'Bose' stereo and not the one labeled 'with amplifier'?

 

Anyway, as far as I know, your problem would be found in the front, not the rear.

...unless you don't actually have the Bose system?

[Andrew101]

Oh I didn't know, that rear amp only uses rear speakers.

I'm 100% sure, that I have a bose system.

 

I'm sure, that I quoted the right section (here's the link to the manual, look for EL-157).

 

Today I removed front door trim and checked all wiring. Everything seems to be ok.

 

 

So any ideas how to bypass this amp and connect the speaker directly to the head unit?

Edited December 12, 2015 by Andrew101

[jyeager]

Ok. I looked at your car's schematic just to make sure something hadn't changed over the model years.

 

The schematic shows "rear speaker amp" feeding your rear speakers and says nothing about your front speakers....

We (a few of us on this site who have collectively discussed this in the past) believe there is a small amplifier

in each front door that powers the front speakers and also provides the hi-pass filter necessary for the front tweeters located in the A-pillars.

 

Are you getting any sound from either of the 4 front speakers? (Left or right tweeter or left or right door speaker)

You may need to adjust balance and fade between the limits to isolate each channel.

 

It seems weird they would all be dead because they are separate systems from the head-unit to each side. unless it's in that wire that feeds pin 4 in both of the front speakers. You should check that for voltage with a voltmeter with your head unit turned on.

 

If you simply have all 4 front components blown, somehow, then you need a new component speaker set.

I'm sure there is a way to tell if the front amplifiers are working...probably has something to do with looking at the output voltage on the + speaker wire, but off-hand I don't know what you should expect to see there.

 

 

[Andrew101]

I randomly hear something for a second from one or another front speaker or tweeter. Sometimes I can listen for a couple songs without any sound from front at all, but sometimes it pops multiple times in one song. It's totally random as far as I can tell.

 

If you take a look at my previously posted photo, I think, that the amp is that thing to the right of the speaker. I'll try to find some time tomorrow and buy voltmeter and get back to you with the results.

[Andrew101]

Ok, I bought a multimeter and checked the voltage.

 

Strange thing happened, when I was playing with test lead tips on the speaker wires - out of nowhere they started working normally! I adjusted balance and fader and verified, that all front speakers were working! I put the speaker back to it's place with a smile in my face, then I increased the volume to 25 out of 35 and they stopped working again. They were randomly popping for a second just like it was before.

 

Then I took out the speaker and played with multimeter again. And they started working until I increased the volume.

 

When they were working, the multimeter showed 10 on avg. and 0 when not working.

 

 

Any ideas what could be wrong?

Edited December 15, 2015 by Andrew101

[jyeager]

When it begins working, do both sides begin working correctly at the same time? And then when the volume goes up, do they both stop working at the same time?

 

Or is it just the side you are playing with?

 

And also, exactly which pin(s) are you probing with your multi-meter when you are seeing 10volts? (it is volts you were measuring at '10'?)

 

[Andrew101]

Yes, when it begins working, both sides begin working at the same time and stop working at the same time.

 

I haven't used multimeter since college and my knowledge is a little bit rusty. When I was seeing "10", I was probing speaker wire connectors and multimeter was set on DC 200m, just like in the picture below.

 

Edited December 16, 2015 by Andrew101

[jyeager]

Ok. To measure volts put the voltmeter on the DC 20 setting, not the 200 mv setting you've been using.

 

Since touching things in there makes them work intermittently, then I will say that you probably have a bad connection in one of the shared wires.

If you look at the wiring diagram you will notice that each front speaker has 6 wires running to it. The wire at pin #4 is the one that supplies 12v power when the stereo is turned on. If you probe across #4 and #5 (the ground) you should see 12.6 volts (without engine running) or 14.x volts with engine running.

 

If not, you have a problem with your power or ground wire...and both speakers take 12v and gnd from the same source wire somewhere under the dash.

 

 

The wires at pins #6 and #2 won't be the problem. Those are the signal wires from the stereo and they are completely independent from each other from side to side...but your speakers kick in and out together which leads me to believe the problem is with the shared power or ground wires I mentioned above.

 

And the other 2 wires just run up to the tweeter and the tweeters are kicking in and out together with the door speakers.

 

So check the connector on the driver's side speaker and make sure all pins are fully seated in the connector, free of corrosion, and tight fitting.

 

[Andrew101]

I probed accross #4 and #5 in D12 (see pic below) connector, which is above front amp and it showed from 7 to 11 volts (on avg. 9V) without engine running and very similar results with engine running (voltage never reached 12V or more).

When I put connector back in place, front right side speaker didn't work anymore and only front left side was popping.. Not sure what happened and how could I break something, but hope that it's just temporary issue...

 

 

Will try to find some time on weekend and will check driver's side speaker and let you know the results.

 

Btw, thanks for taking time helping me!

[jyeager]

Ok. So you measured volts across pins 4, 5 and we see lower voltage than expected (must be done with radio turned on).

 

So now you need to measure from pin 4 to a perfect ground to see what your voltage is on that wire. That's the Red wire.

See if you can get a 15+ foot length of wire and physically run it from your battery's NEGATIVE terminal to the door where you are working. Connect your meter to the red wire and the wire you have running to the NEGATIVE battery cable. You should see 12+ volts. If not, there is a problem along that wire somewhere.

 

If that tests good (12+ volts), then check the ground wire (pin 5, black wire). Turn the multi meter to Ohms (200) and measure the resistance from pin 5 to your perfect ground wire (the one you ran from your battery NEGATIVE over to where you are working). You should see 0 Ohms or very, very close to 0.

If not, then your ground connection is the problem.

 

Just make sure not to touch this temporary cable that you have to any live wires carrying voltage or you will blow a fuse somewhere. Connecting your multimeter leads between this wire and a hot wire is fine.

 

[Andrew101]

Hi, I've found some free time today and played with speakers.

Before starting I want to mention, that my right front speakers are still not working at all since I probed accross #4 and #5 pins couple days ago.

 

So, when right front speakers are not working and left front speakers are working fine, the voltage on driver's and passenger's side accross #4 and #5 pins are quite similar: ~12V when engine is not running and ~14V (little bit less ~13.xx) when it's running. But when left front speakers starts popping (working intermittently), the voltage on passenger's side varies usually between 9 and 11 volts.

 

And I've got a wire and connected one end to the battery's negative terminal and other end to multimeter's black wire.

 

Then I connected multimeter's red wire to #4 pin (red wire) and got the following results:

On passenger's side ~11.89V

 

And on driver's side ~12.44V

 

Then I left temporary wire connected to battery's negative terminal and other end to multimeter's black wire and connected multimeter's red wire to #5 pin (black wire) and set multimeter to Ohms (200) and got the following results:

On passenger's side ~2.0 Ohms

 

And on driver's side ~1.8 Ohms

 

Like I said before, my knowledge from college is rusty, so I'm not really sure what those measurements means..

Edited December 19, 2015 by Andrew101

[jyeager]

All looks good except for that situation where things go flakey and the voltage is being dragged down.

I really can't say whether it's a problem with that device (little amp thing?) in the door, or the relay that sends the voltage there when the radio is turned on.

 

Question: when you were measuring the voltage, was the connector still connected to the thing and you were probing the pins from the back? or was it disconnected and the probing happening at the front of the connector?

 

So regardless, at this point, if you are more inclined to get it working even though it costs a little money, then you can get a set of component speakers and replace the existing speakers. You would only use the 2 wires providing the audio signal and the other other 2 wires feeding the tweeters.

In fact, if you plan to do this, you might want to temporarily wire up those 2 wires to the existing door speaker directly (bypassing the circuit board in there) and see if they work with the other electronics out of the way.

 

[Andrew101]

Where can I find that relay? Maybe it's easy and cheap to replace it?

 

When I was measuring the voltage, the connector was disconnected and I probed at the front. Does it make any difference?

 

I'm ok to buy a new speakers if they'll work fine. About which particular 2 wires are you talking about? Red and black?

Edited December 21, 2015 by Andrew101

[jyeager]

Where can I find that relay? Maybe it's easy and cheap to replace it?

I don't know, but the most likely place is the fuse block under the dash (above your right knee when you are driving). There should be labels.

 

When I was measuring the voltage, the connector was disconnected and I probed at the front. Does it make any difference?

Yes, since it wasn't connected, we can be sure the 'amp' in there wasn't the device pulling the voltage down.

 

I'm ok to buy a new speakers if they'll work fine. About which particular 2 wires are you talking about? Red and black?

The 2 wires are at pins #2 and #6 in the connector.

The colors are labeled L/Y and L/G. I'm not sure what color L indicates (perhaps lavender), but there will be a Yellow stripe for #2 and a green stripe for #6. Those are the signal wires from the stereo that provide the music.

If you back those pins out of the connector (or jumper a wire end into the connector) and connect them to the spades (or connector) on the door speaker you should hear music, although it may be half the volume of the rear speakers.

 

One of them is + and one is - so keep them in the right polarity on the speaker...I'm not sure speakers work when the wires are reversed.

The wires that continue on to the speaker are probably the same color anyway, so that should help you keep them straight.

 

So to summarize. You are disconnecting D3 from the 'amp' thing ignoring wires 1,3,4,5 and just sending 2 ad 6 directly to the door speaker.

That's the way you would typically wire up a coaxial speaker...just 2 wires coming straight from the stereo. btw, when you do this, the tweeter won't work because it's not hooked up.

 

 

 

[Andrew101]

Got it, thanks!

 

I'm going on a road trip soon for a couple weeks and when I'll be back I'll try to bypass the amp and let you know the results!

[fixinto]

sounds like you have a bad connection on the ground. "or the hot" If you probe the connector without the speaker hooked up it should show you the voltage if it is there. while the meter is hooked up to the connector, wiggle the harness where it plugs into the speaker and where it plugs into the amp, see if there is an issue that you can duplicate with the "wiggle test".

find where the shared hot / ground is hooked up and give that a wiggle also. the wiggle test should get you in the ballpark at the very least on a problem that is a connection issue. Also check the mini amp / hi pass board to make sure you don't see any cracked solder joints at the connectors. make sure there is no debris laying on the pcb taking the signal to where it isn't supposed to be.

If you have a solid power source and a solid ground with no increased resistance do to a loose connection or bad wire, as well nothing laying on the board or no cold solder joints where it is powered or goes to the speaker, it should be working.

the wiggle test is more of a quick and dirty type check. but being that it works sometimes and has voltage and then doesn't work with 0V it works, just not all of the time. so has to be a loose wire / connector / cold solder pretty much.

 

hopefully you get your tunes going.

to answer the question about running it to your head unit. yes. just run speaker wire from the head unit over to the speaker bypassing the mini amps / hi pass filters. you can substitute capacitors in series with the hot wire for the high pass filter, some quick google research will get u close for the cap values. "probably wouldn't use polorized ones, go with the bidirectional if you go that route, but i am hoping you can find the problem and get it going because bose are supposed to be a really nice sound setup.

 

 

pat

[Andrew101]

Hello guys! Sorry for the silence over the past few weeks - I had an injury and couldn't work on this, but now I feel better and tried to bypass the amp today.

 

 

So I managed to take pins #2 and #6 out of the D12 connector and wired them directly to the speaker. And the speaker worked! But it was really (I mean REALLY) silent compared to the rear ones.. I read somewhere, that bose speakers' impedance is just 1 Ohm, while the most of aftermarket speakers usually are 4 Ohms.

 

Just out of curiosity I took one 6 Ohms speaker from my home stereo and hooked it up in the car, but the result was basically the same - not very loud..

 

If I buy new 4 Ohms speakers, will they be louder? How do you think?

Edited February 15, 2016 by Andrew101

[vg33deguy]

Mine did the same thing but they also flickered off and on up front and the speakers in there are 4ohm out of a projection tv. I just bypassed my front amps it's red a black wires I believe? Before the harness for the door amps. Fader is on front 7 sounds ok but my best advise that I've gotten so far is look online for a set of Used ones unless you want to rewire the whole system. I'm ordering a complete set out of a q4 gave up trying to make it work well with the aftermarket speakers and damaged amps. Bose didn't make their stereos user friendly at all. Just had to custom fit a aftermarket deck in my neighbors Mercedes wasn't fun. After that I decided to keep mine factory and grin and bear buying used equipment.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[jyeager]

Didn't you replace your factory head unit for an aftermarket?

If so, it will probably be putting out 25 watts per speaker.

If you put in an aftermarket speaker bypassing the factory 'amps' they should work fine. But since they won't be amplified, and the rear speakers are, you will need to adjust your fader to even out the volume front to rear.

 

But don't forget the tweeters in your A-Pillars. If you want to keep those working you will need to route the signal there too.

 

 

But it really might be worth buying a set of used original amps. Just get a guarantee from the seller that they work!

[Andrew101]

I just bypassed my front amps it's red a black wires I believe? Before the harness for the door amps.

 

It's a pins #2 and #6 (blue/red and blue/yellow) in D12 connector.

 

Didn't you replace your factory head unit for an aftermarket?

If so, it will probably be putting out 25 watts per speaker.

If you put in an aftermarket speaker bypassing the factory 'amps' they should work fine. But since they won't be amplified, and the rear speakers are, you will need to adjust your fader to even out the volume front to rear.

 

But don't forget the tweeters in your A-Pillars. If you want to keep those working you will need to route the signal there too.

 

Yes, I already replaced head unit for an aftermarket and after you mentioned "25 watts per speaker", I realized why my front speakers are really silent - it's because I had Scosche Wiring Interface hooked up and it was reducing the output in order to work with factory amps. So I took out front door amps, then bypassed this scosche interface and wired front speakers directly to head unit. And I reused existing wires for that. Then I studied the schematics a bit and found out, that pins #1 and #3 in D12 connector are for the tweeters. So I removed all other wires and left only #1 and #3 in D12 connector. And everything is working fine now! I can tell, that front speakers are now even louder than the rear ones, so I had to set the fader on rear 7.

This is how all things look like:

 

All the mess with the wires and duct tape doesn't look nice, but at least it works!

 

THANK YOU so much for the help! Really appreciate that!

[kdj]

 

Hi, I recently bought 2000 Pathfinder with Bose system and noticed, that front speakers doesn't work. They just sometimes randomly pop for a second and that's it.

After doing some research, I took off rear amplifier and checked if all the wiring are not loose. They all were in place.

Then I thought, that the problem may be in the factory head unit, because lights on it sometimes didn't work, sometimes work.. So I ordered the scosche wiring interface from crutchfield and installed aftermarket stereo. Rear speakers works great, but I can still hear popping sound from the front ones.

Then I've found the manual and that's what it says:

All front speakers are inoperative

1. Audio amp. relay - Check audio amp. relay.

2. Audio amp. relay ground - Check audio amp. relay ground (Terminal 3)

3. Amp. ON signal - Turn ignition switch ACC and audio unit ON. Verify battery positive voltage is present at terminal 1 of SC audio amp. relay.

Could someone explain how to check audio amp. relay ground and what is the terminal 3?

And how to check battery positive voltage presence? Do I need some tool for that?

Or maybe I can bypass factory amplifier somehow and connect front speakers directly to my aftermarket head unit? Is it possible?

 

 

[kdj]

 

Hi, I recently bought 2000 Pathfinder with Bose system and noticed, that front speakers doesn't work. They just sometimes randomly pop for a second and that's it.

After doing some research, I took off rear amplifier and checked if all the wiring are not loose. They all were in place.

Then I thought, that the problem may be in the factory head unit, because lights on it sometimes didn't work, sometimes work.. So I ordered the scosche wiring interface from crutchfield and installed aftermarket stereo. Rear speakers works great, but I can still hear popping sound from the front ones.

Then I've found the manual and that's what it says:

All front speakers are inoperative

1. Audio amp. relay - Check audio amp. relay.

2. Audio amp. relay ground - Check audio amp. relay ground (Terminal 3)

3. Amp. ON signal - Turn ignition switch ACC and audio unit ON. Verify battery positive voltage is present at terminal 1 of SC audio amp. relay.

Could someone explain how to check audio amp. relay ground and what is the terminal 3?

And how to check battery positive voltage presence? Do I need some tool for that?

Or maybe I can bypass factory amplifier somehow and connect front speakers directly to my aftermarket head unit? Is it possible?

 

 

[kdj]

Your problem is no.1

 

Audio amp relay. If it doesn't work all 4 front speackers are out. The 2 rears are separate. The relay has four wires....

 

Red

Black

Light green w/red tracer

Red w/green tracer

 

If you put a jumper wire between Red/Green tracer and the Red wire the speakers should work. Just don't leave it like that or the front amps will keep drawing power without the key on..

Edited February 19, 2016 by kdj