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For something that SHOULD have been easy... Sound system upgrade:

G

gtdjab

CEG'er
Joined
Apr 1, 2012
Messages
32
Location
Dallas, GA
Factory amps.. who needs them?.. Wiring has been politely modified in my 98 SE. I can see where an amp has been mounted in rear area at one time (wiring still there). Factory amp harness had the two front door wires sets cut from it and bypassed at the plug, grey din connector cable still in use. I had sound in pass rear, some in pass front, little in drvr front, zero in drvr rear. Pulled crappy "Rampage" head unit out, replaced with Pioneer from my crash victim. NO SOUND. :mad:

Long story short... Got front two speakers figured out. Chased rear speaker leads to White/Purple * Brown/White in both rear doors (where the rears used for mono bass in factory system)? Tried using 9v on clipped wires at amp harness plug, no response at speakers. Don't see a good way to run new wiring due to Ford bulkhead connectors to each door.

I know what I believe I will be doing... but... What have you folks done to beat this? :confused:
 
Oh yes.. factory speakers are back in all doors, front are transplants from another ford, rears appear to be factory. Existing aftermarket amp harnessing found is all disconnected as well. Tested all three of my bigger amps I found in shop... all 3 have remote turn on lead issues... Just can't win some days.
 
The rear speakers were used as normal speakers, not for mono. They are 6x8 all the way around. Idk what to tell you about the hacked up wiring, I have never had to deal with that kind of situation.
 
recheck the bulkhead connections. sometimes there are empty spots in the connectors you can tap into.
 
I did some research and found the wires ARE indeed the same color at both rear speakers from factory, but they started different from the amp connector. the passenger rear door starts as Brown wire & White wire and becomes Brown/Yellow & White / Violet respectively. All other three stay same color from factory amp connector to speaker. VERY STRANGE.

For this installation, I believe I will take the simple route. Take amp out of the circuit COMPLETELY. Clip the harness and wire direct. I will step it up later possibly. As much as I miss my ROCKIN' sound systems of my earlier childhood... I got tired of the tickets I got with them. Will spend money elsewhere for now. Thanks for the input folks!
 
I know when me and my buddy did the stereo in his BMW we had to mess with the hack-job the previous owner had done. We ultimately pulled all the wiring that was added and returned it to full stock before upgrading.
 
gtdjab said:
the passenger rear door starts as Brown wire & White wire and becomes Brown/Yellow & White / Violet respectively. All other three stay same color from factory amp connector to speaker. For this installation, I believe I will take the simple route. Take amp out of the circuit COMPLETELY.
Click to expand...

Thats what I did today ;) cept I have a 5 channel amp and had to run speaker wire up front, temp tied into the harness the plugged into the amp. Sometime soon, ill connect them into the doors at that plug.
 
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