new audio system through stock amplifier not "booming" please help!

[CrisZenithBlue]

hi guys,

one of the very first thing i did to my new to me 2000 Boxster is replace the audio system, the stock one was just so terribly bad with those paper speakers..

i bought a kenwood and new speakers for the dash and doors replacing the stock ones. no rear or sub from factory. i connected everything through the appropriate harness provided by the headunit manufacturer so didnt cut into the stock wires at all and so i can use the original amp as well (as suggested by the company where i got the kenwood)

trouble is.. the dash speakers are great and loud but the door ones only get a little bit of power to them and it sounds like only bass(but very low).. they seem like all they do is vibrate but not making a lot of noise, no mid or trebble on them from what i can tell. i'm guessing that is the way the amp was configured from factory as the stock door speakers were doing the same. i played with the headunit settings quite a bit and am pretty sure its not that. my money is on the amp.


any tips on how to work around this? i need those door speakers to boom to have proper sound so i probably need to wire the door speakers differently.

thanks!

Cristian

[Gremlin]

The door speakers are bass only and the amp passes only LF bass to them. If you want full range in the door speakers, the easiest method is to bypass the amp and make the door speakers the "rear speakers" when wiring to your receiver.

I did the same thing in the last couple of days. Replaced the head unit with Kenwood and dash speakers with Kicker. MUCH better sound. Next I will replace the door speakers and wire them directly to the Kenwood. Since I drive with the top down most of the time, I am not looking for audiophile results.

If you do a search, there are several threads on this issue.

[tonichristi]

Take the stock amp and see how far you can throw it.
Most car stereos put out more power than that amp does, so you'll want to just bypass it.

[CrisZenithBlue]

thanks for the feedback!

i read most people bypass it and connect the door speakers as rear so they can play with the volume separately getting great results.

now i just need to find a good DYI to get me through the amp bypass..

[madmodz]

Check phasing on your speakers. You can use a d or 9volt battery to do this. Basically your wires might be reversed. Youtube has how-to videos.

[rdass623]

the stock amp as stated earlier has a low bypass. the door speakers are subwoofers only in stock amp configured systems. you can either purchase a new amp or run directly from the new head unit. either way your sound quality will improve. my old boxy was configured with an amp driving the front and door speakers and directly off the head unit for additional speakers added into the pizza oven on the rear deck.

[CrisZenithBlue]

can someone recommend a decent cheap amp to replace the factory one? something as plug and play as possible? not looking for power as my speakers are only 50W anyway.

just looking to get rid of that stock configuration where the door speakers are used a sub woofers. i just want all speakers at full blast nothing else.

thanks!

[particlewave]

You really need to forget the amp altogether.

Your kenwood head unit probably puts out 45-55 watts per channel, which is already ideal. No need to pipe the signal through an amp.

Bypass the stock amp and you will be happy, I promise
If you'll take a picture of your stock amp and a closeup of the wiring at the amp, I can verify your setup and tell you what wires to cut and splice to bypass.
You should be able to do it all in the frunk. No need to pull the stereo or get into the dash.

[CrisZenithBlue]

Originally Posted by particlewave

You really need to forget the amp altogether.

Your kenwood head unit probably puts out 45-55 watts per channel, which is already ideal. No need to pipe the signal through an amp.

Bypass the stock amp and you will be happy, I promise
If you'll take a picture of your stock amp and a closeup of the wiring at the amp, I can verify your setup and tell you what wires to cut and splice to bypass.
You should be able to do it all in the frunk. No need to pull the stereo or get into the dash.

oh man this is exactly what i was hoping to do initial plan was to bypass the amp but it all seemed a bit overwhelming and didnt want to mess up the wiring.

i have some pics of the wiring but might not be good enough. i will upload asap and take more as needed.

thanks i really appreciate it!

[CrisZenithBlue]

here are a couple of photos of the amp wiring i had on my phone.. not sure if these work?

i can take more if needed.

[particlewave]

In the last picture, it looks like your inputs are on the bottom connector (smaller wires) and the outputs are on the upper connector, along with the power wires. This is what I hoped to see

Up to 2000 models only

Front Right
+ {Violet with Red stripe} to {Red}
- (Common) {Brown with Black stripe} to {Red with Brown stripe}

Front Left
+ {Green with Red stripe} to {Yellow}
- (Common) {Brown with Black stripe} to {Yellow with Brown stripe}

Door Right
+ {Red with Black stripe} to {Violet}
- (Common) {Brown with Black stripe} to {Brown with Violet stripe}

Door Left
+ {Yellow with Red stripe} to {Green}
- (Common) {Brown with Black stripe} to {Brown with Green stripe}

If everything works, then you can then toss the stock amp.

[BruceH]

I need to do this too. I will have to take a look at my amp when I get a chance. Thanks again for all of your contributions to this forum Charles

[particlewave]

The 986 uses a common ground for the speakers on the OEM HU, whilst most aftermarket HUs will use a floating ground. The "adapter" is a floating ground adapter and also degrades sound a bit.
The absolute best route would be to run new dedicated negative wires for each speaker from the new HU to the output neg wires at the amp (after its gone). The car has dedicated negative speaker wires from the amp to speakers, just not from HU to amp.
This is what I did.

Thanks Bruce!

[CrisZenithBlue]

ok this is great! i am well on my way!

one question though.. i like the idea of running new negative wires from the HU. how did you run them through the firewall? did you follow the existing wires from the HU to the amp?

thanks!!

[Qmulus]

Personally, I would just forget the factory wiring and run new wires to the dash, doors and back (if you have rear speakers), if you are going to just use the speaker outputs from the head unit. That way you can also leave the factory wiring alone so if you want to put it back to stock for some reason, it would be easy to reconnect.

The only kind of tricky part is the door speaker wiring, but you can get at the wires right at the A pillar where they go into the door connector. They are pretty easy to find as they are the only large twisted pairs of wires going into the door. If you cut and splice into them a few inches back, it would be easy to undo in the future.

Right door: Violet (+), Violet/Brown (-)
Left door: Green (+), Green/Brown (-)

I have an '03 with the MOST optical bus for the input to the amp and CD changer signals, so I pretty much have to rewire if I upgrade the head unit. Running new wires to the speakers is FAR easier than messing with running wires to the amp connector.

FWIW, I worked as a pro stereo installer through college. At that time I always had to have the latest and greatest. Now I just leave the OE stuff and listen to FM with the top up and the engine with the top down...

[CrisZenithBlue]

thanks for the input guys it really helped me a lot! got it done this weekend and am VERY happy with the improved sound. it's booming now

was fiddly and took quite a bit of patience but well worth it and satisfying in the end. since i had everything apart i took advantage and hard wired my radar detector as well so double win!

[particlewave]

Nice!

Glad it all worked out!

[BruceH]

Originally Posted by CrisZenithBlue

ok this is great! i am well on my way!

one question though.. i like the idea of running new negative wires from the HU. how did you run them through the firewall? did you follow the existing wires from the HU to the amp?

thanks!!

Originally Posted by CrisZenithBlue

thanks for the input guys it really helped me a lot! got it done this weekend and am VERY happy with the improved sound. it's booming now

was fiddly and took quite a bit of patience but well worth it and satisfying in the end. since i had everything apart i took advantage and hard wired my radar detector as well so double win!

So, did you run the negative wires from the HU? Was that the fiddly part?

[CrisZenithBlue]

yeah i ended up running the negative wires from the HU to get the most out of the system. definitely worth it!

[jeeper31]

Originally Posted by CrisZenithBlue

yeah i ended up running the negative wires from the HU to get the most out of the system. definitely worth it!

This might be a stupid question put if you didn't runt he negative wires from the HU where would you run them from?