I had a Kenwood dnx8120 installed in my tC last week.
It works great, but I noticed a weird problem..

The stock sub gets no signal when I use my iPod (which is the only thing I use for music)

Is the stock sub tapped into the rear channel signal in '08 tC?

I happen to just go to FM radio for the first time, and the sub started hitting. I was puzzled and shocked.
I then went back to the iPod, and no sub to be heard.

Anyone know why that would be?
IPod gets no sub action, but FM radio will ... WTF?


Please help.

 

im not sure, maybe check the settings on the Head unit. maybe its turned off when the ipod is on

 

I thought that might be a possibility, but I couldn't find any setting that indicated that. I guess I'll go look again.
If anyone knows of that setting, please tell me specifically what it's called and where it is located.

And I couldn't think why it would default be on for FM, but not for the iPod... ??
I've been a week without any sub, and that little bit on FM radio teased me.

I plan to be upgrading the sub in a couple weeks anyway, but this is ____ing me off and I need to figure it out now.

 

Funny, I had this same problem like a few days ago and posted on it, well kind of. I had the sub working with the FM but not the CD. I didn't try the ipod or aux. I have the OEM '08 premium HU but I have a aftermarket harness which I think is the problem (I relocated the HU in glovebox and need the harness).

Here's what I did to fix it...

I cut the harness (it was soldered) and re-soldered everything. It makes no sense to me why but after that it started to work. You would think if it worked with the FM it would work with all but it didn't. Try redoing he connection between the HU harness (the one that came with the radio) and the adapter harness.

BTW, all my setting on the FM and CD were the same so it was not that at all.

 

Here was my post.

https://www.scionlife.com/forums/vie...639&highlight=

 

Thanks for the input, etsnet.
I just searched high and low through every single setting and menu page on the stereo, and everything for FM was the same as for the iPod.
I'm ashamed to admit that I brought it to Best Buy to be installed... but you'd think that they would (hopefully) know what they're doing well enough to not cause a problem like this. ...assuming it's what you suggest it might be. (a bad connection somewhere?)

 

I don't have a soldering gun, so I'll probably not end up doing anything that requires re-soldering.

I'll either take a look at how the guy has it hooked up, and reconnect whatever I can without solder.
If that doesn't do the trick, I'll just have to wait a few weeks till I get the new sub setup in and installed. Ugh.

 

The way I checked it was pulling the harness (simple unplug) and plugged the HU into the OEM harness.

What you can do is the same but you will need to hook the stock unit in. If it works then put everything back and bring it to best buy to take care of. Even bring them the stock HU if you need to. Just don't tell them you touched it.

 

I already sold the stock head unit.

I'm not an expert of car stereo installs by any means... I'm barely a novice.... but I can't understand why or how it would be working for the FM channel but none of the others (iPod, DVD, etc.) especially when it's all coming out of the stereo through the same wire...

When I was on FM, I faded the music 100% rear and there was no sub, then faded 100% front and there was sub. So, it makes me think that it's simply tapped into the front signal.. ? I'm confused.

I too had the Pioneer Premium head unit, and I'm not sure how it was hooked up on there. It had a dedicated sub out, right?
I wonder why it's not hooked up to the front channel... or so it seems.

 

I couldn't really understand why it only worked for the FM for me too but I passed it on as one of those mysteries after I fixed it.

The sub is coming from the front. Even with the stock HU it was hooked in with the front speakers so there was never a dedicated sub out.

 

Seems like your amp turn on wire is connected to the power antenna wire on the aftermarket radio. This sends power to turn on the amp when your on FM. Much like it would send power to a motorized antenna to raise up. And when you switch sources the power antenna goes down. Simple fix... dumb move.

 

That makes total sense. I'm here at best buy now having the idiot fix it. Thanks, guys.

 

^ Winner!

When having work done at such places, always verify everything functions as expected before paying them. Trust no one!

 

I think at best buy you have to pre-pay lol

 

The problem was corrected for free.
They give a lifetime warranty with their installs.
From what the guy said, dunno if he was bull____ting or not, the factory power wire coming from the sub was the same color as the one needed to go into the FM antenna, so he accidentally wired it to come on when the FM antenna came on... or something like that. I'm not really sure about his explanation.
Anyway... problem solved and all is well.

About prepaying... I didn't pay until I went to pick up my car.
I'm sure I could have gotten in it and tested it out before paying, but I didn't.
I was just overly eager to get in there and see the unit installed in my car :D

It F'ing rocks, by the way.

 

That's strange, I thought the power antenna was brown... I just checked and the brown is mute and the power antenna is blue which is the same color as the sub just like a shade off. That must of been what I did too. The second time when I fixed mine I went over everything like three times and is why it probably worked. It was just so many wires. LOL

Now I can rest easier at night cuz I now know what caused that strange (not so strange anymore) problem. Thanks!

 

guess not, if you look at the post following yours, "lol".

Regardless, if a place wants you to pay for work before it's done, go someplace else. When I do work for someone, I don't even ask for payment until I'm sure they'll accept it. If they're not satisfied with the job, then I'm not done.

 

Eh common mistake. I do car audio for a living and I did the same thing to my car the first time. You wouldn't guess that they use the power antenna wire as a remote turn on, but im seeing more and more toyotas like this.

 

Dont feel bad my sub works great with cds,ipod,and dvds but not at all with radio.....go figure AVIC d3

 

well thats a little weird then lol. I have a D3 myself. Go into radio source then to the sound menu and see if it is turned off.