Polar_xBear

Help! I just got my Polar White xB yesterday and installed an amp and subwoofer today. Tapped the grey wire on the stereo harness for "remote on" per threads in this forum. Everything works fine when I turn the key to ACC. After starting the car, 3 out of 4 times, no sound comes from the speakers. Headunit turns on fine, just no sound.

Any ideas?

DJ_X_Trodinaire

re check all your wiring connections

specially your amp wire kit

Polar_xBear

Problem is that everything works fine when I don't start the car (in ACC mode). Factory speakers, new amp and subwoofer work perfectly. Just when I start the car, no more sound from the speakers. What would cause this type of behavior?

Mudd

Put a meter on your remote line. Chances are, you're not getting enough voltage to turn the amp on. You can use a switched (accy) power source from the ignition in a pinch, if need be.

chadfo

I'd suggest double-checking your wiring and what you read. Grey is normally a speaker output and I'm prettty sure when I put my head unit it everything matched up that way. Blue is normally the remote turn-on/power antenna output.

DenZinz

That is correct if he had an aftermarket head unit, but I think he is talking about stock wiring.

Polar White...Where do you have your amplifier grounded? And where is the power wire running too?

Make sure the power wire is to your battery with a fuse and the ground wire grounded to a good metal portion of the car. When scewing to the metal, make sure you scrap away the paint so you get good contact.

chadfo

Very true DenZinz. I didn't look to see what color everything matched up to after the harness.

For ground I used a plate under the rear seat. There is one on each side that is bare metal and has 4 - 5 bolts into the frame/body so there is plenty of contact. It has worked fine for me.

Polar_xBear

Thanks everyone for the suggestions.

I did a little more troubleshooting today and the problem has to do with the way the rear speaker wire connections are tapped. I'm tapping the rear speaker wires and running them into the high-level inputs of my amp.

When I pull the high-level input from the amp, the stock speakers have sound again. It seems like some sort of grounding problem.

Q: When tapping the rear speaker wires from the stock unit, should tap in parallel...ie Left Rear + -> Amp Left + input
Left Rear - -> Amp Left - input
Right Rear + -> Amp Right + input
Right Rear - -> Amp Right - input

I have tried disconnecting the negatives speaker wires to see if its some kind of common ground problem, but the same results.

The amp also has a "reference signal ground" and manual says this might need to be connected to a chassis ground depending on how thing are wired...I tried this, but in this case, there was no sound in either ACC or when the car is started.

DenZinz

What amp are you running?

Trying using an external hi-lo converter.. But it almost sounds like a voltage problem. Get a voltmeter and check your power connection at the amp.. Test it with the car running and off. Do the same with the remote turn on. Does the voltage maintain 12volts +?

Polar_xBear

Amp power is fine with both ACC and when car is started.

When car is started, there is no sound from either the sub or the factory speakers...ie it seems that the factory headunit output is somehow getting shorted or something when the car is started.

When I disconnect the high-level input to the amp, the factory sound works fine..so it has something to do with how that is wired (as in the post above). I think I may have to do something with the negative speaker wires I tapped...not sure.

DenZinz

Get a decent hi lo converter like a Audio Link or PAC SNI-35 i believe thats what it is.

Polar_xBear

Thanks. I kind of give up on using the high-level input on the amp. I'll try the line level converter to see if that gets rid of the problem.

Polar_xBear

Thanks again everyone. I got a line converter and installed it yesterday and the problem has been resolved. I'm still not sure why using the high-level inputs would cause all sound to disappear when starting the car (and work ok with the car off), but it must have been some kind of strange floating or common ground problem where the amp was shorting the speaker connections of the headunit or something,

Anyways, thanks again...I'm good to go and have awesome boom now.