Having Problems With New System

**Xenogen** · 09-11-2009 09:38 PM

Hey Guys, I have a hard time understanding some electronics. I just got a system put into my 2001 B5 A4 non bose. I had a shop replace all four speakers and add an amp to the stock head unit. They used a sven4 to run rcas to the amp. The system sounds like shit and and I cant fade front to rear. When I fade to the rear the speakers act as if I turned down the volume. I also hear a slight hissing noise. Did they wire this thing wrong? The rears are way louder than the front, and I equalized everything by adjusting the gains...but I shouldn't have to do that. I'm running focal speakers and an alpine amp.

The focals are all coaxial...but they turned on the the high pass filters for front and rear...should they both be off?

I also have to turn the car to acc in order to turn on the amp...is there any way that could have been wired where the amp turns on when I turn on the radio?

:IBsomeonetellsmeIshouldhaveboughtacleansweep:

**8520** · 09-15-2009 04:16 PM

Something isn't right.

As far as your amp turn on goes, if there is indeed no factory amplifier in the car, then there should be no factory amp turn on in the car.

I would take it back to the shop and have them look in to it. With focals speakers and an alpine amp, things shouldn't sound like shit.

**cdowns13** · 09-15-2009 08:56 PM

they definitely wired it incorrectly from what it sounds like..

the line converters are a pain to work with and to get to work properly but a legit shop SHOULD be able to feed the right wires into it...

it sounds like what they did is only do two sets of speaker wire into the converter instead of all four.. thus not having the front to rear fade.. i have never personally ran the line converter you said but from what it sounds like thats what they did..

as for the amp turning on with the radio.. not sure what you mean by that.. dont you have to atleast turn the key to acc or all the way on to get that to go on?

i have full aftermarket radio and all so i dont know about that... : /

**Xenogen** · 09-15-2009 09:54 PM

Originally Posted by cdowns13

it sounds like what they did is only do two sets of speaker wire into the converter instead of all four.. thus not having the front to rear fade.. i have never personally ran the line converter you said but from what it sounds like thats what they did..

as for the amp turning on with the radio.. not sure what you mean by that.. dont you have to atleast turn the key to acc or all the way on to get that to go on?

i have full aftermarket radio and all so i dont know about that... : /

Hey man, this exactly what they said they did...I don't know if they were lazy, but they pretty much claimed that this was because of how the stock system was and they ran the line out converter from the front speaker signal...I honestly have no idea how the audio setup is in this car I don't wanna go back there claiming things that I don't know...

What I mean about the amp is...when I had a stock system...the car could be off and I could listen to the radio...now I can still turn on the radio, but the amp doesn't turn on unless the car is in acc...so could they have wired the amp so it would turn on with the radio?

**cdowns13** · 09-16-2009 09:00 PM

yes they could have definitely ran the remote wire (the line that turns the amp on) to the same wire the radio is one.. i would go back and if it sounds as bad as you say it does have them listen to it and ask why it sounds like that and have them wire up the remote to the line the radio is on

**8520** · 09-18-2009 11:42 AM

Originally Posted by cdowns13

yes they could have definitely ran the remote wire (the line that turns the amp on) to the same wire the radio is one.. i would go back and if it sounds as bad as you say it does have them listen to it and ask why it sounds like that and have them wire up the remote to the line the radio is on

Let me reiterate my previous point.

If there is no factory amp, there is probably no factory amp turn on lead coming out of the factory hu, and thus no way to tie in to the factory radio.

OP, realistically it sounds like either the installers were lazy or the shop had to fit in to your budget, and did what they could to make it work.

**mlchael4** · 09-18-2009 01:01 PM

Correct. The non-Bose systems do not have factory amps. But I am 90% sure all the headunits are the same (Bose or non-Bose). Which would lead me to think there is a remote wire in the harness somewhere, although I am not 100% sure on this. But yes, a remote wire from the HU is what you need to cut the amp on along with the radio.

Were the stock speakers not hooked up to the factory wiring? I don't know why else you wouldn't be able to balance the speakers F/B & L/R.
Hooking up a sub to a factory HU does require an in-line converter...but those should be the only RCA's wired to that converter.

Also, did they run the RCA's and power cables on the same side of the car?
That can cause interference right there. Is the amp properly grounded? All of these details can lead to hissing and undesirable noise.

**Xenogen** · 09-18-2009 11:13 PM

Originally Posted by mlchael4

Were the stock speakers not hooked up to the factory wiring? I don't know why else you wouldn't be able to balance the speakers F/B & L/R.
Hooking up a sub to a factory HU does require an in-line converter...but those should be the only RCA's wired to that converter.

Also, did they run the RCA's and power cables on the same side of the car?
That can cause interference right there. Is the amp properly grounded? All of these details can lead to hissing and undesirable noise.

They car was stock before...so I'm pretty sure it was hooked up to factory wiring...they replaced all that though. They ran power and RCA on opposites sides.

This thing is whats going from the HU to the amp.

http://www.discountcarstereo.com/detail.aspx?ID=753

**Xenogen** · 09-18-2009 11:10 PM

Originally Posted by 8520

OP, realistically it sounds like either the installers were lazy or the shop had to fit in to your budget, and did what they could to make it work.

Budget wasn't really an issue...This is a highly recommended shop, and I did a lot of research before I went to them. However the sales guy was a douche and I honestly think they did this shit on purpose so I could spend more money...I honestly don't wanna get a new head unit...I love the stock look, but its looking like I'm gonna either have to get a cleansweep (which I dont like because you cant use your volume knob) or a new head unit(which just doesn't flow well with the interior).

**obijohn22** · 09-19-2009 11:19 AM

It really sounds to me like the shop did not do the install correctly. First of all, a lot of times the line level converters will have gains on them as well. check into this to see if this will help your volume difference front to rear. They should have tapped into the rear feeds if they were only going to use one as the rear feed usually contains the full range output of the head-unit. Even though this is not a Bose system, there will still be factory crossover settings and eq's in place and the front speakers usually take the worst of it in terms of crossovers and eq's. If you have a 4 channel amp, you should have a 4 channel line level converter and they should be hooked up accordingly. You probably have almost no bass, and very muddy highs. right? If you need help, post some pics of the equipment you have and i will try and help with setup. But IMO, you should have all for outpurs of the headunit converted to low level and sent to the amp. If you start there we can get it dialed in. good luck