Heavyhammer

Well I picked up my 89' Toyota pickup and when I got it it had no radio and a mess of wires coming out of where the old radio used to be. Spent almost all day determining which wires did what and was able to get the main power, ignition power, and ground all hooked up and get the radio working. Then I hooked the front speaker wires negative and positive coming from the head unit to the speakers on their perspective sides and am getting NO SOUND. I'm pretty sure the speakers work because when I hook them to power I get a crackle. Could it be bad channels or what? I haven't tried using the rear speaker leads coming from the head unit should I try those instead? keep in mind this is a used head unit but i was told it was in working condition when it was removed. Its a decent alpine unit and i can't see spending $100 right now for a new one so if anyone could give me some input to this frustrating situation I'd appreciate it.

Gamma_Hugo

maybe try pulling out one of the speakers and connect it externally to test it. It could be that the wires may be messed up. Thats what i did when i first got my pickup. I bought a new stereo and tried using the stock speakers. Didnt work because the lines were messed up.

Heavyhammer

The speakers work I tested them and they pop hooked to power. I tested my leads coming from the stereo and they have no voltage going to them, Its almost like the stereo has no power going to any of my speaker outputs and I just dont understand why. I tried both front and rear speaker leads coming from the stereo even though I only have front speakers in my truck and still have no success. I'm just about ready to give up and drive around with a stereo thats just for looks lol.

jerry507

There are a couple things to note here.

First, don't hook speakers up to DC voltages. It's terrible for the voice coils and cones.

Second, if you're measuring voltage using the DC setting on your multimeter you won't see anything. Nor should you, which relates to the first point. If you flip it to AC, you MIGHT see something but it's a crapshoot.

The real way you should be testing the wires (and it's almost undoubtedly the wires) is a continuity test from the terminal going to the speaker back to the wire going into the radio. The other test you should do is just hook the radio up to the speakers with a foot or two of random wire just to ensure they do indeed work. That should cover anything that will be wrong with it.

Heavyhammer

Thanks for the advice jerry but I have tried hooking the speakers directly to the outputs on the stereo with different wire but I did not know that about testing the voltage to the wire or testing the speakers but i dont think doing it just to test hurt anything, is there any way to test the output of the stereo speaker connections to see if it will power my speakers? Seems like im getting nothing coming from my stereo because I know my speakers are good.

jerry507

Try setting your multimeter to AC volts. That will show something, but it might not be a whole lot. Set your stereo to a reasonably high volume, turn it off, measure, then turn it on and see what you get. It should be noticeable...

RAD4Runner

Yes, you will damage your speakers by connecting it to power
Your speakers may have popped but that may also be the last time they would make any sound. How about finding another speaker that you know for sure work and had not been abused (i.e., connected to 12VDC of your vehicle)?

jerry507

A "blown" speaker, that is a speaker which has a broken surround (the part connecting the cone to the frame), will still make sound. It just will sound like compete crap. It's really starting to sound like the drivers in your stereo are dead. As I reread your post I think I got you focusing way too much on the speakers and not enough on the headunit. It wouldn't be a bad idea to both double, triple, check that you're using the right wires and to also check the rear outputs. They will be separate driver channels.

James Woods

iTrader: (1)

It sounds like the internal amplifier for your speakers in the head unit is dead, I have had this happen to me before when using old used head units, thats why I don't even use one in my truck anymore.

Heavyhammer

Ya I'm believing more and more that that's the problem James, it just doesn't seem like its putting out anything to the speakers and im almost positive they work, I mean if they did theyd still make some kind of sound and I'm getting nothing, I guess I have to try another headunit and hook it up before putting it in the truck to make sure it works. Just bummed I did all this work and now its getting me nowhere and Im pretty sure i hooked the the radio up correctly i mean theres the ignition power, main power, and ground right? Then the speakers go to the speaker wires coming out of the stereo? And I tried using a test light because i should get something out of the speaker outputs right? And I wasnt getting anything.

jerry507

Yea, a test light would still light up. As someone suggested, it's not a bad idea to try the rear channels too.

Heavyhammer

Ya I tried the test light on all the leads coming from front and rear speakers and got nothing i think its almost safe to say the amp is cooked, gonne try another used stereo i can get my hands on and test it before I put it in and if not Im just gonna buy a new one even though I dont want to.

James Woods

iTrader: (1)

You could always just do what I did, as it is usually cheaper. Buy an amplifier, doesn't need to be big if you are just running stockish speakers. Get some RCA cables that go into a 3.5mm jack plug and plug your RCA cables into the amp where they would normally go from the head unit, and then the 3.5mm jack gets plugged into your phone or ipod or whatever, as long as you don't listen to the radio, it works awesome.