Impala Forums banner

2004 Impala LS- Afermarket radio- Speaker woes

3K views 4 replies 4 participants last post by  leftydog1961 
#1 ·
Hi. Looking for some advice. I have replaced the aftermarket radio in my car with a newer pioneer head unit wit Bluetooth, etc. The old was a JVC. neither one had the front speakers working. I assumed that the first unit was incorrectly wired, but apparently not. The rear speakers which apparently have an amplifier between them on the back window sound fine, and I have just one wire left on the adapter and the radio, so it must be something else. I did not want to pull apart the door moldings to find the speaker wires. Is this something to do with bypassing the stock amp? I am aware of articles which say to keep the original radio plugged in, and the instrument cluster would not work, etc. None of those problems exist. I just want to get the front speakers working. any ideas appreciated
 
#2 ·
It could be any number of problems. First thing I would do is to take the speaker grilles out of the door panels. They just pop right out. From there, you can inspect the condition of the speakers. The speakers might be blown or damaged, causing them not to work. There could also be a problem with the amplifier or with the wiring. Unfortunately, in order to fix any of these potential issues, you're going to have to pull apart the door panel. It's really pretty easy to get off and on. If you can manage to switch out the head unit, you can definitely manage to swap the speakers.
 
#3 ·
Try putting the front speakers on the rear speaker wires to see what they do. If they work then it's somewhere in the middle. Amp or wiring. On a side note if you got an aftermarket radio you wouldn't be disappointed in an amp bypass if it has to be.
 
#4 · (Edited)
A single wire that's left over is probably the power antenna lead. First thought, is the amp signal provided by RCAs or factory wire harness? Some powered head units bypass the built-in amp when you plug RCA cables in. If that's the case, that could explain your fronts not working if you have a 2 channel amp powering only the rears. Check the radio's installation manual to be sure. If that's not it, check the speaker wires at the door where they go into the car body. Could be the wires got pinched and are broken. (Continue if it's a 4 channel amp) If they look ok there, I'd check the wires at the amp first, as blown speakers will usually still make noise unless the cones are totally ripped away from the magnet. If you swap the fronts and rears on the amp and the rear speakers produce sound on the front channel but the fronts are still quiet on the rear channel, trace the wires back to the door speakers because that just verified the amp is working as it should and everything is wired correctly to the amp. If the fronts are powered by the radio and not the amp then pop a door panel and check the speaker for a torn cone. If the cone is good, pull the speaker and see if the wire connector is still attached. If it is, and you have some extra wire, run a patch from the front wires to one of the rear speakers (unplug it first) and see if you get sound. If that doesn't work, get a beer and blame it on the wife, then go back and trace the front wires back to the head unit because it's either broken, grounding out, or wired wrong at the harness. --- It's really late, hope that made sense. This is the long way of doing it but imo it's better than laying upside down sprawled across the seats and digging around under the dash if you can avoid it.
 
#5 ·
Aftermarket radio

thanks!
you can inspect the condition of the speakers. The speakers might be blown or damaged, causing them not to work. There could also be a problem with the amplifier or with the wiring.
speakers are fine, and wired up. no damage noted.

Try putting the front speakers on the rear speaker wires to see what they do.

will try this weekend

2 channel amp powering only the rears.

nope. 4 channel radio. I think the interface harness that connects the stock cable from the old impala radio to the new pioneer deck may be the cause. not sure where this guy got the interface connector.

i have 2 rca jacks in back of radio so i can run rca phono to them and to front speakers to see if they work
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top