Stereo Problems

Hi All.
I gotta 2001MY P38A, Vogue. I want to replace the stereo so am trying to identify the present components so have attached some pix, would appreciate some help in figuring what is presently installed. I think the headunit is Alpine ? door speakers say Harmon Kardon, I cant see any amp in the rear, is it in the same box as the CD changer ?? BTW its not working @ the moment, all displays work as do steering wheel controls BUT no audio whatsoever.

CaptainPanic said:

Hi All.
I gotta 2001MY P38A, Vogue. I want to replace the stereo so am trying to identify the present components so have attached some pix, would appreciate some help in figuring what is presently installed. I think the headunit is Alpine ? door speakers say Harmon Kardon, I cant see any amp in the rear, is it in the same box as the CD changer ?? BTW its not working @ the moment, all displays work as do steering wheel controls BUT no audio whatsoever.

Click to expand...

The head unit is the same as mine as is the CD changer but what is in the big black box in the last picture? I don't have that, is it the sub woofer? could be the amp is in the same box. I don't have steering wheel controls and none of mine is marked up as Harmon Kardon. Never really looked too closely, it's one of the few things that always works Not that we often use it except for motorway alerts en-route to the UK

That big box is the sub, I think the amp for the sub is built onto the front of it by the rear seats and is only small, I vaguely remember from looking to upgrade mine

hi matey .have another look ,, remove subwoofer and remove trim panel then look behind the insulation it is there if not it will be inside the subwoofer the amp is quite a big one 8"x7"x1/34"deep part no is XQK100340 120094 harmon/kardon, this is absolute cos had same prob on mine and only today checked one out for another local lad and his was missing altogether ??????????

Thanks all, Datatek..Yup its a subwoofer, you can see the speakers in the top. Chrisfrain & Mozz Smith, thanks guys, will dismantle further and inspect, will report back with more questions. Cheerz..Richard

With the alpine head unit, the system has a single amp somewhere in the rear (not sure where exactly). Because they frequently fail, it may have been junked, or sold by a previous owner - they're quite valuable second-hand. Replacing your head unit for an aftermarket one is not too difficult, and even easier if the original amp is missing - you just add an aftermarket amp of your choice and butcher the wiring. I have all the pinouts etc if you need any help.

Yes, the black box is the sub, and if in good condition is actually pretty damn good for a standard fit system. The sub amp is the small box where the big White 10-pin plug goes.

I have a clarion head unit, sub box with sub amp and cd changer for sale, having just swapped mine out for aftermarket.

The time zone difference is very handy !! Hope you are all having a good sleep !!

Good progress is being made - and nothing has been broken !!

I have dismantled the stuff in back and reinspected the head unit. THis is what I find.
CD changer in rear (under sub woofer box). Alpine: Model XQE100240
Head Unit is: Alpine Model XQD101580LNF
There is no "discrete" amplifier in the back. There is a power amp inside the subwoofer box ( I dismantled the box ) which is a Harmon Kardon but I can see it only serves the two speakers.

It seems to me (supported by some info on the net linked to the head unit model number) that this may be one of the systems that has an amplifier in each door which I can prove by pulling off a door card.

Anyone got any hints for getting the door cards off without damage ?

Thanks for the help, from a sunny Hawkes Bay in New Zealand's wine country.

Richard

Richard,

The door cards quite easy.

The front is a few screws, from memory and it bring 1.30am, there is a screw or two under the handle u use to pull the door closed, I've screw in the door release handle and the important one under the tweeter housing up by the back of the wing mirror.

The rest is just push clips all the way round, these are tuff so as u prise out be careful not to bend the door card especially at the hinge side.

Lastly the top by window is kinda hooked over so needs lifting up, can't quite remember how the lock bottom is clipped but will probably be revealed.

Oh and the mid range speaker will need disconnecting!!

Sure someone will shout if I missed anything, but just take ur time on ur and look around.

James.

Ok, sounds like you have the newer Alpine-headed non-DSP system, which aside from the HU and cd changer is basically the same as the earlier hi-line system. was your sub amp actually INSIDE the subwoofer enclosure, or attached to the outside? Does it have a white 10-pin plug with all 10 pins in one row? If so, it should be the same as mine. The amps location, and where the 10-pin connector plugs in, would be just out of view in your shot - I have labelled your pic with where the amp is on mine.



Is it here, or actually inside the box itself?

Hiya Clarky,
The sub amp was inside the box, Its got a Harmon Kardon part number on it. The PCB is actually bolted across the two speaker magnets, the loom goes in through the side of the box. I can see there are mounting holes (for something) on the outside exactly where you have arrowed but I can also see that nothing has ever been screwed into them. Actually I thought that location and those holes were to mount a phone module because there is a spare loom sitting there with a label on it that says "phone". Today I will go and buy a kit of flat plastic trim removing tools and whip a door card off to check for door amplifiers.

BTW...having read some of the horror stories about door locks and latches seizing and breaking is there any preventative maintenance that's worth doing while the door trims are off??

Thanks for the help.

Cheerz, Richard

CaptainPanic said:

Hiya Clarky,
The sub amp was inside the box, Its got a Harmon Kardon part number on it. The PCB is actually bolted across the two speaker magnets, the loom goes in through the side of the box. I can see there are mounting holes (for something) on the outside exactly where you have arrowed but I can also see that nothing has ever been screwed into them. Actually I thought that location and those holes were to mount a phone module because there is a spare loom sitting there with a label on it that says "phone". Today I will go and buy a kit of flat plastic trim removing tools and whip a door card off to check for door amplifiers.

BTW...having read some of the horror stories about door locks and latches seizing and breaking is there any preventative maintenance that's worth doing while the door trims are off??

Thanks for the help.

Cheerz, Richard

Click to expand...

Dunno about preventative maintenance inside the doors I'm afraid, although plenty on here could advise you.

If you do find your setup has door amps, and you're looking to replace your head unit, let me know as I have just done mine with great success. I could knock you up an attenuator circuit that will allow you to 'plug and play' a standard aftermarket head unit into your system, at cost price + postage.

Assuming, of course, that its your HU that's the problem and the rest of the system is working. Have you ever had it working, or is this a vehicle you've just bought?

Just hooked up the camera...pix are better than words. So here you can see the PCB bolted across the speakers. I think this was a later production change if you look, you can see the damage to the loom from being pinched between the two housing shells because there is no real clearance for the loom.
Incidentally these are real multinational systems, the head unit is french, CD changer is japanese, sub woof amp is German.

Hiya,
What I want to end up with is a great sounding system driven by a new headunit with no CD mechanism at all in the vehicle, simply a good radio, bluetooth for my Cowon MP3 player and possibly phone, and a front auxiliary input for anyone else's MP3. All my CDs are stored away in archive boxes.

First thing to do is to check that all the amps & speakers work. You could do this by turning on the system with the head unit removed. You have to apply +12v from the perm 12v wire (grey plug pin 4 - purple i think) to the amp remote turn-on wire (grey plug, pin 2, black&grey wire) - this will turn on the amps. Next, feed them something - the speaker input wires are all in the pink plug - red/red&black, blue/blue&black, yellow/yellow&black, green/green&black. Sub input is the last pair in that plug, orange/orange&black. You can briefly give them a 'pulse' from a 1.5v AA battery and if working they will 'click' - only briefly mind, and don't go connecting something stronger like a 9v battery or it'll blow them.

This will show whether everything downstream of the HU is working or not. You may get a horrible whine / screech by powering up the amps with nothing plugged into them - this is normal and what they will do when they're powered and not connected to anything.

I must admit that looking at your pics, what you have there seems pretty strange... Almost as if someone has gashed that together and drilled a hole in the box to pass the wires through, then just stuck the amp onto the speaker magnets. Fairly sure it wasn't designed that way! I will open mine up and have a look....

The sub box/amp lashup looks genuine to me...the 2001 model year was a run out year wasnt it ? so there copuld have been some mickey mouse stuff going on? It looks too well finished apart from the poor loom access.
Raced out and bought a set of plastic trim removal tools, magic, RH Rear door trim off in a flash and no damage. No amplifier either, took the big speaker out of the door and had a good look, no amplifier.
So now it gets tricky, the rear of the headunit has three plugs as per the pic, on the top plug the yellow section matches the subwoofer loom, the blue is the CD changer loom, the green bit is a single wire ..dunno.
the bottom grey plug has a couple of heavy cored leads which I suspect are battery and earth the others will be control wires (Front/rear bias; steering wheel?) and display lights.
That only leaves the middle orange/buff plug which has precisely two twisted pairs,, which by elimination are the left and right channel outputs to a central power amplifier...so where is the bl***y thing!!

My next step is ...for completeness..to whip off a front door trim just to check. then I have to find this amplifier...is it under the front passenger seat..any creative ideas gratefully received.

Looks like you have the DSP system... Single amp somewhere in the rear, but should have lots of wires coming out of it, so don't think it's the one in your sub. I really do think that sub of yours is some kind of hash-up... I've never seen a sub amp simply magnetically stuck to the back of the drivers inside the box.. V bad for all the electronickery and wigglyamps!

'Fraid I don't know much about the DSP system, except that many have complained of amp failure that gives exactly the symptoms you describe. You should be able to replace it with an aftermarket amp and HU and utilise the existing loom relatively simply - just need to adapt the wiring at the HU, but without a detailed wiring diagram for that system (can't find one in rave) I can't really help any further.

Hi there

The main amp is behind the sound proofing behind the sub woofer

regards
Daz

Thanks Clarky, you were very helpful I am a lot further down the track than I was. I couldnt find anything in Rave either for that year.

Hi Daz , I looked at that soundproofing but (a) could not see any way in there and (b) couldnt see how there was enough room...got any more detail of how you get at it - obviously after I remove the sub woofer box again.

Cheerz

Richard

Good news I found a website DIY Removing and Installing Factory Car Stereo that for US$6.99 gave me a 61 photo step by step removal of the amplifier from the rear of the car. Thanx to all for helpful information. Cheerz

Hi Richard

If you remove the subwoofer from its position you can remove the panel behind which is held in with a couple of screws. You will need to drop the back seat and ease the rear door seal away and the panel will come off easily.
Behind the panel is sound proofing and the amp is there.. or in my case someone had removed it.
There is a large connecter plug that fits into the amp and send the information to the other units etc
Its very easy to get at.

If you are thinking of removing the amp and want to sell it let me know
Regards
Daz