BaoZZeR

Ok when I first used RCAs cables directly connected from the wires from the factory amp my front speakers were working but I was getting a buzzing noise from the front whenever I hit my door locks, weird. So my brother guessed it was some interference so we used an LOC but now both speakers don't work and only the left side plays poorly when only the left side is plugged into the amp.

BaoZZeR

replaced the current LOC with another and same result. Used a Y cable to get both front speakers to run but it sounds very weak. Wish I kept my speakers stock at this point :/

Please share any advice you may have

Bchester6

Tech or base package?

BaoZZeR

base

BaoZZeR

i looked at the pac website and it doesn't list the sn35 as compatible with my car but i don't see why it wouldn't be compatible. maybe that's the reason.

Bchester6

Here this one: Make sure it's properly grounded.

BaoZZeR

i dont see why that would make it work :/ maybe it will but its pricey lol

Bchester6

I recommend that one because the LC2i is a proven product for these applications as many have had success with that particular unit on this forum. Let's rewind a little, you have an LOC in place that is hooked up to an aftermarket amp which is powering your speakers. Correct? Is the radio stock or aftermarket? I am pretty sure I can help you but pertinent details will make this go a lot faster.

icu2tsx

I've had the PAC SNI-35 for two years on my base TSX, no problems till this day.

like Bchester6 said, more details...if you want to fix your issue, I bet it's user error that I am sure we can correct with a little bit more of detail or pictures of said Y cable/rca connections.

Bchester6

That's good to hear that that unit works. I favor that audio control unit because of the bass restoration feature. I to believe there must be some sort of error in the installation or perhaps a bad ground somewhere but details are going to be the key here. I would like to hear what model the amp is as well because it could be that he can do without a converter and go straight into the amplifier

BaoZZeR

Yes I have an LOC wired from the factory amp which is connected to the aftermarket amp via RCAs which is powering my speakers. I have stock HU.

What year is your base? Me and my brother rechecked the wiring multiple times and even replaced the LOC with another one just to make sure the first one wasn't defective cause i read that some are broken in box.

I am using a PPI 4800. At first I wired the RCAs straight from the factory amp and plugged it into my ppi and it worked but I was getting interference noise from my door locks. After we put in the loc it just wasnt working. I will include pictures in a bit so you guys can triple check that the wiring is connected right!

At 1 point i tried to use the straight RCA connections instead of the LOC and was getting very loud feedback from attempting to plug them into the amp so I just stopped there.

BaoZZeR

To add, I plugged my amp into my brothers car and my front speakers were working perfectly fine from his HU, aside from a tweeter that got disconnected but fixed that. So its something to do with the LOC area of the connections.

BaoZZeR

2nd and 4th wire from the left are the ones with strips on them

ssjoeboe9

Bchester6

Have you grounded the LOC unit?
BTW-Great old school amp!!

icu2tsx

2009

icu2tsx

based on this picture, and assuming you are using the gray 18 pin plug.

this should be the order the wires should be tapped into for front Left/right speakers.

Left Front Speaker-
Black-blue wires, Gray 18 pin plug, pin 16 and 7.

Left front Tweeter, pink-purple wires. Gray 18 pin plug, pins 17 and 8

Right Front Speaker

Red-green wires, Gray 18 pin plug, pin 15 and 6.

Right front Tweeter, white-yellow. Gray 18 pin plug, pins 14 and 5

check here for more reference.

https://acurazine.com/forums/audio-b...ctures-885364/

icu2tsx

Blue (pin 7) wire should be connected to a negative (white/black stripe on PAC)
Green (pin 6) wire should be connected to a negative (gray/black stripe on PAC)

from the picture looks like you did it correct, I didn't ground my PAC and I have no noise but I guess you should lol

BaoZZeR

I've tried grounding the brown wires but nothing changed . I did them 1 by 1 and got static while grounding 1 of them and no response from the other. I'm try tapping into my rears and pray it works. And thanks on the compliment on the amp! Hand me down from a friend that had it since 2001

Bchester6

Ok so let's move down the chain a bit to the amplifier. Did you re-run all the wires directly to the new speakers or did you splice into the existing factory. Does your amp power light come on? There's gotta be a simple solution to all this bro it's just wires at this point...

Bchester6

With an amp that is putting out that much power (100 watts per channel) you will need to redo the wiring to your components. I assume you did front and rear replacements?

BaoZZeR

I spliced into the existing factory wires for front speakers. Yes my amp works, perfectly. The error lies somewhere within the LOC.

I just did front replacements. I know the front speakers work. I plugged my amp into my brother's car LOC and everything was working from his radio. I think I might have an idea on how to get it to work. What if i moved the loc to get the pre amp signal and not jack the output signal? Cause thats what I did for my sub..

Bchester6

I don't doubt this but what I am trying to establish is that it's truly not operating correctly and not a wiring issue. Does it have a remote turn on wire similar to an amplifier?
Pre-amp signal is preferred in any application because it's not influenced by distortion and is more "pure" so to speak. I went straight from my stock head unit directly into my amp by soldering on RCA jacks.

Bchester6

You're in luck!! Because the maker of your amplifier and mine was such a pioneer of engineering and design way before his time, he equipped your amplifier with balanced differential inputs. True balanced input is the way to go so just ditch that LOC unit in the weeds and call it good. See page 14 of manual for details.

BaoZZeR

No my LOC does not have a remote. The direct RCA is what I did at first but was getting constant buzzing from speaker when hitting the door locks.

Bchester6

According to manual you have to press the -12 db switch to attenuate the input voltage. I have done it on mine so I know it works.

BaoZZeR

Omg all I had to do was push a button... So much time could have been saved. Thank you so much for you help!

Ad_Quadratum

So based on the wiring diagram above, to bypass the amp using something like an AudioControl Matrix six channel line driver to get the raw signal for front, rear, and sub channels before it hits the dsp, correct? Or is the dsp unit the box on the passenger kick panel? I'm already using an LOC to tap the factory sub for my new sub and it works well but I know it should be better. I'm about to overhaul with a 4 or 5 channel amp, and components for the front. I want the best possible signal for all of this. TIA for any help!

Bchester6

Get an amp that takes balanced signal so you aren't adding another component to the signal chain such as a LOC. Re-wire everything to your components and call it good.

Ad_Quadratum

I believe the one I've chosen will accept balanced inputs but I still need to know if I should tap the lines just before the amp input harness in the trunk or if I should just take the extra step to run new wires from the dsp in the passenger kick panel, if that's what it is.

Bchester6

You should run all new wire for sure. I don't think there is a DSP in passenger side it's all in the OEM amp or HU. Let's backup a little, Base or Tech package? Are you keeping the OEM head unit?

Ad_Quadratum

I have the '12 SE, so base. I've been using an loc from the sub wires but the plan is to replace everything but the HU. I'm about to have a JL W7 and C2's all the way around so naturally I want the best possible signal. I saw where a guy ran straight into an HD900/5, but it'll be a while before I can afford something like that, so I was looking at a Clean Sweep or Fix82.

Ad_Quadratum

The amp I was planning on getting for the time being is an SSL 2900.5, I know it takes rca from a pre amp device but I'm not certain it will accept the low voltage signal from the HU without a line driver or processor. I know JL makes a simple line driver for $60ish, or thethe LC2i would work wouldn't it?

Bchester6

High level is not the same as balanced signal but it sounds like that amp has an onboard sensitivity booster ich serves as a built in line driver.

Ad_Quadratum

Well I went ahead and got the jl today and a Kicker dx1000.1
The kicker has a hi/lo switch for the rca signal, and turns on with signal so I'm going to remove the loc altogether. After a lot of thought I'm thinking a cleansweep, Fix82, or the kicker 360 or whatever was recommended to me, is what I need post amp just using the speaker lines. Best solution for our vehicles, plug and play with calibrations (less modifying/tampering anyway) and we'll worth it for full system installs. Gonna take a few days to play with the kicker and decide on 4+1ch or 5ch amp now. I tried to make this more difficult than it really is lol I was just trying to get around spending the money.

Bchester6

Our Oem HU is not putting out a high level signal so I dont know how thats gonna turn out. Only way is to hook it up and see but you may end up converting the signal to low level using an LOC. I am assuming that oem amp is getting trashed?

Ad_Quadratum

Correct, its low volt from HU to amp. I get the feeling tapping pre amp signal will take a way a lot of functionality controlled by the factory amp. I'm now of the opinion that for the best results with least impact and effort is to put a cleansweep or similar just after the amp to keep all controls and have options, 5ch amp or 4ch+mono amp. Instead of jumping through hoops. The price of convenience. Plus with a processor like that the system can be transferred to any car and tapped into and you know you'll get the best possible sonic results. I'll switch a TL S if I get the chance so that's probably the route Ill go

Bchester6

If you have a base like myself (TSX wagon), all of the functionality is in the HU. That low voltage balanced signal is way better than tapping speaker level inputs and using something to convert them into low level signal. In fact, true balanced signals are what every audiophile prefers when they build systems due to the low noise background that can be audibly heard in other more traditional configurations. The amp does the sound processing and EQ'ing so tapping into it (high level) will not yield the best sonic results as it produces nothing but a distorted signal. I gutted out all of mine and only left the OEM HU and it turned out to be the most sonically pleasing system I have ever installed. Will it take time, yes. Did I only have to do it once, yes. Does it sound awesome, yes.

Oh and by the way read this before you do anything: Robot Underground - "Shops Hate Us, You'll Love Us!" - Worldwide Revolution: Killer sound from the factory head unit / why BLT's are killing you or at least your wallet.

Ad_Quadratum

That is the solid confirmation I've been looking for, thank you. And thank you to OP for asking the right questions as well and for the pics/diagrams. I've installed the W7 and Kicker amp, removed the LOC and used an RCA to tap into the sub output wires with better results for the time being. I did however find out that my rear door speakers don't work at all and the deck speakers are blown even tho they've been disconnected. So that's the next task to have the full sound stage up and running again. So to run a 5ch amp I would need to tap the harness as labeled in the above diagrams right? (FR/FL, RR/RL, S+/-) and those are all the balanced channel inputs that I would connect to the amp right? Not just a 2ch master signal that gets split down the line to make the surround stage? I ask because the diagram shows the HU and HFC side by side sending the signal to the amp, then the break down of the amp channeling. I realize that'ts just connecting the dots, and that could also be referring to the bundle of cables running to the trunk I just want to know for sure before I start removing panels because this will ultimately be a complete overhaul of the audio system, save the HU. Also, 18 or 16 uage speaker wire is plenty for JL C2 comps and coax right? I don't plan on driving more than 75w to either, I'm doing this for me, not a whole city block lol. And is there any significant difference between a 3/4 tweeter and a 1"? The C2 has 3/4 and C3 has 1", but they're both silk dome and similarly rated, but will the larger one sound better and/or be any easier to install?

And again, you've extremely helpful in all of this. I'm doing all the work myself, and learning as I go, I appreciate all this information so much!

Ad_Quadratum

A few more questions as I research; I was debating JL C2 or C3 comp for the front, worth the extra dollar? Because either way I plan on using C2 coax for back seat and deck, that wouldn't create a weird unbalanced sound spectrum would it? And before I order stuff over the weekend, will I need spacers for the door speakers to make the depth correct? And the tweeters? Pressfit? Bracket? I don't want to order speakers and take my car apart only to find I'm missing hardware that I have to order and wait on as well! Thanks again!