Having problems getting sound from the RCA pre-outs back to the new AMP install(Diamond d5 150 and d3 600.1). I think an education might be in order???

Current setup in progress, research the site on how to tap into the preamps and thought I had it but was wrong. I plan to run (2) Amps, (1) 2channel and a (1) sub so (2) sets of RCAs from the hu back.

I took a cheap set of "Y FEMALE" RCA cables describe on the board and began to tap into the factory wiring. Based on the diagram, I used the center RCA core to the positive, the wire on the outer cable to the negative but see a third wire from the HU posting used for the shielding(BRN[B5]??). I only see two wires on the spliced RCAs so where does the shielding match up too?

With only the TAP + and - connected from the factory HU to the new AMP, I get a pounding thump(over extrusion) of the sub, about 10 per second and no sound. I tested the AMP/SUB setup with a portable DVD player and everything on that end is solid. Is this third part of the shielding preventing the sound and making loud thumps? I try this same RCA tap connection on the other three pre-amp sets with the same results. Please help, I am noob on this end of the install and I must be doing something simply that is wrong. Chip TSX EB/AT with NAV

on the SMALLER connector:
line level signals and shieldings are as follows:
Driver: RED/BLU (+) / YEL (-) [B1, B8]
Shield: BRN [B5]
Frt Pass: BLU (+) / RED (-) [B4, B11]
Shield: BRN/YEL [B2]
Left Rear: BLU (+) / PNK (-) [B3, B10]
Shield: GRY/BLU [B9]
Right Rear: LT GRN (+) / PUR (-) [B6, B13]
Shield: GRY [B12]
One of the many links used in the research...
https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...&highlight=rca

 

Altersys may disagree on the value of the drain shield, but I have installed two amps into two different TSX's, and I have never used the extra shielding that Acura uses and feel it's optional at best.

I used a typical RCA cable, the RCA center is the (+) and the RCA shield is the (-). No additional drain shield (although I am familar with them, I've had little success, and much prefer twisted pair for noise rejection, which is was I did use for the long RCA run).

The TSX is wired with a signal (+), a signal (-) , and then a (-) shield drain ground. According to the diagram, the shielding is grounded by the amplifier, and is indeed directional, grounded only at one end (some call it a "drain".)

I have taken that TSX shield and been prepared to chassis ground it as the amp does, but I haven't noticed any difference in noise problems whether I ground it or not. (This would only help if the noise were being picked up by the factory harness section inductively, like an antenna - I suspect that Acura knew the Airbag ECu broadcasts noise).

I will use the terms TSX shield and RCA shield to differentiate, because the TSX shield is the optional, but the RCA shield is essential, and they do NOT connect to each other.
If you are using standard RCA's (sounds like you are - RCA's lacking a drain wire) you should not need to do anything with the TSX shield ground. You should be fine with the RCA center to the TSX signal (+) and the TSX signal (-) to the RCA shield.

You can tie the shields together and ground them with the amp if you like... didn't help me, though. Needed a line driver for that.

 

Thanks for the "drain shield" note, good stuff to know. I am still perplexed on the why no sound and the large volume thumps from the AMP, sounds like I have the preouts correct? I tried it with the small AMP connector in or out while testing, made no difference as well. I may try to rewire the TAPS again, any secret to attaching the thin RCA cable to the thicker base wire? I did extend the factory connections about a foot with 20g prior to RCA's for easier working. Any help much appreciated.

 

I don't know what you have wrong, and don't understand some of what you are saying.

If you actually had the preouts correct, it would work, I think you have a mistake in your wiring. Occam's razor.

I suspect you have the RCA signal (-) grounded or floating due to a wiring error.

I chopped the connectors off of a set of "Y"s to have 4 female RCA ends on about 6" of coaxial RCA wire. I then wired in the coaxial directly to the TSX signal wires. The female RCA ends allowed me to plug in a set of twisted pair RCA M-to-M cables directly into my 6" splices, and that way I was NOT running any extended wires lacking shielding or twisting, which would have been susceptible to picking up noise.

I think your extensions are a bad idea from a noise rejection perspective, and also make wiring errors more likely (twice as many connections to make, twice the chance of a mistake), but are not causing the problem in and of themselves.

If you have a VM and a sine wave test track you could ID your wires a bit better. Re-examine your shield (-) and your signal (-)... using this diagram:

https://acurazine.com/forums/showpos...85&postcount=3