Problems with new sound system

[Ben]

I wired up the new sound system today, its all from Jake's old car with the exception of the rear speakers. It doesn't work as I hoped it would though, and I could really do with some ideas to get it working right, as I'm not an electrical person.

The system is made up using -

Sony HU
Vibe slick A4 amplifier

Front - Vibe k series components and alpine tweeters wired using vibe k series crossovers

Rear - Alpine coaxial 2-way SXE-1725S


Below are symptoms with it wired in 2 different ways.

With fronts in channels 1 and 2, and rears in channels 3 and 4

Front speaker and tweeter on channel 1 work and sound good.

Front speaker and tweeter on channel 2 don't work at all.

Both rears work but are incredibly quiet and bassy. If you turn it up enough to hear from the front its just a bassy rattle, no tune.


With rears in channels 1 and 2, and fronts in channels 3 and 4

Both front speakers work, but neither tweeters do. Both speakers are quiet and bassy like the rears were before.

Rear from channel 1 works and sounds good.

Rear from channel 2 does not work.



Pretty sure everything used to work in Jakes car, and I've checked all three fuses in the amp, they are fine.

[Matt]

I'd check with make and see how he had it wired up?

[Ben]

I'm positive its wired up correctly. I'd guess the quiet/bassy speakers is just down to the amp settings, so hopefully fiddling with them will sort that out.

Just don't know why channel 2 doesn't work, or why the tweeters will only work when in channel 1 and 2 but not 3 and 4..

[Curt]

Sounds like channels 3&4 is set to low pass filter (to power a sub). There should be a switch for each channel with HPF/Off/LPF, stick it in the middle.

If you've tried different RCAs for channel 2 it sounds like there may be something wrong with that output.

[Ben]

Cheers Curt. I'll have a look for that switch, its not powered a sub before but it could have been switched accidentally.

Any ideas what could be wrong with the output? Would a picture of each side of the amp help at all?

[Tom]

Yeah like curt said flick the switches :p

[Ben]

Well that's solved two of the problems The front speakers now sound pretty good and the tweeters work (obviously the LPF wasn't sending the crossovers anything high, so the tweeters were receiving nothing).

Just leaves the problem of the non existent channel 2..

[Curt]

Glad it sorted that out I figured that would be the issue with the tweeters too.

I'm not sure on channel 2... How easy would it be to take the cover off? May be something silly like it coming un-soldered.

[DeeTurbo]

It could be dodgy RCA leads try swapping them round like you swapped the speaker cables around.

[Ben]

I swapped both RCA cables and speaker cables so its not them. Must be something inside the amplifier

[DeeTurbo]

There is a channel select switch next to the rca plugs, is that set to the right configuration?

Here's the manual if you didn't have it. http://www.vibeaudio.co.uk/manuals/old/s...manual.pdf

[Ben]

I'll have a look for extra channel switches. I think there is only one channel switch and its a choice between 2ch and 4ch. I've got it on 4.

Thanks for the manual ill have a look at that.

[Curt]

I can't imagine there'd be a switch to turn off one channel :/ I think there's something wrong unfortunately

[Ben]

Took the cover off the amplifier today to try and work out why channel 2 doesn't work. I was hoping to see some fuses that I could check but instead I opened it to find a mass of electrical wizardry. Any tips as to what to check?

[tigerstyle]

Find out what part of the board is channel 2, then compare each section like by like with a known working section looking for differences.
Broken joints, burned components, loose components etc.