Hooked up Sub and Amp but sub won't play

I am in need of some advice/help. I'm a big DIY guy and the main reason I like to do things to my vehicles is because I get to do them myself and I get to learn a lot in the process.

Well after reading up on car audio and reading the install guides and DIY's I decided to take a shot at it and install my own sub.

I retained the stock head unit on my 2013 and used PAC SNI-35 to get some low level output RCA's to the amp. The amp is a JL Audio JX500/1D and the sub is a JL Audio 10W0V2. I am using a 4 gauge power/ground amp kit.

Well I went ahead and hooked it all up and to my dismay the sub won't output any sound. The amp turns on (the light on it turns on at least) but there is no sound from the sub.

I turned up the levels on the PAC unit and that didn't get me anywhere. So i'm thinking that the PAC unit may be faulty.

Anyone with more knowledge/experience care to chime in?

 

do you have a volt meter? check the input voltage to the PAC and the output voltage from the PAC. i don't know what voltages you should expect, but you should at least get some voltage. the PAC input voltage will definitely be higher than its output voltage. aftermarket head units put out 1-2 volts on their RCA connections.

if your PAC turns out to be faulty you could always use speaker level inputs to your amp. JL Audio's website says it will accept high level speaker input. i ran a JL 500/1 off speaker inputs for +5 years. it gave the amp a very strong input signal and sounded great.

 

You are going to need a multi meter if you don't already have one. ~$15 bucks. Very useful. Run to Wally World and pick one up.

Undo you sub wires from your amp, turn the dial on the multi meter to AC Voltage (AC~ should the symbol), put the multimeter into the respective + and - ports and look at the multimeter. It should read anywhere from 15 to 40; this number really depends on your gain settings. If you get a big flat 0 or I would say 5 or below, your amp is shot.

If it is showing voltage (AC) leaving the amp, then you can trace back towards the head unit until you find the problem.

 

I would also say check your wires going into the PAC unit. It's possible your not connected all the way. Or have them connected to the wrong wires coming out of the head unit.(Maybe the wires are different on a 2013 versus what install guide you were looking at) Do you have any pictures of your wiring? This might help others diagnose as well.

 

According to the manual, the brown wires from the PAC unit needs to be grounded if you have no sound output from the amp.

 

I do not have a voltmeter but I may just go ahead and use the high level inputs on the amp. Do you know what the advantages/disadvantages of going this route are?

 

I downloaded a chart that was pretty specific showing a pinout layout and it gave the wire colors and they all matched pretty well. As far as i'm aware the wiring has not changed.

As for the connections I made sure the connectors made contact although I may just go through and strip the stock wires on the harness and solder them for better connections. I really don't want to have to strip the wires though.

 

I had read to try it with the grounds disconnected first and to ground them if there was no sound. I did it both ways and neither way worked for me.

I just bought another line out converter today ($6 at a local stereo shop) and i'm going to swap out the PAC unit that I have in there to see if it it works.

I'll update you guys to see what I find.

 

I'm going to try to change out the line out converter first. If that doesn't work then i'll be giving this method a shot. I really hope my amp isn't shot, it's brand new!

 

I honestly can't think of a disadvantage. I actually think it will be more of an advantage to use speaker level inputs, because you don't have an extra piece of equipment (line output converter) in your signal chain. Additional equipment = additional things that can break or affect your signal quality.

I had a LOC before I ran speaker level inputs to my 500/1. The LOC was real finicky when setting gains - just the slightest touch of the LOC knob would make the level jump. That's when I decided to bypass it and I never looked back.

 

That's good to know! I decided to go the LOC route because the manual for the amp says that it is the recommended way to connecting it.

 

Rockslinger nailed it on the head! My connectors weren't making contact with the wires.

i used these connectors



They were getting through the truck's wires on the wiring harness but not on the PAC unit's wires. The PAC unit wire's casing was too hard and it was just bending and not letting the connector get through. So what I did is I stripped the PAC unit's wires to expose the metal wiring and bent the metal tab so it would make better contact.

Here you see how the metal piece looks normally.




Here you see how it looks after bending one side.



I only bent the side that the PAC unit's wires connected in.

The amp now powers on just fine and everything sounds great!

Thanks for all the input guys!