Entune Headunit Speaker Signal Outputs

Has anyone else had issues with their non-JBL Entune headunit not properly pushing out a full signal strength via the speaker outputs?

I was tuning my aftermarket sound system yesterday (after the dealer disassembled it saying it was the cause of the check engine light and trac off lights, which it was not) and noticed that i get full signal strength on the left speaker outputs but not the right speaker outputs. So my front left Kicker components play louder than the right side.

I hooked up a test light and below are the results. You can see that the left speaker output on the back of the factory entune headunit is much brighter than the right speaker output.

Do i have a defective head unit or is this normal for the Entune headunit? Has anyone else had a similar issue and tested their headunit?

Left speaker output:


Right speaker output:

 

@destin_meeks
He may can help..

 

Thank you!

@destin_meeks

 

A test light isn't the proper way to test speaker power. Audio is AC volts and test lights are (usually) made for DC volts. You'll need a multi-meter that can test AC. When I took measurements on mine a while back, both sides measured the same. But the rears are horribly under-powered.

 

Also, if you built the T-harness with the metra parts, now you know why I'm such a big advocate for that! If it takes 2 seconds to revert to factory, the dealer can't blame my work!

 

@destin_meeks I'll test with multi-meter then. Something is definitely wrong because when you go into the Entune headunit audio settings and balance my system all the way to the left side it plays normal through the front left components but when you balance it all the way to the right side you do not hear my front right components at all, just the right rear door factory speaker. When you balance it to the center the left front components are definitely louder than the right front components.

 

Yes, built a harness with the Stinger speedwire and metra harnesses.

 

What exactly is your system comprised of and was this a problem since day one or since the dealer disconnected things?

 

Does it do this issue when the t-harness is disconnected and factory wiring plugged in? This will rule out the amp and confirm a problem in the head unit

Also, are the tweeters connected to the same terminals on the crossovers? if one side is connected to +0db and the other side is +6db, that would make a drastic difference

 

@destin_meeks I ran aftermarket stinger speaker wire from front components back to passive crossovers (stored under my rear seat storage bins) then to my amplifier, so if I plug back in my factory harnesses I won't get any sound from my front components at all. But both left and right rear door factory speakers play at same volume level.

I'll check the passive crossovers again but I'm pretty sure I kept both at +0.

Edit: As an alternative to your suggestion of plugging back in the factory harness into the headunit (since that won't work in my situation), I think I will just take the speaker wires from the speed wire harness I built and run them directly to the passive crossovers and test it that way. Then i will find out if the issue is with the headunit itself or further down the chain (either AudioControl LCQ-1 or Alpine PDX-V9 amplifier).

 

Factory non-JBL headunit, Kicker QS components in front, factory speakers in rear doors, Alpine PDX-V9 amplifier, Audiocontrol LCQ-1, and 2 JL Audio 10TW3 subwoofers. Used Stinger speaker, power wiring, and RCAs throughout. But no, I don't recall this issue prior to my truck spending a month at dealership. Spent about 15 hours going through all the wiring, tuning, and troubleshooting the system since getting the truck back from the dealer.

 

Gotcha. Multi-meter is going to be the best bet. Set to AC Volta. Red on positive, black on negative (not ground.)

Play a test tone (through cd, usb, Bluetooth, whatever)
Just a solid tone or pink noise
Set your radio at a volume (I went with 40 during my testing, but doesn’t matter. Just don’t change it)

 

Thanks for your help and suggestions. I'm currently working two weeks straight, including the weekend, so it might be a bit before I can do some more testing.

I also might have to forfeit my truck back to the dealer since the check engine light came back on but for a code different than what caused the dealership to keep my truck a month. The OBD2 scanner I used read out a code for "Crankshaft Position Sensor A".

 

Did you set left/right speaker balance to neutral?

 

Yeah he said that if he fades it one direction it plays fine, but if he fades it the other way it’s not

 

Sounds like a blown amp.

 

This actually sounds like your speakers are grounding onto the chassis. Check for continuity between the speaker terminals and the body (car off, radio off)

Just hook a probe to a ground then test the wire leads for the offending speakers. If it shows continuity then somewhere a wire is pinched, broken or otherwise grounded to the chassis.

We had this problem alot when building old bmw audio systems... They ran a common ground system that had to be rewired completely.

 

His speakers aren't wired to the head unit anymore
And with these trucks, if a speaker gets grounded, the whole internal amp shuts off so no audio from any speakers

 

How do you get full power to the rear speakers?

 

Aftermarket radio