I know somebody out there has been through this....
I just replaced my infinity sound system (Head and speakers) with high powered Sony gear. I used the factory wiring harness. The new system sounds like crap. I'm thinking that there is a hidden component from the Infinity system left somewhere in the harness, causing me problems. Is there an amp or something in the Infinity system, and if so, where might one find this thing? If I can't find the problem, I'll have to run new wireing from the Sony Head to the speakers (PITA).
BTW, I have the same Sony gear in my Crown Vic, and it sounds great. So I know it's not the Sony stuff.

Thanks!!

 

What all did you replace? Just the head unit, or the speakers to?

 

Both head unit and speakers. The front speakers (Infinity) had a bunch of wires going to them. I used the two wires that matched the color codes at the head connector for the front speakers.
The rear speakers only had two wires going to them. I used those. The color coded wires in the rear doors did not match those on the head connector. That's what lead me to believe that there might be something else in the system somewhere that I'm not aware of.

 

Yeah..I would look for a factory amp. If there is one, you will need to bypass it or run all new wire. Running new wire would be your best bet.

 

The factory Infinity amps are an integeral part of the front 6x9 door speakers. The rear speakers and front tweeters will no longer work properly once the front door speakers have been removed. To be able to run the tweeters and rear speakers, you will have to match up the wire colours from the head unit to the Infinty harness in the doors where the amps were connected. If you remove the connectors from the Infinity amps, you can rewire them, plug them back into the door harness connector and use them as jumpers to re-route power to the rear speakers and tweeters.......fun huh?

 

Run your own wires! My OEM wires actually changed color from the OEM head to the self-amp'ed speakers...

 

Swapped mine also and just jumped the amp with the power ant lead and works loud,

 

But did you change the front speakers too?? If not then you won't have any problem!

Chris

 

It gets confusing, doesn't it? I have been researching the issue and I have a simpler way to describe the factory Infinity setup. The head unit sends a preamp speaker signal to two amplifiers which are mounted on the two front door speakers. The amplifiers send a speaker signal to the three speakers on that side (front door, tweet, and rear door). The tweeters might have a crossover circuit attached, I don't remember, and there must be a +12v wire to each amp to power it from the head unit, and a ground.

 

I don't mean to hi-jack this thread, so I will ask a question and answer another:


I am glad you did this and have no problems. I want to do this also. How did you deal with the steering wheel radio controls? I really don't want to run new speaker wires....

Reference to the stock system. Yes, the line ouput from the stock radio runs to power amps. There is a power amp in each door. The amplified signal runs to the speakers. I believe there is a cross-over circuit built into the front door amps.

Hope this works,

Joe