New aftermarket stereo- rear speaker power problem

[MtnT4R]

I did find another thread about this in the wee hours of the morning, but I can't find it now and the solutions didn't work for me, so...

I recently bought my '02 SR5 with a crappy old Alpine receiver that sounded decent but used some proprietary aux cable connection that I couldn't find anywhere so I installed a Kenwood KDC-BT958HD. Since there was already an aftermarket harness back there, all I had to do was cut the old connections and match up the new Kenwood harness.

The problem is, now the rear speakers are only powered when the radio is on. I went through a bunch of Yotatech, T4R, and other random threads explaining the rears have an independent amp that is powered when the antenna is on- instead of wiring blue to blue, wire blue w/ white to blue or red(in a couple cases).

None of that stuff worked. What I found interesting is the rears play just find even when the antenna(blue) and blue w/ white are totally disconnected. I stripped the connections down to the bare minimum- the 4 speakers, BATT, AUX, and GRND- and there was no change, only fronts powered in BT, AUX, etc, and both fronts and rears powered when the radio is on, regardless of whether the power antenna was actually powered or not.

Do you all have any thoughts about what I need to connect to keep the rears on? I eventually plan on rewiring all 4 doors, but that's a spring job at the earliest.

 

[MStudt]

I did find another thread about this in the wee hours of the morning, but I can't find it now and the solutions didn't work for me, so...

I recently bought my '02 SR5 with a crappy old Alpine receiver that sounded decent but used some proprietary aux cable connection that I couldn't find anywhere so I installed a Kenwood KDC-BT958HD. Since there was already an aftermarket harness back there, all I had to do was cut the old connections and match up the new Kenwood harness.

The problem is, now the rear speakers are only powered when the radio is on. I went through a bunch of Yotatech, T4R, and other random threads explaining the rears have an independent amp that is powered when the antenna is on- instead of wiring blue to blue, wire blue w/ white to blue or red(in a couple cases).

None of that stuff worked. What I found interesting is the rears play just find even when the antenna(blue) and blue w/ white are totally disconnected. I stripped the connections down to the bare minimum- the 4 speakers, BATT, AUX, and GRND- and there was no change, only fronts powered in BT, AUX, etc, and both fronts and rears powered when the radio is on, regardless of whether the power antenna was actually powered or not.

Do you all have any thoughts about what I need to connect to keep the rears on? I eventually plan on rewiring all 4 doors, but that's a spring job at the earliest.

This difficult to understand. First you say the rear only work when the radio is on. Then you messed with the wiring, and the fronts worked. Then the front and rear worked.

You antenna wire has nothing to do with the speakers working or not. If only means you get stations to come in clear. You only need the ground, power, and memory wire for the radio to turn on. You connect those 3 wire, connect your speaker wires, and you're done. You only need to mess with the antenna wire if you have a power antenna. You only need to mess with the remote turn-on wire if you have an amp. If you have neither then don't connect them.

If you have the factory amp in place still, you should remove it, and buy the correct wire harness. Don't go cutting wires.

 

[Stiles97]

is this maybe a settings issue with the kenwood? I assume that when you say 'radio on' you mean fm radio and not just the unit being turned on.

 

[Unner]

It might be an issue in the settings in the head unit. I know some of them will only play bluetooth from the front two speakers until you go in and change the settings for it to play from all 4. If the rear speakers work when the radio is on, then I would try looking through the settings or the manual for the radio.

 

[MtnT4R]

Sorry for the convoluted description, I'll try to get some photos today. I mean that both the front and rear speakers are powered when the receiver setting is on "HD Radio." When the receiver is set to AUX, BT, CD, etc., only the front speakers are powered. The descriptions I read in other threads indicated this is because the factory rear speakers are run by a separate amp that turns on only when the antenna is powered. This doesn't really make sense to me, but thats what the other threads said:
new head unit = rear speakers no sound - YotaTech Forums
Rear Speaker Problem - YotaTech Forums

I didn't cut into the factory wiring, I spliced the new receiver wires directly to the aftermarket wiring harness that was installed with the Alpine receiver previously, all colors matched.

What is really confusing at this point is the previous Alpine receiver powered all doors just fine through its various inputs, and I had the old harness right next to me for reference to make sure I wasn't forgetting any wires.
[MENTION=116387]Unner[/MENTION], thank you for that tip, I'm gonna run through the manual this morning.

 

[Predatorhouse]

I second the delete the factory amp. those things a crap after a decade or so.

 

[BrianSD_42]

1) run new clean power and ground from the engine bay. You can keep the existing acc power.

2) run new 14 g speaker wire to all 4 speakers, it really isn't hard

3) bypass the Toyota amp. Aftermarket head units were neverkm meant to be used with factory amp - in any way

4) replace the factory speakers with aftermarket 30w speakers say from Polk or Alpine. Make sure the rms wattage is stated to be not higher 40w since that head unit puts out maybe 20W RMS.

5) take it to the next level and get the Alpine Universal Power Pack , 45x4 RMS mini amp.

6) I have found that with 3 different Kenwood head units my antenna is always up no matter what setting. With my Alpine it works fine. I don't know why this is, I'm not bashing Kenwood.

 

[Brique]

6) I have found that with 3 different Kenwood head units my antenna is always up no matter what setting. With my Alpine it works fine. I don't know why this is, I'm not bashing Kenwood.

I noticed that same thing with my poineer I installed last night. Really annoying.

 

[rcrick]

It's because your connecting your antenna to the "remote" wire rather than the "power antenna" wire. I have the same issue. Unfortunately if your headunit only has a remote wire and not a separate antenna wire The antenna will simply be raised any time the unit is powered on.

I'm thinking the newer headunits have probably dropped the power antenna feed due to power antennas being a thing of the past.

I'm probably going to put my antenna on a switch. Except I'm sure that as soon as I do, it will break.


To the OP, does your new headunit have two blue wires come out of it? One would be solid blue the other might be blue with a white stripe?

 

[JRZEE2000TR4LTD]

It's because your connecting your antenna to the "remote" wire rather than the "power antenna" wire. I have the same issue. Unfortunately if your headunit only has a remote wire and not a separate antenna wire The antenna will simply be raised any time the unit is powered on.

I'm thinking the newer headunits have probably dropped the power antenna feed due to power antennas being a thing of the past.

I'm probably going to put my antenna on a switch. Except I'm sure that as soon as I do, it will break.


To the OP, does your new headunit have two blue wires come out of it? One would be solid blue the other might be blue with a white stripe?

This^^ If your head unit only has one remote/ power antennae wire which is usually the blue/white one and that only sends a signal out when the radio is on then it will only power the amp when the radio is on. My HU sends power out when it's powered on so it's not a problem. I put one of those touch switches on the antennae wire so I can can control raising and lowering it and connect the amp remote before the switch.

 

[MtnT4R]

Thanks for the fast input!
[MENTION=116387]Unner[/MENTION], you da man. I spent a little too much time staring at the wiring last night, think I was a little too close to the problem. For whatever reason the default setting on this Kenwood is BT: front speakers only. It took a little digging through the obscure menu options but you were right on the money. This is my 4th Bluetooth receiver, but none of the others had that setting. Strange, but of course that would be the issue, right?

1) run new clean power and ground from the engine bay. You can keep the existing acc power.

2) run new 14 g speaker wire to all 4 speakers, it really isn't hard

3) bypass the Toyota amp. Aftermarket head units were neverkm meant to be used with factory amp - in any way

4) replace the factory speakers with aftermarket 30w speakers say from Polk or Alpine. Make sure the rms wattage is stated to be not higher 40w since that head unit puts out maybe 20W RMS.

5) take it to the next level and get the Alpine Universal Power Pack , 45x4 RMS mini amp.

I'm planning on doing a total overhaul of the wiring next spring. With evening temps hovering around 20F and sunset at 4:30pm it was a stretch to install JL components in the front and JL coaxials in the rear, had to take the assemblies inside to wire everything, but its officially done after 3 nights and I have to say these speakers and receiver offer a HUGE improvement in sound quality. I've read your build about 5 times and cant wait to upgrade the entire audio infrastructure(took your advice from another thread, bought the receiver and speakers in one chunk, gonna save up another grand or so for the subs and amps).

6) I have found that with 3 different Kenwood head units my antenna is always up no matter what setting. With my Alpine it works fine. I don't know why this is, I'm not bashing Kenwood.

I actually found a fix for this through my trial and error last night if you guys are interested: Snip and cap the blue wire from the receiver wiring harness. When I was connecting different wires last night using the threads I posted above, the power antenna went down but I retained all other functionality.

 

[MtnT4R]

It's because your connecting your antenna to the "remote" wire rather than the "power antenna" wire. I have the same issue. Unfortunately if your headunit only has a remote wire and not a separate antenna wire The antenna will simply be raised any time the unit is powered on.

I'm thinking the newer headunits have probably dropped the power antenna feed due to power antennas being a thing of the past.

I'm probably going to put my antenna on a switch. Except I'm sure that as soon as I do, it will break.


To the OP, does your new headunit have two blue wires come out of it? One would be solid blue the other might be blue with a white stripe?

I think you are right about the power antenna feed. Yeah my receiver wiring harness has solid blue and blue w/ white, I tried connecting both with identical results. I read in other threads that people fixed the issue I had by connecting blue to blue w/ white.

 

[Unner]

1) run new clean power and ground from the engine bay. You can keep the existing acc power.

2) run new 14 g speaker wire to all 4 speakers, it really isn't hard

3) bypass the Toyota amp. Aftermarket head units were neverkm meant to be used with factory amp - in any way

4) replace the factory speakers with aftermarket 30w speakers say from Polk or Alpine. Make sure the rms wattage is stated to be not higher 40w since that head unit puts out maybe 20W RMS.

5) take it to the next level and get the Alpine Universal Power Pack , 45x4 RMS mini amp.

6) I have found that with 3 different Kenwood head units my antenna is always up no matter what setting. With my Alpine it works fine. I don't know why this is, I'm not bashing Kenwood.

Any recommendations for speakers to run without running an amp? I would like to do components up front, but it seems like most have an RMS that is fairly high compared to the 22W that the headunit would put out.

Thanks for the fast input!
[MENTION=116387]Unner[/MENTION], you da man. I spent a little too much time staring at the wiring last night, think I was a little too close to the problem. For whatever reason the default setting on this Kenwood is BT: front speakers only. It took a little digging through the obscure menu options but you were right on the money. This is my 4th Bluetooth receiver, but none of the others had that setting. Strange, but of course that would be the issue, right?




I'm planning on doing a total overhaul of the wiring next spring. With evening temps hovering around 20F and sunset at 4:30pm it was a stretch to install JL components in the front and JL coaxials in the rear, had to take the assemblies inside to wire everything, but its officially done after 3 nights and I have to say these speakers and receiver offer a HUGE improvement in sound quality. I've read your build about 5 times and cant wait to upgrade the entire audio infrastructure(took your advice from another thread, bought the receiver and speakers in one chunk, gonna save up another grand or so for the subs and amps).



I actually found a fix for this through my trial and error last night if you guys are interested: Snip the blue wire from the receiver wiring harness. When I was connecting different wires last night using the threads I posted above, the power antenna went down but I retained all other functionality.

No problem! Glad I could help. I remembered there being some sort of an issue like this when I installed my Kenwood in my Supra, so I kinda had a little background knowledge on it. I'm actually looking at ordering a Kenwood for the 4Runner here sometime in the near future as well.

 

[MStudt]

I think you are right about the power antenna feed. Yeah my receiver wiring harness has solid blue and blue w/ white, I tried connecting both with identical results. I read in other threads that people fixed the issue I had by connecting blue to blue w/ white.

The blue/white is your remote turn on wire, and should not be used for your antenna. The solid blue wire is for the antenna, and that is what you should be using.

 

[MtnT4R]

The blue/white is your remote turn on wire, and should not be used for your antenna. The solid blue wire is for the antenna, and that is what you should be using.

Yeah that's how I had it wired originally, but when I was troubleshooting the speakers not working, one suggested workaround was to connect the white w/ blue remote turn-on to the blue antenna wire.

 

[shadow247]

It's because your connecting your antenna to the "remote" wire rather than the "power antenna" wire. I have the same issue. Unfortunately if your headunit only has a remote wire and not a separate antenna wire The antenna will simply be raised any time the unit is powered on.

I'm thinking the newer headunits have probably dropped the power antenna feed due to power antennas being a thing of the past.

I'm probably going to put my antenna on a switch. Except I'm sure that as soon as I do, it will break.


To the OP, does your new headunit have two blue wires come out of it? One would be solid blue the other might be blue with a white stripe?

I put mine on a switch. My Pioneer H/U only has remote, and I barely listen to the radio, so I wired a switch inline with the remote wire to only cut power to the antenna when the switch is off.

 

[MStudt]

Yeah that's how I had it wired originally, but when I was troubleshooting the speakers not working, one suggested workaround was to connect the white w/ blue remote turn-on to the blue antenna wire.

Those wire have zero affect on your speakers. There's something else going on here.

Both wires will have about the same affect on your antenna. One will raise/lower when the car is turned on/off. The other will raise/lower when the radio is switched to CD/AUX/MP3, and when the car is turned on/off.

Just to clarify. Are you using the factory amp? If you are pull it out, and get a different harness.

 

[BrianSD_42]

It's because your connecting your antenna to the "remote" wire rather than the "power antenna" wire. I have the same issue. Unfortunately if your headunit only has a remote wire and not a separate antenna wire The antenna will simply be raised any time the unit is powered on.

No [MENTION=113019]rcrick[/MENTION]

I am not. I've set it up exactly the same. My wiring is correct. My remote lead goes to my amplifiers.

It has to do with Kenwood. All my wires are labeled and have quick disconnect spades. I've also gone through about 6+ head units just testing them out in the 4Runner. This issue is consistent with Kenwood and the 3rd gen 4Runner.

 

[rcrick]

No [MENTION=113019]rcrick[/MENTION]

I am not. I've set it up exactly the same. My wiring is correct. My remote lead goes to my amplifiers.

It has to do with Kenwood. All my wires are labeled and have quick disconnect spades. I've also gone through about 6+ head units just testing them out in the 4Runner. This issue is consistent with Kenwood and the 3rd gen 4Runner.

Ohhh, so the kenwood does have a separate wire for the antenna?

 

[MtnT4R]

Those wire have zero affect on your speakers. There's something else going on here.

Both wires will have about the same affect on your antenna. One will raise/lower when the car is turned on/off. The other will raise/lower when the radio is switched to CD/AUX/MP3, and when the car is turned on/off.

Just to clarify. Are you using the factory amp? If you are pull it out, and get a different harness.

oh sorry Mstudt, Unner was right, my Kenwood receiver's default setting for Bluetooth was front speakers only. It was a software issue, not wiring like I originally thought.