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Door Speakers not working

34K views 30 replies 8 participants last post by  jettp 
#1 ·
Ok well I've had the car since late April and i always noticed the Stereo seemed weak. But today while cleaning out the blower i realized the front door speakers don't work!! They dont seem to have any static or anything they're just dead. Is this a good time to upgrade the amp since it might be bad?

How many speakers are the 06 SRT8s supposed to have? I think its safe to say i hear 2 below the rear window, the kicker sub, and the 3 front dash ones.
 
#2 ·
You have three in the dash, one per front door, two on the rear package tray and the sub.

There are a couple of potentials...the speakers did blow or they have broken connections, the amp signal out on the front channel is bad or there is a bad connection at the rear of the amp.
 
#3 ·
If the speakers were blown would they be dead or have noticeable static? I dont know anything at all when it comes to stereos lol so is the front wired up to both amps or just the front amp? I guess i can start by looking at the rear amp connection. Are the wires labeled or color coded? I dont really know what to look for.

Thanks Again MADDOG!!!
 
#5 ·
Yes they were blown. If you can pull off your door panel and try pushing the speaker in and out to see if you have the same issue.


Sent from my iPhone using AutoGuide.com Free App
 
#6 ·
drivers side door speaker

I thought my drivers side door speaker was bad but couldn't find anything wrong with it. I took it to car stereo shop and they hooked it up and it works fine. So now what, I didn't realize the fronts speakers had a seperate amp. Where is this located and how can just one side be bad? I can't see how the wiring feed for drivers side speaker could get a break or maybe if the have seperate connections one could have corrosion or something. My speaker when hooked sounds distored but has sound. Any Ideas?
 
#9 ·
I thought my drivers side door speaker was bad but couldn't find anything wrong with it. I took it to car stereo shop and they hooked it up and it works fine. So now what, I didn't realize the fronts speakers had a seperate amp. Where is this located and how can just one side be bad? I can't see how the wiring feed for drivers side speaker could get a break or maybe if the have seperate connections one could have corrosion or something. My speaker when hooked sounds distored but has sound. Any Ideas?
The amp is up front on the driver's side behind the knee bolster.
 
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#8 ·
The speaker wire in the flex between the body and door may be broken. Test the speaker from the connector at the amp to rule that out. By the way, a simple test to check a speaker is to hook up a 1.5 volt battery to the terminals. A lot of people use a 9V but I prefer the 1.5. You just have to watch a closer. Polarity doesn't matter. If the coil is good the cone will move in or out depending on polarity. Kind of handy when you don't own an ohm meter.
 
#11 ·
Hey Krell,

If you have an amp, it would be in the same location as far as I know. What I don't know is if you have the base system, which is 6 speaker no amp, or the Alpine 6 speaker which actually has an amp. If there is one, that's where they put it.
 
#13 ·
Thank you gentlemen. I was hoping to find out whether or not I have an amp without disassembling anything, but it seems I must. :( I already requested the build sheet 2 months ago, but nothing has shown up in the mail. My dealer has printed out a list of options a whole lot bigger than the window sticker, and I don't see "Alpine" anywhere. So I am fairly sure I have no amp. That would explain the distortion I still get when playing the radio loud. No headroom. At all.
 
#14 · (Edited)
Distortion is a pretty good indicator of having no amp for sure.

No build sheet in the mail? Did you ask for it by email? Folks usually get them that way within a day or two days at the most!

Check that dealer printout again. It may list a particular OEM code for the sound system. If you can find it and post it up, we can tell you if you have an amp.
 
#15 · (Edited)
No build sheet in the mail? Did you ask for it by email? Folks usually get them that way within a day or two days at the most!
I saw no opportunity to ask for output format (such as mail).

Check that dealer printout again. It may list a particular OEM code for the sound system. If you can find it and post it up, we can tell you if you have an amp.
OK, here are the codes from my STAR NETWORK- Vehicle Information Report:

RCG 6 speakers
RDL Integrated in Rear Window Antenna
RDZ Steering Wheel Mounted Audio Ctrls
RE2 Uconnect Touchn 8.4 CD/DVD/MP3
RFL 8.4" Touch Screen Disp;lay
RSC Sirius Satellite Radio
RSL Bluetooth Streaming Audio
RSP Uconnect Voice Command w/Bluetooth
RSU Audio Jack Input for Mobile Devices
RSX Remote USB Port

And that's all folks. No mention of Alpine or amps.
 
#16 · (Edited)
I've been a little intimidated by the prospect of having my dealer "reprogram" my radio to use an amp, so I went looking for genuine Mopar parts... Both Mopar Easy ? Accessories - Home and http://moparownerconnect.com stopped showing me any amps suitable for my car at all! I'm sure they both used to show. The Dashboard and Maintenance sections of Moparownerconnect have also been down for "maintenance" since at least Friday. Obviously Chrysler doesn't want my business.

Any pointers on an aftermarket amp that would plug into the wiring harness? I was expecting some directions and harness adapters out of Crutchfield, but again no help there. :(
 
#17 ·
Actually, you are in a much better position that we are. Having an amp complicates things.

I would think you in a better position for upgrading.

Unfortunately there aren't any aftermarket amps that plug in directly, but that's not an issue.
You can tap the speaker leads to get a signal for any amp. And since the battery is in the rear of the car it makes it easier to do a trunk install.

You have a choice of where to tap for the signal. Easiest would of course be the rears, but you could tap the front leads at the radio (as far as I can tell).

As far as getting to the radio, I don't believe you have to remove the screen. You should be able to reach the radio by removing the shifter, the panel around it to expose screws on the lower center stack, then removing the lower portion. The radio is actually behind the panel underneath the screen.

There may even be video of the procedures as some have published this when they installed the lockpick.

I suggest contacting pac-audio first to see if they have a plug-n-play solution for adding an aftermarket amp to the system. That would give you the cleanest signal, but any $15 LOC could do the trick.

If you decide to go this route, you won't regret the final product at all.

I'm still a beginner with the gen II cars, but I'm doing research for possible upgrade options myself. I've started by taking things apart to see possibilities, but I haven't removed the radio yet. Since I have the beats, my path would probably start me at the amp instead.

I can make some suggestions for amp, though based on what I've had good luck with in the past.
 
#18 ·
I checked and looks like the C2A-CHY5 fits the bill nicely. You'd plug this in at the radio and connect a remote turn-on feed and RCA cables to it. Run both of those to your amp.
Run power and ground to the amp. Then speaker leads from the amp to your speakers.
In this case, a very simple way could be to connect the speaker leads leading away from the radio toward the stock speakers.

before

radio --> speakers

after

radio --> chy ---> RCA ---> amp ---> stock speaker wires ----> speakers

Again we can talk good 4 channel amps to use.
 
#19 · (Edited)
Well... Interrupting the signal to the rear speakers only does not address distortion coming from the front! I was hoping for a "plug-and-play solution" as you say. I can cut wires and solder others together, but the prospect of dripping molten solder on my face does not exactly thrill me. :( Some way of hooking the amp into existing wiring harnesses would be ideal.

Edited to add: Aha! Our posts crossed. Thanks for the additional recommendations. But why 4 channel amp, rather than 2 (since this is only stereo) or 6 (for six speakers)?
 
#20 ·
You would want 4 channels: stereo front and stereo rear. I believe the front speakers in the dash and door are tied together. You can always go 6 channels, which gives you more control, but 6 would be more than sufficient.

One thing that often happens with the fronts, though, is the 3.5 can't handle the bass that the 6x9 can. You can put bass blockers on the dash speakers for this, but your best route would be separate amp channels with adjustable crossovers.

I've seen and done it both ways. Totally up to your preference.
 
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#21 ·
Previous post has a typo. Should say 4 is more than sufficient.

Re: tapping the rear. That was just an option to get a signal for the amp for all of your speakers. Obviously there would be no fader in that case. Anyway the PAC piece would rule that out.
 
#22 ·
Bad news: the C2A is only compatibile with cars with amplified systems. But that means you get to save some money and getting a basic LOC to work with.
 
#23 · (Edited)
I noticed than when Googling your recommendation (the C2A-CHY5). :( Thanks for the followup above. What's an LOC by the way?

I called up the parts department at my dealer and had a discussion. He couldn't find any upgrades available for my VIN either (other than the dual square Kickers), so he called up his contacts at Chrysler. Same story; no amps available. The word back from Chrysler was to be very cautious about amplifier upgrades, because of the PowerNet wiring on 2nd gen 300's. I had to look that one up myself. Here's a good summary of what it is and what it does: New Chrysler electronic architecture includes data bus just for telematics What these data buses have to do with the speaker wires, I have no idea. Probably everybody is just as confused as I am. :( I may have to spring for my car's electrical wiring manual to sort out what harnesses I have.
 
#24 ·
a LOC is a short term meaning Line Output Converter. Another term used is Hi-lo convertor. Basically it takes speaker leads and converts them so that an RCA cable can be used to connect to an amp, signal processor, or other downstream device.

I left out some other options:

AudioControl LCx (x = 2,6,8)
JL Audio Clean Sweep + SSI

Or use amplifiers with built-in hi-lo connections.

I wouldn't worry too much about the power net and what it means as we normally wouldn't touch it (we don't have an OEM amp which would be impacted for example and we aren't replacing any of the telematics or the radio). The gen I cars actually had the telematics sending the signals to the amplifier in the case of the voices and uconnect, so the amplifier had to be in the signal path. Since you don't have an amp, I'm assuming you have NAV,
so that means the information is being fed to your radio and out via the radio's speaker outputs, a much cleaner option, so any changes can be made after the radio. I am not 100% sure if this is the case, but it would make no sense to run multiple feeds to the speakers to accomplish this.

So what does this mean? to avoid possibly having some impact such as losing the NAV voice, you would need to make sure to take all speaker connections as inputs for your amp. I mentioned using a LOC. You can use a LOC for each set of speakers leads coming out of the radio.

I still believe the radio has 4 channels coming out: 2 front/2 rear, and the dash and front doors are connected together. So you could use 2 LOCs wired to those leads.

Another option is to use one of the other choices I mentioned, such as an LC6i (I say 6 just in case you find out you actually have 6 channels at the radio).

I wouldn't necessarily suggest the cleansweep as it is overkill for what you are trying to do.

The LC6i would take all of the radio outputs and provide a summed output that you can use to add your after market amps. You would still need to run speaker wires from the amp to the speakers, but since you are at the radio, you can use the stock speaker wiring and connect the new speaker wiring there. This would be so that only one area is modified
and you can go back to stock if you wanted or needed.

The LC6i would require power and ground feeds as well.

I would recommend getting a wiring diagram, so that you can identify the speaker leads, so you know which is which and can look out for any surprises.
 
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#25 · (Edited)
I've been trying to locate a wiring diagram, so far without much success. :( The closest I've been able to come is a $250 "Service Shop Repair Manual" on CD. I will not be springing for that before I'm certain it contains the wiring diagrams! The last time I went crazy with service manuals was for my '82 RX7. Bought the service manual and only then did I discover electrical parts not on the engine were in a separate manual.

Well, this sucks. At the behest of my parts guy, I called up Mopar Tech Authority, and they say the only available service manual for my 2012 300 is a $135 CD. Looking up the details on the CD part, it says:

IT DOES NOT CONTAIN THE TRADITIONAL WIRING DIAGRAM INFORMATION It does contain the wiring information relavent to a diagnostic trouble code (DTC) in the diagnostic procedure for the specific DTC.
Not good. They can't even spell "relevant" correctly. This sure looks as though Chrysler is doing the same thing as Mazda did to me many years ago: split out the wiring diagram from the service manual. Only in Chrysler's case, no such electrical service manual exists! Nuts. <-- not the word I had in mind.

How is anybody supposed to upgrade our cars? :mad: Chrysler is leaving money on the table.
 
#26 ·
I've been trying to locate a wiring diagram, so far without much success. :( The closest I've been able to come is a $250 "Service Shop Repair Manual" on CD. I will not be springing for that before I'm certain it contains the wiring diagrams! The last time I went crazy with service manuals was for my '82 RX7. Bought the service manual and only then did I discover electrical parts not on the engine were in a separate manual.

Well, this sucks. At the behest of my parts guy, I called up Mopar Tech Authority, and they say the only available service manual for my 2012 300 is a $135 CD. Looking up the details on the CD part, it says:



Not good. They can't even spell "relevant" correctly. This sure looks as though Chrysler is doing the same thing as Mazda did to me many years ago: split out the wiring diagram from the service manual. Only in Chrysler's case, no such electrical service manual exists! Nuts. <-- not the word I had in mind.

How is anybody supposed to upgrade our cars? :mad: Chrysler is leaving money on the table.
I wouldn't worry too much. I'm certain auto sound shops can do it. I figured out the doors and dash within the first 5 days (had to due to buzz of the doors), and I'm sure I can get to the amp. The new item for me is taking the dash appart, but based on previous experience I'm sure that is doable as well.

One way to do it is to look at your speakers. I know you've replaced the dash. You can
reverse engineer it that way, by looking at the colors at the speaker, then looking at the colors in the radio harness.

I'm sure there has to be a manual with this info somewhere. I'll add this to my list as well.
 
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#28 ·
Hey Krell,

the FAQ has the correct colors for your car. Apparently Chrysler didn't change it.

If you want to, you can register at the12volt.com. They have uploaded the stereo wiring colors there. There's more info than what's needed, but I've cross-checked against what's in the FAQ and I don't see a difference.

Check the FAQ where it says front/rear. Those are the colors at the radio.

Again, any stereo shop worth its salt should have this info as well and should have solutions such as those I've selected.

I think your best option is going to a good aftermarket shop.

From our FAQ:

Front Left +: Gray/Violet
Front Left -: Gray/Yellow
Front Right +: Dark Green/Violet
Front Right -: Dark Green/Yellow

Rear Left +: Dark Green/Tan
Rear Left -: Dark Green/Gray
Rear Right +: Dark Green/Brown
Rear Right -: Yellow/Gray

That's what you would see at the radio.
 
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#30 ·
I would think you are better off going aftermarket anyway. You can do this yourself, but if you have any doubt, you can go to an audio shop. I guarantee they'll be able to help get it done.

How much you do is totally up to you, but I warn you once you start it may be hard to stop.

My cool V went that way. I replaced the dash speakers and it was off to the races after that.

I wound up with just the stock radio remaining for a long time and a completely aftermarket system downstream, but it started eating my CDs, so I put a pioneer radio in. Obviously with the new car radio replacement is problematic, but the rest seems to be fair game, especially if you don't have an amp.
 
#31 ·
Same issue for me, been trying to sort it out. How many fuses are there for the amp? Only the dash speakers work, none from the door or the rear panel.

Is the Fuse the only thing worth looking at at this time? Tried removing the negative battery for a full day, still the same issue.
 
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