Please help! I think I killed my Amplifier!

[glitch]

Hey guys! Sorry, I hate for my first post t be me begging for your help, but I'lll contribute to this forum more if you guys would help me out with my problem.

Okay let me explain my scenario.

So i ordered the PNP rear speaker kit through HarveyPNP on ebay and tried intalling them over the weekend. I thought things were going swimmingly until it said to hook up the speakers to the radio unit or amp depending on your model year(i was supposed to go to the amp). I misunderstood the instructions and hooked it up to my CDR23 unit and reconnected the battery. I tried turning the car on and with much disappointment, all I can hear coming out of the speakers is the bass. It sounded like I was listening to the music from outside the car with the windows rolled up(you know, all bass and no treble). i realized that I was supposed to go to the amp, so I tried to go back to my original system working by disconnecting the rear speakers from the radio, and still all I could hear was the bass frequencies. My buddy had access to the diagnostic problems and he said it might have burned out the amp. The amp does not smell burnt, the fuses dont look damaged, and I checked and rechecked the connections on everything but still haven't targeted the problem. I checked all the fader bass and treble settings on the radio but still nothing seems to be working. I am afraid to hook it up to the amp, because I feel it might just be a waste of time if something else is wrong with it. I dont think anything shorted b/c i did not hear anything click, arc or pop. Anyone have any suggestions?

Oh and this is all on a 6-speed Porsche Boxster S 2003 CDR23 sound system unit.

Thanks in advance everyone!

Chad

[atmorris]

Assuming you followed the PNP instructions carefully, I'm not sure what you could have done here. I can't see how plugging the PNP kit into the CDR23 would have caused a problem because that is what you do on cars that are not equiped with the amp. I'm assuming that since the instructions are pretty clear, you didn't add the amp extension and then plug it in to the CDR23. I have heard that if you use the rear speaker kit on a system without an amp (hooked directly to the HU) that the speakers are underpowered and flat sounding. My system has an amp, so I'm not sure if this is true or not.

Irregardless, with the system returned to its previous state, you should be hearing full sound. The CDR23 outputs full spectrum sound to the amp as far as I know. The only filtering is done inside the amp, and only on the door speaker "sub" channels.

As I understand what you said, at this point, you are now listening to the stock system, dash and door speakers only with no rears hooked up....and you hear only bass frequencies. Are you sure the dash drivers aren't dead? Maybe you are just hearing the output from the door speakers?

Edited October 4, 2007 by Andy_M

[Glyn]

Cant see how you could have damaged anything with what you have explained, try disconnecting power to the radio unit, reconnect and see if the re-set has put everything right again.

Are you sure you have not disconnected the dash speakers at the radio unit when you attached the new ones?

[glitch]

I dont think I did. I might of inadvertently disconnected them, but I dont know. The radio hookup right now is the 4 female ported yellow wire, the 8 female ported black wire and then the thick 2 female ported wire which goes to the amp(and the atennae of course). I've been looking around to try and find any loose wires but havent had any luck yet. Which wire goes to the dash speakers? Yes, your right Andy, I am only hearing the bass frequencies from the door speakers in the sub channel. How can i tell the dash drivers are dead?

[Cassiebox]

glitch-

Sorry for your troubles. Easiest solution is to have someone w/ a PST2 or PIWIS tester pull your CDR23 fault codes to determine the problem. Also, have you tried to see if harvey at PNP has any insight. He's a very helpful guy and you can email him: harveypnp at comcast dot net

Otherwise, know yours is the most fiber optic system which presents it's own unique set of challenges. In my non-most system (M490 in MY99), the doors (bass frequency only) are driven on thier own channel from the amp by combining the low level signal inputs rec'd by the h/u from both the front and rear channels. Thus when fading to either all front or all rear, it goes away. I presume your system's architecture is much the same.

Having said that, might your fiber optic system need reset b/c it may have "unlinked" the amp and h/u when you applied a load (the new rear speakers) to the h/u. I'm not sure but this certainly could be possible especially since the system was unbalanced. If so, you'll again need the PST2 to re-link them recognize each other.

Some addl things to consider/try:

Did you disconnect the battery again (for at least 1min) to try and let the system reset on it's own?

Does the sound volume in your door speakers change w/ any volume adjustment on the h/u? By fading front/rear? Balancing left/right or is it constant? If not, then it's either a linking issue or your amp may be fried (but I doubt).

Did you check all the connections on the back of the h/u (by sounds of it yes)?

Check all the fuses (my CDR220 radio not only has a fuse lead in the main fuse panel but also one in the back of it?

With the car off, when you turn the radio on you should hear an audible 'click' from the amp as it turns on after receiving the relay signal from the head unit.

Sorry to not know your exact answers but hopefully this will give you some other things to look at. Good luck!

[juniinc]

Cant see how you could have damaged anything with what you have explained, try disconnecting power to the radio unit, reconnect and see if the re-set has put everything right again.

Are you sure you have not disconnected the dash speakers at the radio unit when you attached the new ones?

The speaker wires that goes to the dash speaker are distributed from your amplifier located in the front

[glitch]

Thanks guys for all your help. I have tried everything I could possibly think of, but still haven't had any luck yet. What were those crazy germans thinking when they put in a fiber optic sound system in anyway? =-P I guess I am going to reluctantly turn it into the dealer and hopefully they can figure it out, probably have to sell an appendage to pay for it but oh well.

Oh yea, and I did contact Harvey as well, but he basically said the same thing; something must be unplugged or unlinked.

Edited October 5, 2007 by glitch