Speaker & lead weirdness - help needed please

[Eiger]

I discovered today that I actually do have rear speakers - which I didn't think I have. Like most 944 owners I have found that I have the newer Alpine 2-way speakers upfront but every time I drive my wife's car I'm reminded just how rubbish the sound is in my 944 - and I want to do something about it as I really enjoy my music while driving.

My headunit is Kenwood KDC-7070R which has a maximum output of 44W x 4 - however, the RCA outputs are unused, so I presume that my current speakers are only running the 28W x4 DIN output (according to the manual).

The Alpine speakers have 150W potential output but honestly the sound is far below expectations, even after fixing my driver- side front speaker wires that were damaged in the door jam.

I was playing with the FADE and BAL settings on my head unit and low and behold I heard the faintest, tinniest sounds from behind the rear panels - Pathetic comes to mind. Rear speakers exist.

Anyhoo, I also noticed that the BAL & FADE functions are reversed. So somewhere in behind the head unit in amongst the birds nest of wires things are not wired correctly, no?

Would this also explain why the rear speakers sound ever so soft and tinny?

Furthermore, upon extracting my head unit, I found a number of orphan wires:
1> A set of 4 comprised of black, red, white and yellow tagged wires on the right hand side of the tunnel/console;
2> and a pair of odd prong ended wires - one black and the other white tipped;

... and these strange ones too:
3> a red block ended wire with C.H. written on it (that seems to come from under the switchpanel;
4> a black block ended wire;

Any idea what these are for?

Aside from the rear speakers not working correctly, and the poor sound quality, all of my other electric functions are working (bar the rear demist but that's another post, another time as it's a strangle voltage issue)...

Any thoughts my fellow 944ers?

 

[944turboS]

The pronged wires look like they are speaker connections, as used on 1980s Blaupunkt head units.
The others ????

 

[peanut]

yes they are speaker Din connectors but a strange place to have them ?.unless as Graeme says they plugged into the back of the original equipment
Does your car have a balance fader thumbwheel on the centre console ? your speakers for the original audio equipment would have connected to that so the sound could be balanced front and rear I think or maybe left and right ?.

Don't want to disapoint you but the wattage output will be so called 'musical power' and not RMS . If the rear speakers are original then 20 years of damp and condensation will have left the speaker cones completly rotted . I suspect the best solution is going to be to put in all new speakers and wiring

 

[Eiger]

thanks guys.

Yes Peanut I do have a fader on the console which does nada. I'll have to remove the panels and see what's up behind there, you're probably right in that the speakers are dead.

I fancy some nice speakers back there, but recall reading a post on here about putting good low range speakers out back and letting the Alpines handle the higher range up front.

Would the fact that the FADE/BAL wires are incorrectly wired semi-mute the rear speakers at all?

 

[peanut]

ORIGINAL: Eiger



Would the fact that the FADE/BAL wires are incorrectly wired semi-mute the rear speakers at all?

absolutely. If I were you i'd go to Halfords or a large ICE supplier and buy the correct plug-in connector/s for your ICE then attach the tails to your existing audio cables . That way the car can always be converted back to its original Blaupunct or whatever by simply unplugging your head unit and plugging the original unit back in.

There is a brilliant ICE site somewhere on the net with fextensive installation guides and troubleshooting guides . I've posted the link before . I'll see if i can find it.

I think it would be useful to remove your centre console to make sure your wiring is safe and to remove the cables to your fader thumbwheel . If the existing cables to the rear speakers are ok use them and extend them to the dash to connect your new headunit

 

[sulzeruk]

Steve, best to remove the 2 back panels and chase the wires with a mulimeter to see what plug they go into. I would think that after 20 years, they will be pretty shot! The black connector looks like it is for a switch, e.g. your fader on the centre console.
Alasdair