Subs and Amps taken out, Please Help! {PICS}

[DK101]

Hey guys,

Bought this VR last week and the bloke who had it before me owned it for 12 months without doing anything to it, pretty much just drove it the way it was.

I rolled back the boot carpet to see what the lumps were...


And I found...


It used to have 2x12" subs in a side-by-side enclosure, and from what I can tell, one big amp driving the lot. It has 6.5" Kenwood's in the parcel shelf and the same in the doors, with 1" tweets in the corners of the dash.
Here's a pic of the rear speaker, after I removed the foam backing that filled the hole completely...


Everything has been installed well, the boot and body (including the doors) have been deadened and sealed, with thick foam in all the right places behind things... All the speakers appear to be running from a crossover mounted in the glovebox, but the wires going to that end in the boot, (black and gold wires in boot pics.)



6 RCA leads carry signal from the Pioneer DEH-P700BT Head Unit to the boot, and thats where the fun ends.


Power Leads are all still intact, I even had to disconnect the live power from the battery as all these wires were hidden under the carpet and behind the spare...





No Fuse in the Engine Bay fuse holder, just hardwired...


Seems all the speaker wires have their own fuses after the crossover too, which made me scratch my head as to the sort of power this thing used to kick...

I have my iPod permanently fitted to the unit now, hidden in the centre console, under the ashtray... Charges automatically everytime the key's turned and comes out with ease. Doesnt even move when it's lodged, and I never have to worry bout a skipping CD EVER again!


Anyways, this is getting very long, but as you can see I've tried to explain everything and show pics to help, I'd like to be able to get the system working temporarily until I can get subs and amps for it, but if it's better to wait, then I will...

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated, I'd love to be able to get this to work without much drama...

Thanks for your time, now that you've read it, might as well leave a reply. Hehe...

[DK101]

Pretty much what I wanna know is, Can I get sound happening by working with the speaker wires, or should I just get an amp/sub/enclosure set and whack it in? Can't really afford to buy anything like that at the moment so I was hoping to be able to dodge it up temporarily for cruising with tunes...

[sweefu]

Seems like you've got a fair bit of wiring there mate. So you can just hook up an amp or two it seems, and enjoy. Though you really should put a fuse in. Also, it seems there are a fair few speaker wires in the boot. Do all the speakers work? if not then it seems the speakers were run off an amp, in which case you would need a 2 or 4 channel amp to run the speakers, then on top of that you can run your sub/amp combo.

Cheers.

[holdenboy]

The only way could connect up the speakers to the head-unit (to get sound) is to remove the head-unit and run speaker wires from the speaker outputs to the crossovers (there will be another one mounted on the d/s somewhere i imagine).

That would get your front speakers working off the head-unit. To get the rears working you'll need to either run speaker wires from the head-unit to the each rear speaker, or use the front speaker wiring thats already been run to the boot.

The easiest way to get some music happening would be to just connect up the front speakers like i suggested above.

[DK101]

Seems like you've got a fair bit of wiring there mate. So you can just hook up an amp or two it seems, and enjoy. Though you really should put a fuse in. Also, it seems there are a fair few speaker wires in the boot. Do all the speakers work? if not then it seems the speakers were run off an amp, in which case you would need a 2 or 4 channel amp to run the speakers, then on top of that you can run your sub/amp combo.

Cheers.

Thanks, I thought it was a pretty sweet find, seeing how clean the boot is when it's hidden away. Haven't tested the speakers yet, but I'm most definitely planning on it... Buying a fuse on Monday, just in case I find a sub setup in my posession

The only way could connect up the speakers to the head-unit (to get sound) is to remove the head-unit and run speaker wires from the speaker outputs to the crossovers (there will be another one mounted on the d/s somewhere i imagine).

That would get your front speakers working off the head-unit. To get the rears working you'll need to either run speaker wires from the head-unit to the each rear speaker, or use the front speaker wiring thats already been run to the boot.

The easiest way to get some music happening would be to just connect up the front speakers like i suggested above.

Ahhh bingo! That's what I was thinking... I have so far, in my adventures, had the dash apart, and the passenger doorskin off (had to fix the window), and the only (speaker) wires going into that door is a single wire going to the door speaker, and it looks like they've utilised the factory wiring, its so neat... Once again fully foamed out, with at least 3mm thick deadening tar applied to the entire inner skin of the door. All access holes are sealed with custom panels and the rubbers all round are in great nick. I can only hope the other door/s are the same... The doors always open and close smoothly and come to think of it, its VERY quiet inside, for a V8 with extractors... Now I know why...

Anyway, back to the dash, I already sussed it out when I had me head in there the other day (following wires) and I reckon I can hook it up using the advised method. Reckon I can get all 4 goin too... Well I hope I can

I got nothing to do all weekend but work on my car so I reckon I'll get around to it. Goes in for final roadworthy inspection and rego on Monday so I wanna make sure I can fit it in, time-wise...

I'll have a dig, see how I go, and fill ya in...

[holdenboy]

I dont think you'll be able to get the rear speakers going without running new wires or using the existing wiring for the fronts, by the look of it the rears must have been amped too. Another option is to find the stock wiring at the rear speakers and connect them up at the speaker and at the head-unit.

The crossover in the glovebox is for one set of speakers (a woofer in the door and a tweeter most probably in the top of the dash). You have INPUT which will run to the boot (connect your head-unit to these terminals), WOOFER which will go into the door and TWEETER, which will go up into the dash somewhere.

Count yourself lucky, most commodores have been hacked up and the wiring is a real mess

[DK101]

I dont think you'll be able to get the rear speakers going without running new wires or using the existing wiring for the fronts, by the look of it the rears must have been amped too. Another option is to find the stock wiring at the rear speakers and connect them up at the speaker and at the head-unit.

The crossover in the glovebox is for one set of speakers (a woofer in the door and a tweeter most probably in the top of the dash). You have INPUT which will run to the boot (connect your head-unit to these terminals), WOOFER which will go into the door and TWEETER, which will go up into the dash somewhere.

Count yourself lucky, most commodores have been hacked up and the wiring is a real mess

Cheers man, certainly know how lucky I am, had the unfortunate displeasure of helping out a few mates put back in head units and the like and found total messes inside, some worse than others.
Bout to go work on the interior, been working on the motor and driveline all day, just removing, cleaning, inspecting, refitting bits and pieces... Fun fun.

I know the crossover in the dash is only for the fronts, I might have forgotten to mention that. And yeah, the rear speakers were amped. Going to take a good look behind the dash, I think the factory wires are still there at that end, I found the other end sitting under the rear seat, wound up and out of the way...

I'll see what I can do... Cheers for ya helpful comments, its good to know that someone who has experience with bass in commodores isn't far away...

[holdenboy]

No worries, that crossover is not for the fronts but for the front L/H speaker only. There will be another crossover on the drivers side for the R/H speaker.

[DK101]

Bummer. Had that feeling, too. Haven't looked at any of it since I did all them pics the other night so yeah, Looks like I"m goin hunting...

[holdenboy]

Yeah it'll be either underneath the steering wheel (behind that cover panel) or underneath the vent panel on the side of the dash (the panel that has the vent holes that go to the door).

[DK101]

It was in the side of the drivers footwell, behind the bonnet lever.

Got all 4 speakers AND both tweets working, using new wires to the backs, and it sounds ok. Not too happy with the quality so I'm gonna rewire the crossovers, and see if I can't tune the head unit up a little better...