Originally Posted by pizzaguy

I don't see the crossover settings in the manual I downloaded, but that WOULD be a good way to set up the sound.

I've got to go read about that four channel mod... I THINK I see it on page 8A-19 of the service manual. I'd have to play around to see what pin is what, unless it's called out in the pin outs of the plugs in the back of the manual. Somewhere. In the +3000 pages.

Originally Posted by pizzaguy

Ok, here we go. This is how I'd do it, looking at the diagrams, I know the output of the FACTORY head is floating. That is, you cannot connect one side of the speaker output to ground. Fine. But will the AMP object to having one side grounded? If so, then we cannot use the preamp outputs on the right side of the Kenwood (as viewed from behind) because they are phone/rca jacks and are grounded to the chassis. I WISH Boiler or someone else was here to comment on that aspect.


Going on that assumption, I'd try this (and my wire colors in the car are based on the 2005 SRT manual, the only one I have, but I do NOT believe anything changed.)

In the wiring harness coming from the rectangular connector on the Kenwood:
Connect (kenwood) white to left door tweeter + terminal.
Connect (kenwood) white/black to left door tweeter - terminal.
Connect (kenwood) Gray to right door tweeter + terminal.
Connect (kenwood) Gray/Black to right door tweeter - terminal.
(These are the wires you have got to run yourself.)

Now the tweeters are on the front outputs of the Kenwood.

Connect (kenwood) Green to car harness black.
Connect (kenwood) Green/Black to car harness Black/Brown.

This connects the left rear speaker output of the Kenwood to the left speaker behind the seat and the Left Kappa, by way of the amp.

Connect (kenwood) Purple to car harness yellow.
Connect (kenwood) Purple/Black to car harness Yellow Violet.

This connects the right rear speaker output of the Kenwood to the right speaker behind the seat and the right Kappa by way of the amp.


Now, you are powering the every speaker in the car with the amp - except the tweeters, which are being driven by the Kenwood directly. Using your front to back fader in the Kenwood, you can customize how hard you want to drive the tweeters versus how hard you drive the Kappas and woofers behind the seats.

There is little power in the high frequencies in music, so the 20 watts per channel of the Kenwood is fine for driving tweeters. And the amp's 140 watt output is driving the Kappas and Woofers.

I PREFER to use the preamp output to drive the Amp, but, again, I've not tried it and never paid attention to the guys who have done this.

Also, connecting a non-polarized 270uF capacitor in each + line to the tweeters will probably make them sound better. This will block a lot of the bass and low frequencies going to the tweeters (which can't reproduce lows well anyway), and make them sound better. This cap can be added and left accessbile by placing it behind the little pop-out panel at the front of the door (this panel is hidden by the dash when you close the door, nice place to hide the cap and you can easily get to it to change it if you want to, without tearing the door apart). This is part of the "Most bang for your buck" audio mod mentioned elsewhere on this forum.

Originally Posted by pizzaguy

And that confirms that my original pin-out I gave the OP was right after all.


Gotta tell ya, I'm considering BOTH a four channel mod AND a new head now.

Originally Posted by SrWilliams

I am a little confused. Why would I go thru and completly rewire the woofers in the rear. Already they are playing fine with the way I have them hooked up directly to the amp. Then, I am running the Kappas directly to the amp, without using the pre outs. Why couldn't I simply detach the kicker tweeters from the amp and run some wires from the tweeters (kickers) directly to the preout hartness wires in the Kenwood. Wouldn't that take the tweeters out of the amp equation and only have the amp pushing the door woofers and the rear woofers, which is what I was doing before with no problem

I quess what I am missing Pizza is why would it not be possible to run some wires from the Kisker tweeters to the preout harness block of the Kenwood and keep everything else as is

Originally Posted by SrWilliams

I am sorry Pizza, the brevity of your last post lost me. I did not understand what you posted. Sorry, I could not make out what you were relaying in your last post

Originally Posted by pizzaguy

And that confirms that my original pin-out I gave the OP was right after all.


Gotta tell ya, I'm considering BOTH a four channel mod AND a new head now.

Originally Posted by pizzaguy

Stay away from the preamp outputs. I just did read up on it, and the amp is expecting to be driven by a SPEAKER OUTPUT, not a preamp output. THe preamp outputs on your head are useless in this car. (Which is no big deal.)

Originally Posted by pizzaguy

I am not sure my long post reads right. If you follow it, this is what happens:

The rear left speaker output line of the Kenwood drives the amp which then drives your new speaker in the driver's door and the speaker behind that seat.
The rear right speaker output line of the Kenwood drives the amp which then drives your new speaker in the passenger door and the speaker behind that seat.

The front left speaker output line of the Kenwood drives the driver's tweeter directly.
The front right speaker output line of the Kenwood drives the passenger's tweeter directly.

Originally Posted by SrWilliams

Pizza:

I see what you are saying and that is absolutely sound advice. What I am thinking is I need to take the tweeters out of the output side of the amp, causing the amp to overheat and overload. I am going to then run a direct line from the tweeters and hook into the wires coming out of the kenwood harness, while not using the preouts that do not power the speakers. However, the wire leads from the head unit can both power and send a radio signal to the tweeters at 50 watts. This way I will only have the amp powering the door speakers and the rear woofers, which they have been aboe to do with no problem.

So, Pizza, I think I am following your lead, as you correctly laid out in your original post. It i just taking me a while and some education to catch on

Now watch I go and blow the whole system UP!!!

Originally Posted by pizzaguy

You should be ok. And after all of this, now I'm actually thinking of replaced the head unit in my car!
Reading the manual for that Kenwood head has me wondering if I am not missing out on a lot with the factory head in there.

Originally Posted by Mrmiata

It took a little time and head scratching.. but being able to set the front/rear balance has made the stock amp-speaker setup a pretty decent system.

And a note to OP.. the pre amp outputs don't carry a stand alone speaker hookup.. Your system (based on what you've written).. You are using an OEM harness adapter to the OEM wiring. This will only utilize the left/right channels of ONE output.. most likely the front channel from the HU. Your diagram from the HU will confirm this. You should have tapped off a set of speaker leads with this. You can run those leads to your tweeters by pulling new wires to the door. Hope this helped somewhat.. LOL.

Originally Posted by pizzaguy

You should be ok. And after all of this, now I'm actually thinking of replaced the head unit in my car!
Reading the manual for that Kenwood head has me wondering if I am not missing out on a lot with the factory head in there.