hey guys looking for some ideas why my headrest speakers arent working, i checked if everything under the seat was plugged in but you cant see to much with the seats still in the car. the previous owner had the seats reupholstered with leather and they look great, he left the headrests alone though(still stock leather) any thoughts where something could go wrong?

 

Is it the factory stereo or is it aftermarket headunit?

 

never worked? just stopped working? stock? aftermarket? more info needed

 

There is a four prong plug underneath the seat, and four 14mm bolts between you knowing and not knowing clearly if it's plugged in.

There are two 2-prong plugs between he seat back and the seat headrest. If you press down from the rear on the seat back top you'll see a single nut that holds the headrest in place. Remove the bolt and pull up on the headrest and you'll see the wiring for the two plugs. I wouldn't be surprised if the upholsterer didn't plug those plugs back together, or maybe damaged the wiring to those plugs by not paying attention when he pulled the headrests off to do his work.

It could also be a bad or unplugged headrest amp (under the rear cargo cover, behind the drivers seat)

It could be the headrest control on the arm rest unit.

If you have an aftermarket radio, the installer might not have wired in the negative trigger wire to the headrest amp. Most aftermarket units have a negative trigger wire for an aftermarket amp. You'd use that same wire.

Finally, you may simply not be holding the headrest volumn control on the headrest control unit in the arm rest down long enough for the sound to start coming out of the headrest speakers. It take much longer than you'd think for the sound to finally start coming out of the headrest speakers, especially in an S4.

 

Really you have to hold it down?

I thought mine were also blown but i hear a pop sometimes

 

It never worked, just some random popping when I tried to turn it on. I bought the car with the stock radio and just got popping, I just put a kenwood deck in and haven't tried them again. That wouldn't change it though. Also I only have one working speaker, that last guy definitely messed with the wiring

 

I repeat:

If you have an aftermarket radio, the installer might not have wired in the negative trigger wire to the headrest amp. Most aftermarket units have a negative trigger wire for an aftermarket amp. You'd use that same wire.

 

^ I believe the stock trigger wire from the stock head unit to amp(s) as the blue wire with white stripe.

 

https://www.rx7club.com/2nd-generation-specific-1986-1992-17/s5-stereo-install-so-%2Aeverything-works%2A-936255/

https://www.rx7club.com/2nd-generation-specific-1986-1992-17/rx7-convertible-headrest-speaker-replacement-814287/



*but were afraid to ask!

 

I believe most aftermarket head units have a positive 12 volt 500ma turn on lead, not a negative or grounding lead. So if the factory headrest amp is looking for a grounded circuit (i.e. the power antenna circuit on our cars) thats not gonna work. maybe jackhild59 could shed some light on that since he wired his in already and mine isnt quite ready for that yet.

 

If the head unit is a positive trigger, then you just use a bosch relay to create a negative trigger

 

Yep what Hozzmanrx7 said, just finished rereading jackhild59's post. Since were on the topic, what color wire is that on the OEM/Dash harness side of things? Im sure there are people who will find that their original connectors have been chopped by previous owners (or in my case im patching a s4 turbo coupe front harness with a s5 vert rear harness)

 

I used Jackhild59's writeup and my headrest speakers work with my Eclipse headunit and the OEM headrest controls. Use it, it works.