I'd like to start this off by saying I know little about audio technology and wiring in general.

I had Best Buy install a head unit in my 1984 GSL yesterday. When the girl doing the install put it in she told me that my rear speakers had a stock amp (they had those?) hooked up to them and that this would need to be bypassed in order for the rear speakers to be hooked up.

Since I was pressed for cash at the start ($250 head unit plus $40 in parts and nearly $60 in labor) she suggested that she could just hook up the fron speakers for yhe time being and I could come back some other time to get rear wiring done. I agreed. She then proceeded to put the head unit in car. After it was in she went to turn it on and it wouldn't turn on. She took out the cd player and tested all the wires and all tested "good." She then tested the cd player, and it worked on the bench.

Now as I mentioned before I don't know much about wiring but that seems to be an issue with the way she wired up the player. The unit is getting some power because when you press the eject button the motorized face comes down, and a cd can be put in and then ejected. Also when the display button is pressed the display lights up and displays the current time, so I know it is getting power from a "hot" wire (i think that is the right term).

Am I wrong in my assumption? And is there really stock amps for the rear speakers?

Thanks for your help and sorry for the long post.

P.S. the head unit is a JVC KD-LHX500

 

when she put it on the bench, did she hook up spakers to it? Another thing you can do is, get a battery (AA or 9v one) and touch the speaker wires to it. If you hear noise coming from the speaker then you don't have an amp. She's doing something wrong or the radio is bad.

 

The radio turned on just fine on the bench, there were no speakers, but it turned on and showed the opening movie. In the car it doesn't even turn on (show Opening sequence). I set up an appt on Tuesday to have their "best" man check it out, and if he can't figure it out i'm gonna raise some hell .

 

yes they are crazy

 

Did you have a factory unit in before? If you did, did it turn on? She might not have it grounded properly, if thats the case, then it would not properly function. The only wires she needs to hook that thing up is power and ground. Ans yes you have amps in your car, they are located inthe drivers side rear pockets. They are made by Clarion. My GSL-SE had two, so you should have at least one. As stated befroe, tap an 8 volt battery to your speaker leads. If you have a passive x-over or amp in line you will not hear anything from the speaker at all. If you hear a pop, then you have no amps!

 

I say bring it to someone that ISNT best buy . Like a professional shop, they charge the same for labor but they are professionals. So they won't make silly mistakes. My friend said when he was trained it they left out alot to be learned on his own. But yeah a reputable shop would be a better choice in the future.

Or do it yourself.

 

Yeah it sounds like ground, if its not grounded it will do crazy things or nothing at all. I know the FC's had amps in the back towers but usually they just run new wires back there an not use the stock setup.

 

Correct...And i work at best buy...thank you. They do have training, and you also get certified just like all of the other "professional" places. Its the same test. You can run the speaker wire from the headunit directly to the new rear speakers. I would replace all the speaker wire with better anyway. Stock wiring is good if you just want regular speakers. If you want anything to sound really good, with really nice speakers, run new/better wire.

 

If you work there, then why does his radio not work? What test are you talking about? MECP?

 

yes...and i dont know why the radio doesnt work... i would have to see it!

 

well the 84-85 gsl and gsl-se has two amps, one in each bin like previously stated... on the 81-83 it is a single amp located under the drivers seat.. at least that is the way it is on my 85 gsl and my 83 gsl. annd yes she would have to bypass the amps in order to get the rear speakers to put out sound.. it can be done easily enough yourself aswell.

 

To me it sounds like the acc power wire (should be yellow) isnt connected properly or there is some other problem with it (no power running thru it). This would explain why the unit would do the functions like ejecting and showing the time, but not turning on.