D.I.Y. the long-awaited amp integration harness by Whiterice!

[cptmurphi]

I am having the exact same problem with mine. As soon as I go to ACC II postion and beyond, there is an annoying static-buzzing noise through the speakers that is present whether the unit is on or off. In ACC I position there is no noise. I wish I could find out how to get rid of it.

[DrR10n]

i cant turn off the stereo

[NighHawk8Gen]

I would suggest wiring the amp to be on when the ignition is on instead of only when there is an audio signal. The reason is that sometimes with certain stereos (kenwood for sure) you will cycle thru the sources (cd, radio, ipod etc) and the amp will turn off and not power back up when you get to the source you want. Found that out the hard way.

[mfinlay04]

In stead of using RCA Cables and cutting splicing. Go down to your local radio shack and just pick up the heads of the RCA cables. They sell them for about 4 bucks in a box of... you guessed it 4!

Then your not dealing with cutting and splicing so much, plus most RCA cables are pretty dinky the gauge of the wire when it comes out is smaller than 22. So for a 350 watt system that not going to give you the best sound quality either.

Other than that GREAT write up

[cptmurphi]

It's just weird that with the key in ACC I position it sounds perfect. No buzz or static or anything. As soon as you switch to ACC II, the buzz kicks in. I wonder what is causing the interference in the ACC II position.

[mfinlay04]

More than likely you have a wire crossed somewhere. Sounds like you have a + hooked up to a - speaker wire. That would be my guess. When in doubt rip it all out and start all over. Go over EVER wire and make sure they are all correct

[civicsicoupe]

I had my old amp integration harness from the RSX with the bose speakers just cut the RCA's off there onto the honda harness. Worked like a champ love it! Great info helped me out a ton!

[FunkNasty777]

Anyone have any ideas, I wired RCA plug heads to the speaker wires on the aftermarket harness. Positive wired to the center screw of the plug and negative to the ground point on the plug.

Every speaker fades correctly and is operating correctly except for the driver side speaker which has no sound coming out of it. Anyone have any ideas? If I unplug the the driver side rca plug from my aftermarket unit, sound quality is greatly improved in the other 3.

Bad plug head? I've tripled checked my wiring at this point.

I'm using the Scosche harness and I've tested the wires and double checked them to line up with the correct connections on the factory car harness it plugs into.

Any ideas would be a great help.

[NighHawk8Gen]

redo that plug. Its obvious that its the culprit. Hope you figure it out.

[NighHawk8Gen]

I don't understand why everyone is so set on using the stock amp. The aftermarket deck is WAY better of an amp. Just wire the connections appropriatley and wire the amp to turn on. Thats all you have to do. I have had three different decks in my car and none gave me problems. I just wired the aftermarket harness to the deck and plugged it in. As long as you power the amp up you will be good to go.

[FunkNasty777]

To power the factory sub...

[NighHawk8Gen]

point taken......I have subs so i didn't even think about that.

[FunkNasty777]

Originally Posted by NighHawk8Gen

point taken......I have subs so i didn't even think about that.

Not a problem. I am gonna go try and figure that out, I think the RCA heads are just garbage from radio shack, so I did buy some actual 2 channel RCA cables that I know will wire correctly.

Thanks for the help though.

[quality_sound]

Originally Posted by NighHawk8Gen

I don't understand why everyone is so set on using the stock amp. The aftermarket deck is WAY better of an amp. Just wire the connections appropriatley and wire the amp to turn on. Thats all you have to do. I have had three different decks in my car and none gave me problems. I just wired the aftermarket harness to the deck and plugged it in. As long as you power the amp up you will be good to go.

Are you talking about running the HU's powered outputs into the OEM amp? All that'll do is give you more voltage into the OEM amp. That may or may not be an issue depending on how much voltage the amp will accept. Running the line level outputs into the OEM amp is a better idea because the output SHOULD be cleaner but some low end HUs tap the line level outputs AFTER the built in amp which kinda defeats the purpose.

What HUs are everybody using when they do this? I'm going to toss my Clarion DRZ9255 in once I get the dash parts in and I'll report back if there are any problems.

[vollev]

I will be looking to install an the ever popular Avic D3. I was hoping to keep the subwoofer and tweeters functioning, so I was going to use this method instead of the bypass.

Now, I have researched the options, and assumed everything would be all fine using this approach. However, now its getting a little hairy when you talk about line level outputs, sound quality, etc. I apologize is this sounds silly, but what exactly are you talking about? I haven't received my D3 yet, nor do I have extensive car audio knowledge. Is there anything I should be cautious about when using this method to ensure the sound quality remains excellent?

[NighHawk8Gen]

Well, one thing to consider is that the stock speakers are matched to the stock amp. Once you bypass it it may or may not sound better. I am running the Kenwood xv7019. It's awesome. But yeah, I can't exactly remember how the harnesses ran but i belive the amp doesn't "couple" its power with the aftermarket decks power. I would guess the stock deck would have a level output that gets disconnected when u wire a new deck in and powering it just allows the sound to flow thru. Otherwise my sound would sound a lot different and the amp also wouldn't know how to regulate such a powerful signal from the new deck. I've never see a good outcome of an amp on top of an amp wich leads me to belive it is in a sense "bypassed" (or at least defaulted to a 0 line level input) with just the harness. Am I crazy??

[FunkNasty777]

Originally Posted by NighHawk8Gen

Well, one thing to consider is that the stock speakers are matched to the stock amp. Once you bypass it it may or may not sound better. I am running the Kenwood xv7019. It's awesome. But yeah, I can't exactly remember how the harnesses ran but i belive the amp doesn't "couple" its power with the aftermarket decks power. I would guess the stock deck would have a level output that gets disconnected when u wire a new deck in and powering it just allows the sound to flow thru. Otherwise my sound would sound a lot different and the amp also wouldn't know how to regulate such a powerful signal from the new deck. I've never see a good outcome of an amp on top of an amp wich leads me to belive it is in a sense "bypassed" (or at least defaulted to a 0 line level input) with just the harness. Am I crazy??

I just did my old DDX7015 with the KNA10 navi system, everything is great except i was sent the wrong color dash kit and well, I'd rather pay $40 for a new OEM one than fight and go through the trouble of swapping for the off-colored right one froms scosche.

Anyways...

The headunit amp is not amp'n on top of the factory amp. Your sound will sound some what the same, a little cleaner with the RCA connections. Stock sub and tweeters still work fine. This method is perfectly fine. Just follow it as so. Don't forget to tap the light blue wire from the amp harness to 12v + ignition to power the amp, amp will not turn on without power source.

Also if u match up the wiring harness to the stock harness, you won't have to directly tap into the wire, rather you can use the blue/white wire to a the appropriate wire on the scosche/metra harness. On my scosche harness it was the pink wire.

My only issue is I am gettng a ton of static/buzzing from the unit. It's all line noise. I have every ground running to the factory ground. Hopefully my ground wires will help fix this like it did on my tiburon. I just know there is wayy wayy to much feedback coming from the ground.

Did anyone find a good chasis ground close enough to the headnit area? Its all freieken plastic.

[quality_sound]

Originally Posted by vollev

I will be looking to install an the ever popular Avic D3. I was hoping to keep the subwoofer and tweeters functioning, so I was going to use this method instead of the bypass.

Now, I have researched the options, and assumed everything would be all fine using this approach. However, now its getting a little hairy when you talk about line level outputs, sound quality, etc. I apologize is this sounds silly, but what exactly are you talking about? I haven't received my D3 yet, nor do I have extensive car audio knowledge. Is there anything I should be cautious about when using this method to ensure the sound quality remains excellent?

An after market HU will have two types of outputs, line level and speaker level. The RCA jacks on the back carry the line level signal and the speaker wire outputs carry the speaker level outputs. Generally a HU will be cleaner on the line level outputs, but this isn't always the case. In some cars, like newer VWs with the Monsoon system, the extra Voltage from the powered outputs of a new HU is what the system really needs.

[FunkNasty777]

Those Monsoon systems are awful one of the major reasons I didn't like the GTI.

[quality_sound]

Originally Posted by FunkNasty777

Those Monsoon systems are awful one of the major reasons I didn't like the GTI.

A simple HU swap makes a monumental difference. It never bothered me though since I haven't had a car with a stock stereo in to for more than a month...ever.