Audio install problems PLEASE HELP!!!

[S1L3NT R3AP3R24]

I have 2 kenwood amps, one hooked up to 2 12" subs and the other hooked up to 2 6X9 speakers. I cannot get the amps to turn on. One of the amps is brand new, and the subs and other amp where in my old car and worked fine.

I have the system wired with a dual amp wiring kit from crutchfield. I have a power wire from the battery going to a distribution block, then 2 power wires from the block to each amp. The ground is set up with 2 ground wires going from each amp to a distribution block then to a good ground. I then have 2 power control wires going from the amps to the stereo. These two wires are spliced together into the power control on the back of the stereo deck.

The aftermarket harness for the stereo deck uses the power control wire to power the 2 stock amps, but it will not power my amps. When I disconnect one amps power control the other amp has lights that start to flicker but it will not turn fully on.

Cructhfield says that I may need to wire in a relay, because the stereo is not supplying enough current to power the amp. I tried this and it did not work. I also tried wiring the amps power control wires to a 12 volt source with a switch, but this still did not work. I also tried to wire one amp to the power control of the deck without wiring the harness to it but this even didn't work, and this is how your supposed to do it???

Also, I noticed that my power wire coming from the battery has 12 volts when not connected to anything, but when I connect it to the distribution block it goes down to 8 volts, I'm not sure if this is a problem. I am completely out of ideas and can't figure this out. Any ideas on what could possibly be wrong.

PS: all fuses are good and the grounds are good. The only questionable thing is the power wiring dropping voltage when hooked into the distribution block.

[BusyBadger]

Thanks for all your contributions in the tech section. I'm not a stereo guy by any means but it sounds like you did everything by the book (pamphlet?).

I've got a feeler out for a "techxpert" to take a look and see if he has any ideas. In the meantime maybe some of the other stereo guys will chime in. Kuhan has a stereo thread on here over in the 350Z General Discussion section. I'm not saying that any of it will directly apply to your install, but reading through might spark something.

Drop by the 350Z General when you can and introduce yourself! Welcome to NICO!

[Broadfield]

First question is do you have a DMM(digital multi-meter)? If so we can figure this out real quick. You say you have a good ground, but how do you know? That's the most common problem I see at my shop when people bring in their cars that they or someone else installed the equipment.... bad ground. First rule of thumb: do NOT go to a factory bolt for your ground source. Scrape paint down to bare metal and make your own ground point somewhere on the floor of the car or similar. You can test how good your ground is now by using a DMM and test the impedance. Use one of the test probes on your ground and the other probe on bare metal on the floor of the car or similar... do not simply touch the head of a bolt or something. You should be reading less than 1 ohm of resistance. You said you have 12 volts on the wire when it's not hooked up to the amp, but 8 volts when you hook it up.... where are you touching your ground probe when you test this? Because if you are using the ground at the amp to test with the meter then you will get that reading if the ground is indeed bad. Once you hook power up it completes the circuit though the amplifier and draws voltage down on the power side because the ground is not good enough to "properly" complete the circuit. Which would also explain why one amp "kind of" works when you only try to power one up... the ground is good enough to make one amp kind of kick on, but not good enough to make the amp work correctly, let along make two amplifiers work correctly. So I'm suspecting a bad ground. Check these things and get back to me. I have also seen the same thing when the fuse is faulty. This is typical on the large glass AGU fuses where they are soldered to the end caps. The fuse itself is good, but it cannot pass enough current due to the bad solder joint inside on the cap. So it will have the same symptoms as a bad ground.

[S1L3NT R3AP3R24]

Thanks for all the info. I am also suspecting a bad ground. I was thinking about it last night and I think I may have left a plastic washer on the ground that was on the bolt i used. I haven't had a chance to check it yet but I will be checking by tomorrow morning and will post on here if that is the problem.

[S1L3NT R3AP3R24]

Well I feel kinda stupid, turns out the bolt I used for a ground did have a small plastic washer on it. I took that of and everything works now . I can't believe I overlooked that the first three times that I checked the ground

Thanks again for the help.

[Broadfield]

Well I feel kinda stupid, turns out the bolt I used for a ground did have a small plastic washer on it. I took that of and everything works now . I can't believe I overlooked that the first three times that I checked the ground

Thanks again for the help.

Like I said, it's the most common problem I see

If you are still using a factory bolt, I hope you at least scraped the paint off underneath to bare metal? The ring terminal on your ground wire should be laying on bare metal of the car. If not, then you still do not have a "proper" ground.

[raycobra02]

I am new to this forum stuff. I have been a Z owner for about a year and I could really use some help. I have done a lot of research on this and I own a 1991 300zx TT with a bose system. I hooked up everything correctly (hopefully) to the harness (all the wires, speaker wires to the RCA preamp) but I don't use the radio so I didn't bother plugging in the two prong antenna because when I looked online for the adapter, there was weird one where the two prong split into the normal/common adapter and some other thing which I didn't understand. But all the cable are connected even the ground for the amp and turn on BUT my aftermarket kenwood will not turn on. Does the antenna have something to do with this? I don't understand why but when I plugged the original bose back in to see if I could figure the problem out and it would not turn on without the two prong antenna being plugged in. Kind of weird unless the antenna serves more than the purpose of being just an antenna. Or should I separately wire the power and ground directly to battery? Also the stock bose had a ground wire on the back harness and under it attached to the headunit, do I nee to use that as well?Thanks for all you help guys.