Messed up Cougar

[Merzbow]

For all you car audio experts, a few friends and I installed a set of two Ausiobahn 12 inch subs and a Soundstorm 1000watt amp...first problem was getting the head unit out, after an hour and a half of ripping apart hte dash we finally discovered we needed those u-hooks . We hook everything up with line out converter and all that and we accidentally cross a wire and blow the amp. We call it a night and the girl leaves. She comes back 5 minutes later and her speedometer doesnt work. I'm stumped. I disconnect the old blown amp to exchange it the next day and the speedo starts working again. The wire we tapped into was negatively charged when off but once started turned into positive?!?Anyways, we get a brand new 2005 Soundstorm 1000watt amp. Plug everything in and find out one of hte line out converter terminals is bad!!! We decide to go a different route and tap into the rear speakers. We go for a test and the subs sound like trash. We disconnect on wire frmo one of the speakers and the left sub hits beautifully and normally but the right sub is off...We call it another night and discover her right tail light is out and her alarm goes off more than usual. I think the bulb just burned out and the alarm doesn't like that.Next day we run audio wire from my friend's aftermarket headunit to her amp and subs and they work like normal. I don't understand wha the problem is. This Cougar is being a major b*tch to us lol. If anyone has any explanations to any of these issues please do explain. For now my friend is gonna let her use his 3200watt Audiobahn amp until we figure this **** out.

[Jahntassa]

1. Wires that look like negative when the car is off can possibly do something with the car on. Take the dimmer and illumination wires... They'll show negative with the lights off, but show +12v (or varied) with the lights on.2. If I remember about the cougar, there're parts of the cruise control that show up at the radio. There might've been three plugs behind the radio, only TWO of them deal with the audio. One carries power, and the other is audio out to the speakers. 3. It sounds like a phase problem. Try flipping the wires you have going to the line-out converter on the right speaker, and see what that does. Also, are you using the factory headunit? Does that car have a factory amplifier in it? It'd probably say Monsoon, or JBL on the speakers if it does. If so, that might be causing the problems you're having. 4. What wires did you cross that blew the amp? The power wires from the battery? Also, how the hell are you using that much power on a stock alternator? One guy I know has a 1000w monoblock on a re-wound alternator that puts out 16v @ 180amps, and it still drains.. But that's neither here nor there..

[Merzbow]

Well, the line out converter had ablown terminal. We wired them the the rear speakers instead.Yes you are right, there was three plugs into the back of the head unit. It is a stock head unit with no amp or upgraded speakers.my friends got the 3200watt Audiobahn amp with two 1200watt a piece 12" subs and he has a regular battery....i cant even begin to describe how hard they hit.ANYWAYS, we figured out the problem. You're gonna smack me when yo uhear this. The positive and negative from the subs to the amp was switched around!!! Problem solved, and everything works great and hte subs sound amazing.Thanks alot for your help though! You must really know your stuff.

[Jahntassa]

Quote, originally posted by Merzbow »ANYWAYS, we figured out the problem. You're gonna smack me when yo uhear this. The positive and negative from the subs to the amp was switched around!!! Problem solved, and everything works great and hte subs sound amazing.Yeah, that kinda sounded like a phase problem.. You'll notice it on subs more than anything else because they're more apt to cancel each other out..