Kenwood DDX470 HU to pioneer GM-D9605 amp wiring
 

Having a bit of trouble finishing my install. I have the kenwood head unit going to my pioneer 5 channel amp using the middle RCA slot on the HU and the left (ch A) on the amp. Right now the tweeters and mids work great but if I use the HU to try and use only the front or rear speakers it screws up. If I select "right" then only the tweeters play. Rear plays all 4 and front plays the doors mostly but still play the tweeters too. My question is, do I need another RCA cable going from the right slots on the HU so the middle and right ones will be used and plug those into the ch A and ch B RCA inputs on the amp? And then run the sub off the head unit using the 2 sub. Out plugs and put that into the SW ch on the amp? So all 6 red/white plugs will be used on the amp?

Right now since it's only one cable from the HU, I have the amp switched to the 2chan mode instead of 4 chan. Just trying to figure out how to wire all 5 speakers and get the most sound out of them. Thanks for any help.

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You should have 2 sets of rcas coming from head unit front and rear to amp, and switch amp to 4 channel mode. Right now it sounds to me like since you are only using the front outputs from the head unit, your balance control is basically working as a fader. your tweeters are hooked to your right channel, your mids to your left. Add an extra set of rcas, switch to 4 channel, and your all good.

I was just thinking of stopping at best buy on the way home for another cable. Thanks a lot. Will that help the sub hit a lot more too? Or will I need a third set going from the sub out on the head unit going to the SW channel on the amp?

Cant say whether or not adding the second cable would have an impact on your subwoofer, but adding the cable from sub out to amp will certainly give you more control over the sub... I know I would add it.

So added the RCA cables and most I could get working was 3 speakers. Tried every combination possible and still always had one speaker that sounded like crap. Any suggestions? Bad amp?

If I understand correctly, you have a set of components in front, a set of rears, and a subwoofer, correct?
Which speaker sounds bad...
have you tried reversing the rcas on that set of speakers to see if it is the speaker, or the amp/rca?? if the bad sound jumps to the other side, its Not the speaker itself, or the amp. its likely in your rca cables. swap sets of cables from front channels to rear..... see if bad sound moves to front channel. If it does, problem is in your rcas, or further up the chain...
If it stays on that side, it may be a bad speaker, shorted speaker lead, or amp issue.
first thing I would try in this case is swap speakers. still bad? definitely not speaker. check for speaker wire shorts to ground by switching speaker wires at amp left to right. still bad on same side? no shorts.
Let us know when/if you get this far into it.....

. Thanks for the input. I tried switching the RCA cables and trying all speaker combinations again. Still, the left most terminal on the amp still made whichever speaker was plugged into it sound bad. This morning I tried hooking up my iPhone using an aux to RCA cable and plugged it straight into the amp. It's only 2 channel and I could get 2 speakers working at a time but still, that left terminal on the amp still sounds bad. Would this conclude the amp solder less connections are bad on the left most terminal?

certainly sounds that way....

So I ordered a new amp (same one). Turns out the old one wasn't bad and I'm not retarded. New one worked first try except one issue, the front left (seems like door) has some feedback when turned on. Doesn't matter if anything is hooked up or the volume is all the way down. It's not static but sounds like feedback you'd hear on a guitar amp. Or at least similar to that. Makes it seem like the door speakers aren't pushing 100% in quality. Any ideas?

That's an odd one for me. I never heard a single speaker give feed back. It's usually all or nothing. Go switch the right speaker to left and see if you get it on the right now. Feedback is usually a bad ground or if power cable is close to rca. Make sure all the connection to the speakers are good and tight too.

BTW, good choice on cheap but we'll functional HU. I have the same one. I have a 2 chanel amp so I only have 2 sets of rca running out of the HU. One to the 2 chanel amp and one to the sub amp. I used the sub output channel (I think it has a extra long tail coming out the back). It gives you a lot better bass control.

When all is said and done. On HU Go to: setup > bluetooth> select all channel.

YzGyz

Thanks for the input. I'll try that after work today. Power cable runs along the right side speakers and nowhere near the RCA cables. I'll try reversing the left/right and try switching RCA cables on the amp. Ground should be fine, it's one of the bolts underneath the back of the trunk (nearest driver seat) under the floor mat and foam. Scrapped away the paint so figure that should be good. Only other thing I can think of is a pinched speaker or RCA cable?

sounds to me like you have a wire shorting to ground somewhere, suspect the signal line from the amp to that particular speaker first.

God.. I don't know how Ron and Big can help people with trouble shooting things like this via forum all day. It totally ducks trying to diagnose things and explainin it. So much easier to just do it and show someone. Props Ron.

I wild once again try tout find the root of the feedback. Switch rca around so white is in red and red in white. If the feedback transfer to the right then it's not the speaker or speakers wire. If it is still on the left then try switching speaker wire leading to the speaker itself. Unscrew them from the amp and plug left speaker in right speaker slot and the same for the right. If still left side feedback then it might be the amp itself or rca from the HU to the amp. Try switching those too. Hell, you center plug the bass rca on the front amp and it will play fine. Try that. You will have to go down the line and single out one component at a time till you fined the source. I really don't think it's the ground wire but never exclude it. Ground will usually give feedback to all speakers and will increase in volume with rpm.

YzGyz

Helping is the easy part... Its diagnosing that is a pain in the As# sometimes. Sometimes its hard for people to describe an issue in type....
Op, Keep checking that wiring. its in there somewhere, I promise you!