[sunpole]

Originally Posted by ctuna

But it might have been better to run another set of wires and put them in the
trunk . But that's a major job .
What model year is it?
Too bad the designers were obsessed with useless swoopy map holder bins, instead
or good speakers.

it is 2011, i definitely don't want to run another set of wires to the trunk if I don't have to

[dmatre]

Since you've got the door off, now you can do some real testing.

1) Wire in the factory tweeter (remove the Jehnert tweeter) and see if the noise is still there.
2) Connect the Jehnert tweeter directly to the amp output (even if connected without the crossover) and see if it has the hiss (bypass all the jury-rigged wiring).

I'm sure you're nearing the end of the ordeal, and the beginning of enjoying your system - don't throw in the towel yet....

[sunpole]

Originally Posted by dmatre

Since you've got the door off, now you can do some real testing.

1) Wire in the factory tweeter (remove the Jehnert tweeter) and see if the noise is still there.
2) Connect the Jehnert tweeter directly to the amp output (even if connected without the crossover) and see if it has the hiss (bypass all the jury-rigged wiring).

I'm sure you're nearing the end of the ordeal, and the beginning of enjoying your system - don't throw in the towel yet....

1) Noise is reduced with factory tweeter, perhaps it is just not as loud in nature

2) Bypass the crossover, noise reduced significantly! Problem seems to be with the crossover... I am glad finally found the source..

But another huge problem was discovered while I was doing all the testing, switching from left to right, fading from door to underseats, and found out the driver side underseat was completely muted! OMFG, why... why me again, I was literally about to break down.

It wasn't an amp output nor input problem, I switched both between the two woofers, with every combination, no sound from the driver side but passenger side was fine.
I thought it must been the woofer that is defective, so took apart the driver seat and took the woofer home now it is 11 pm... Using my new multimeter, found out the resistance was 6.8 ohm, that seems high I thought it'd been 4 ohm, then went ahead and tried to power it with my home theater, it sounded okay.. Now I am really confused, must it be the wire connection? But how? I clearly remember it used to work fine the first day I installed them...

This whole thing has really been an experience for me least to say. Now I've got two problems, bad crossover for both side and a broken connection for one of the underseat... What should I do?

[ctuna]

You should be able to measure about the same resistance at the output of the amp between the positive and negative leads with the speaker wires disconnected for the same type of speakers positive on the speaker to positive on the crossover . If there significantly different there are bad connections or bad components. If you want to get really extreme about checking it get some long leads and measure from one end of the speaker output on the amp to the terminating terminal on the crossover . Also you should measure the lead resistance with that shorted and subtract it out of your measurement. Then get a reading from the crossover to the speaker and tweeter.
I would also check for low resistance from amp ground to the car chassis and the power lead to +12

If speakers are rated at 4 ohms they will generally measure that in my experience or close to it.

You might want to seek help locally at this point.

[ctuna]

Was that metallic or plastic ?
If it was metallic it could have been shielding some noise and stopping
the crossover from acting like and antenna.

[6spdcoupe]

Can we see your power connections ? How about your connections from the Technic harness to RCAs ? Most importantly, what about the connection AT the underseat OE wires ?

While it is possible, it is highly doubtful that a crossover is 'bad', let alone both of them. Crossovers are Very simple pieces, very rarely the item in most sets that would fail. Although originally you already determined that the tweeters were 'bad' then later verified them good and so on. Prior to claiming anything 'bad' let us try to have some facts to back it first.

In the past nearly 3 years I have had to warranty exactly Zero products from Jehnert. So like I said, it is possible, but highly unlikely.

[dmatre]

Originally Posted by sunpole

1) Noise is reduced with factory tweeter, perhaps it is just not as loud in nature

2) Bypass the crossover, noise reduced significantly! Problem seems to be with the crossover... I am glad finally found the source..

But another huge problem was discovered while I was doing all the testing, switching from left to right, fading from door to underseats, and found out the driver side underseat was completely muted! OMFG, why... why me again, I was literally about to break down.

It wasn't an amp output nor input problem, I switched both between the two woofers, with every combination, no sound from the driver side but passenger side was fine.
I thought it must been the woofer that is defective, so took apart the driver seat and took the woofer home now it is 11 pm... Using my new multimeter, found out the resistance was 6.8 ohm, that seems high I thought it'd been 4 ohm, then went ahead and tried to power it with my home theater, it sounded okay.. Now I am really confused, must it be the wire connection? But how? I clearly remember it used to work fine the first day I installed them...

This whole thing has really been an experience for me least to say. Now I've got two problems, bad crossover for both side and a broken connection for one of the underseat... What should I do?

OK, now is the time to stop, think, and work in a logical manner.

You don't say how you measured the resistance of the sub, via the cables or directly at the terminals - but it's likely that a poorly soldered connection is leading to the higher resistance measured. Given the appearance of some of the soldered connections in your photos, and the cable connections in general, I would do the following:

1) completely remove all components and user-installed wiring, desolder all connections, remove as much solder as possible, and start over.
2) get the proper connectors for the speakers, rather than twisting wire and soldering.
3) determine the correct lead lengths, pre-cut the leads, crimp the proper connectors on, and wire up the speakers/crossovers while in the trunk of the car (making it easier to swap left/right, front/back, subs/mids/tweets if you find anything not sounding correct)
4) test everything in the trunk - connected directly to the amplifier outputs. Only when everything checks out with no hiss and no weird tweeter harshness, would I reinstall the speakers

I'm not an audio-guru, but my background is in industrial automation/process control. When I come to a customer who made their own installation and is having similar problems, normally the first thing that I do is uninstall and reinstall all cabling. It's much easier and faster for me to disconnect/reterminate everything (1-2 days) rather than trying to troubleshoot problems caused by improper wiring (can take weeks).

It may not be the quick-fix you want to hear about, but it's likely the quickest way to get your car sounding the way that you want it to.

[ctuna]

It will provide more and better lasting insulation and strain relief.

[sunpole]

Originally Posted by 6spdcoupe

Can we see your power connections ? How about your connections from the Technic harness to RCAs ? Most importantly, what about the connection AT the underseat OE wires ?

While it is possible, it is highly doubtful that a crossover is 'bad', let alone both of them. Crossovers are Very simple pieces, very rarely the item in most sets that would fail. Although originally you already determined that the tweeters were 'bad' then later verified them good and so on. Prior to claiming anything 'bad' let us try to have some facts to back it first.

In the past nearly 3 years I have had to warranty exactly Zero products from Jehnert. So like I said, it is possible, but highly unlikely.

I really hope it is installation error, I will give it another shot this weekend and get the pictures up. I'm traveling this week.

[sunpole]

Originally Posted by dmatre

OK, now is the time to stop, think, and work in a logical manner.

You don't say how you measured the resistance of the sub, via the cables or directly at the terminals - but it's likely that a poorly soldered connection is leading to the higher resistance measured. Given the appearance of some of the soldered connections in your photos, and the cable connections in general, I would do the following:

1) completely remove all components and user-installed wiring, desolder all connections, remove as much solder as possible, and start over.
2) get the proper connectors for the speakers, rather than twisting wire and soldering.
3) determine the correct lead lengths, pre-cut the leads, crimp the proper connectors on, and wire up the speakers/crossovers while in the trunk of the car (making it easier to swap left/right, front/back, subs/mids/tweets if you find anything not sounding correct)
4) test everything in the trunk - connected directly to the amplifier outputs. Only when everything checks out with no hiss and no weird tweeter harshness, would I reinstall the speakers

I'm not an audio-guru, but my background is in industrial automation/process control. When I come to a customer who made their own installation and is having similar problems, normally the first thing that I do is uninstall and reinstall all cabling. It's much easier and faster for me to disconnect/reterminate everything (1-2 days) rather than trying to troubleshoot problems caused by improper wiring (can take weeks).

It may not be the quick-fix you want to hear about, but it's likely the quickest way to get your car sounding the way that you want it to.

I will give that a try too. I admit the solder was half fast but I'd be surprised if it is the problem. I took the measurement at both the connection tip and wiring end, result was the same.

[6spdcoupe]

Originally Posted by sunpole

I really hope it is installation error, I will give it another shot this weekend and get the pictures up. I'm traveling this week.

If you do not find the problem on your own, I have a friend or two in your area that can look over your work/connections if you'd like.

[sunpole]

I confirmed the resistance on both Jehnert underseats are 6.5 ohm not 4 ohm.

I did a few test with the underseat on the driver side, when it is connected to the amp directly in the trunk, resistance measured 6.5 ohm and works fine
when installed underseat, no resistance measured on the output wires from the trunk
I confirmed Technic's harness works fine, between the wire and metal connector there is current
Also confirmed the connection underseat is okay as well, measured 6.5 ohm resistance.

That tells me the factory wiring is broken at this point and that explains why driver side underseat stopped working all the sudden. Could it be too much heat on the OEM wire and burned the wire, can I investigate further? How to run new wire from trunk to underseat?

[VP Electricity]

Impedance and DC resistance are different. Research topic, not a matter for this forum.

There is no way on earth you burned a wire with the output of an amp and a proper connection. Occam's razor? Bad connection at the woofer. Or, you overheated the speaker terminal when soldering and have a bad connection at the woofer terminal now...

[ctuna]

To verify your factory wire harness
Get some spool wire wrap one end around one terminal of the speaker
or speaker wire go back to the trunk and look for the connection on the amp.
There might be a few ohms of wire resistance from the long lead . measure the long lead only to subtract out that value.

[sunpole]

Originally Posted by VP Electricity

Impedance and DC resistance are different. Research topic, not a matter for this forum.

There is no way on earth you burned a wire with the output of an amp and a proper connection. Occam's razor? Bad connection at the woofer. Or, you overheated the speaker terminal when soldering and have a bad connection at the woofer terminal now...

That can't be the case, woofer sounds fine when I connect to the amp directly, skipping the harness and factory wire.

If you don't think it is the wire, then it must be the harness connection.

[sunpole]

Originally Posted by ctuna

To verify your factory wire harness
Get some spool wire wrap one end around one terminal of the speaker
or speaker wire go back to the trunk and look for the connection on the amp.
There might be a few ohms of wire resistance from the long lead . measure the long lead only to subtract out that value.

that's essentially what I did, brought the woofer to the back of the trunk and connect to the amp directly and it worked fine.

[ctuna]

Both sides of the speaker wire or just one .
(Hence the long test leads)(you established the speaker is still good)
So you have to measure the two wires.
Is there a connector near the seat that possibly pulled
loose or was the wire pinched open when the seat
was reinstalled.

It would be easiest to check the harness first.
Did you try just reseating it.(reconnecting it)
Examine pins on both sides of the harness
measure from amp to harness
measure from factory connector to seats

I would take up 6sp coupes offer at this point if possible
You must be pretty frustrated at this point.

[sunpole]

I put back the oem amp, confirmed the wiring is fine. Something isn't driving with harness connection. Driver side completely not working and passenger side switching in and out. I will ask technic if he can take a look at it.

[ctuna]

You should work on your speaker connections and noise problems while
the OEM amp is in.

[sunpole]

Technic and I found the problem, one of the pin on the harness was misplaced, so the front underseat never worked... shame on me didn't recognize that until now...

I was hoping the wrong ping was creating feedback and therefore the noise, but unfortunately it is still there, but it isn't noticeable when gain turned all the way down.

While listening to my wife's X5 I think it is already a big improvement but just not as high as I thought it would be. And I am somewhat convinced to get to the next step you will need a MS8 or some sort of equalizer.

At this point, I decided to just be happy with my system. In addition to a better sound system that I have now, I also got to know sound system and my car a lot better.

Ctuna, thanks for always been there.
VP, although I didn't buy your system but your contribution to the site is greatly appreciated.
Technic, I don't blame you for one off error out of 100s of harness you made. Thanks for all the help.
6coupe, knew I can count on you when sh1t hits the fan. I will have to take a look at the crossovers sometimes in the future, but all is well for now.
Kevin, thanks for your sharing and caring.

Many others, appreciate all the help!

[6spdcoupe]

Jerry,

Please keep me/others posted as the difference should be huge. Unless of course your expectations were just set way too high ! It really is not a 'settle with it' system, but rather a drastic upgrade than should have you performing excess, non essential driving now.

[sunpole]

Don,

I listened while on my way to work today. The harsh treble noise from the tweeter and woofer are now gone, even with volume turned up! I am really happy with that, I can't use any gain from the amp is not a big deal for me, it is getting loud enough. I think by fixing the incorrectly placed pin fixed both problem.