ntarelix

As much info as I can think of:
I just finished the installation of my amplifier and subs. My amplifier is a Boss Chaos C350. My car is a 1996 Ford Contour SE with the factory stereo. I have the amplifier screwed to the inside roof of my trunk. The ground for the amplifier is screwed to the metal frame of my car. The power cable is routed along the left side of my car all the way up to the positive battery terminal. There is a 30 amp fuse attached by an inline fuse holder on that same power cable. The remote turn on from the amp is routed along the same side as the power cord and is connected to the radio fuse in the fuse box inside the car, under the dash, driver's side. I have wire running from channel 1 & 2, + and -, to both of my subs. I have an RCA cable connected to the low level input on my amp, running along the right side of my car to the back of my factory stereo. The stereo does not have preamp output jacks so I bought an RCA line converter. Here's the link for the specific one I bought. My RCA cable has been stripped at the end behind the stereo so it's just wire, no male or female connectors. I found some extra RCA cables lying around so I cut off the male connectors, leaving about a foot of extra wire, and connected my amp RCA to the shorter one. On the RCA wires, there is the center wire and the outer wire (I don't know the specific terms) so I made sure to keep each of them separate on both the red and white wires. I used this page to determine which wire I needed to cut, strip, and connect to my line converter. The wires on my converter were as follows:
Green=left+
White/Green=left-
Gray=right+
White/Gray=right-
So, using the information provided in the link with wiring info for my car, I connected the Green converter wire to the White/Black(left front +) wire, White/Green to Brown/Yellow (left front -), Gray to White/Purple (right rear +), and White/Gray to Brown/White (right rear -). I know it's left front and right back, but the wiring didn't match up with the front right and the rear right did. It should work the same anyways from what I understand. I just used electrical tape the keep each set of wires together as a temporary solution, until everything is fully functional.
When turning my car on/off, the amplifier does the same so the power connections and remote turn on are all working perfectly.

Problem:
No Sound comes from my subs when playing music. I have inspected the subs and see no physical outer damage.

Possible Solutions:
First I thought that it might just be both subs not working. I got a 12V battery and connected the terminals directly to the subs and they made the booming noise you would expect to hear, so they work.
Next I thought maybe it was the wires between the subs and amplifier, so I used the same battery, but I thought the ends of the wires while they were connected to the subs and I heard the same noise, so it's not the wires.
My next guess would be the RCA cable. Because I had to make my own connection and connect my own Male connectors, the wire may not be functional. Also, the wire didn't seem long enough when I first attached it so I pulled it and that may have damaged it. That was a bad move on my part.
My next guess would be that the converter output levels were at the wrong level. I tried adjusting them by rotating them both all the way counter clockwise, one counter clockwise & the other clockwise, and the opposite of both methods. Please keep in mind that each time I tested it, I was using music made for testing amplifiers' different functions, while rotating the gain control for both channel 1/2 and channel 3/4 at the same rate with the stereo volume and bass to medium. I don't think it has anything to do with my converter directly.
Another problem and solution I was thinking of would be that maybe the Green (left +) converter wire must be connected to the left - wire on the stereo instead of the left +. I've always learned that + and + don't go together, but I figured, sometimes when people put labels on things, they mean for it to be where you connect it, not what the wire itself actually is. So maybe I need to switch all my +'s and -'s around.
There is one more problem I can think of. Maybe I just have all the converter wire connected to the wrong wires on my stereo. I could test it by disconnecting the wires from each other and making sure that speaker isn't on when I do it.

Other stuff:
I just don't want to have to go buy something, or take stuff apart that I already did if I don't have to. I will get some shrink tubing for the converter/stereo wires when I get it working. I will most likely replace the RCA cable just because pulling on it maybe have damaged it and having it open at one point may cause future problems.
I do have a multimeter, but I have very little experience using it so if you tell me to use it, please be specific how I would go about doing it. I did not place any of these wires where they currently are, I only connected them to the appropriate places. The previous owner of the car did all of the work but he had a stereo with preamp outputs that he took out before he sold it so he just left everything disconnected but in the right place. I am unsure about the gauge of wire for any of them, although the wires that may be causing the problem are not the gauge of wire that I can choose.

If you have any questions or would like to provide a solution, please reply. I work today (8/13/09) at 5pm and get off at 7pm Central so I will probably be able to reply some time after 7:30.

Thanks for reading all of that, I tried to provide as much honest information and I could so less questions would need to be asked, saving time in finding the solution to my problem.

-Relix

jaggerwild

WOW,
that's a lot of reading so you did splice the RCA to tape into the car speak wires. My first thought is make sure that there isn't a factory amp, some times its under the passenger seat front(not all cars). From what your telling me I assume there is one.
Let me google it, yep not sure where it maybe right rear quarter panel under the finish panel(just guessing). Here's a link to help you make sure everything else is connected correctly, the ground must be good and clean. Make sure you have power and turn on for the amp (your amp). Post back!
http://www.google.com/custom?domains=the12volt.com&q=ford+contuor+amp&sa=Search&sitesearch=the12volt.com&client=pub-4715180185807771&forid=1&ie=ISO-8859-1&oe=ISO-8859-1&cof=GALT%3A%23008000%3BGL%3A1%3BDIV%3A%23336699%3BVLC%3A663399%3BAH%3Acenter%3BBGC%3AFFFFFF%3BLBGC%3A666699%3BALC%3A0000FF%3BLC%3A0000FF%3BT%3A000000%3BGFNT%3A0000FF%3BGIMP%3A0000FF%3BLH%3A0%3BLW%3A0%3BL%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.the12volt.com%2Fbanners%2F12vgoogle.gif%3BS%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.the12volt.com%3BFORID%3A1&hl=en

lcurle

there is a factory amplifier in the trunk on the left hand side behind the carpet. This is also the place where you should have put your line level converter, so you would only need a 6' RCA cord instead of 17' to reach the front of the deck. Since the Dash kit you would need for that car is a 99-5715LDS, and runs about $100, you can integrate with out it. THe line level converter should just match up to the rear speakers of the vehicle, polarity doesn't matter with the converter, also some converter come with a ground wire that has to be hooked up to prevent a ground loop issue.

I have done a dozen of so Taurus installs to factory radio, let me know if you need some advice.

ntarelix

I just thought of a new solution last night, so I tried it. I switched the RCA from channels 1 & 2 to channels 3 & 4 and it didn't work. Before this, I tried switching the converter cords polarity around and nothing happened. This must mean channels 1 & 2 don't work on my amp, or that I'm doing something wrong because switching them is the only thing keeping it from working. I have no plans of using anything more than what I have already in the future so for now, I'll just let everything be how it is since it works exactly how I want it to.
Thanks for your help everyone.
-Relix