Ah yes, another situation where you run wiring, install everything neat and clean, and no sound coming from the Sub woofer.

The Goal:
Install a subwoofer and amplifier to an existing Harman Kardon Sound set up.

The Equipment:
PPI Mono Block Subwoofer Class D amplifier and a low profile Pioneer 10" loaded box sub woofer.

Completed:
Fused 8 Gauge power cable from battery to area where PPI amp will be installed (next to Harman Kardon amp)
Used V115567 wiring diagram for the Harman Kardon amp, and used the Front and Left Speakers to supply signal to the High Level Speaker Inputs (after no sound, I tried using a High Speaker level converter to RCA Inputs on the PPI amp, without success as well)
I also used the Black only wiring in the diagram for the 12 V (supposedly, it's 12 volt with delay) trigger for the amp.
I used the bolt holding the Harman Kardon amp in place as a source for ground.
I skinned and soldered my connections to the Harmon Kardon amplifier harness, so I know my connections are solid.
The PPI amp shows power without errors for the error LED.
Just not getting sound.

Want to go at it again tonight, not sure where to start.

Cheers

 

TOOK out the voltmeter... and not getting any output voltage from the Harman Kardon harness. I tapped and checked voltage on three separate wiring pairs...

grey yellow with grey white, white grey with white black, and purple grey with purple white.

No output explains no sound being amplified by amp.



I checked power and ground, for both the supply coming from battery and the remote 12 volt positive to turn on the amplifier. They are all good.

 

.

 

If the HK speakers produce sound, then there is output. Are you sure you're looking at the correct wires?

 

Well, I went with this info that I found from a fellow member.

So, I chose solid black for the 12 volt turn on for amp (and, in effect, there is 12 volts on, that eventually turns off after 12 seconds or so, engine off)

I chose Right Front Speaker GREY - Yellow and GREY - White, and even reversed multi meter to read DC voltage (no voltage)
I chose Left Front Speaker WHITE-Grey and WHITE - Black, and no voltage output.
I even tried one more to read voltage 5 V variable DC... PURPLE - Grey and PURPLE - White... no reading.

Removed everything, and HK sound system sounds the same, before and after. Makes no sense. Unless I am a complete idiot and did not read the printout correctly.

Not my first sound system or upgrade that I have installed. Should be Easy Peasey. The work, was running the power cable 8 gauge cleanly from front to rear.

 

wires I chose...

 

I don't know why you can't detect a signal, but... if you're adding a subwoofer, why aren't you connecting to the sub output? HK speakers have no crossovers and none of them receive a flat, full spectrum signal. Low/high pass filters and corrections are applied by the HK amp, tailored for each speaker type. The sub output is the best match for adding a subwoofer.

 

Ok, I got it working.

Got myself a AA battery, found the output wires to the subwoofers.

Hooked up a speaker level convertor to RCA output. Hooked it up to the PPI amplifier through the RCA jacks, everything works.

Thanks to all.

Will make a write up how to for those interested to save time and effort.

Cheers everyone and thanks to all who helped, responded and gave feedback.

 

Yeah, after thinking about it, I ended up going that route.

 

Wish I had caught this sooner! As another poster said, the front speakers are crossed over by the factory amp, so don't have any sub signal going to them. You caught it in the right place the second time around - at the OEM sub signal.

How's it sound?

 

I really can't understand how on a high end vehicle, they can short change the bass, with the fact that they have sub woofers under the seat.

I swear to you, the oem bass in the factory location produce very little bass. You need a REALLY high quality sound source, that is very dynamic in order to pump out some bass. But, I do not always have the time to purchase or transfer to a Hard Disk in HD Track, / or .wave, FLAC, IAFF etc...

I am guilty in the ears of the purists, I use spotify, iHeart, Pandora... it's just so convenient and NOW sounds great. Why? Because yes I cheat and Dynamical create more bass where there is none. But I like it, and it sounds great. I am not rattling the neighbours, but I can now crank the sound and never exceed 75% of the volume on the factory head unit. Hence the sound is tight, and distortion free.

Cheers

 

It's definitely amazing how little attention is given to the sound in cars now and really for all time in the past. Even when a company like Bose, Mark Levinson, Bang & Olufsen, Fender, Boston Acoustics, JBL, etc have gotten involved, these systems never ever sound like a really well researched and installed aftermarket system...and you're right - I've never been trying to shake the windows or let anyone else hear me coming, but I do appreciate accurate musical reproduction - even without an ideal audio source. You would never hear something this bad out of a good set of home speakers or headphones, so why not try a little harder in the car? The formula is really very simple.

Oh well though. That's why people like me an companies like ours exist and can do so alongside these manufacturing giants!

Very glad to hear you're now getting what you were looking for...

 

BMW & Mini are amongst the guiltiest for poor sound system execution. I rent a lot of cars in my job, and off the top of my head, the systems in a recent Volvo S60 and a Chrysler Pacifica had rather awesome systems, both with HD radio standard. They destroy the HK systems on the BMW/Mini. Very sad indeed.