I installed my DPSM kit today and after many (many) hours I fire it up to test it...and no sound.

The troubleshooting I did was limited to bypassing the amp and noting that the speakers do make sound, so they're good. I do not have a multimeter, but I'm going to borrow one from a friend to make sure my power (and ground) are properly connected to power the amp. I have a MC, so I had to run the power from the very front. The ground is connected to a stud in the back with about 5 or 6 small grounds attached to.

At the moment, I feel it could be wiring (power), the amp, or the other cables going to the amp. I checked my connections and all are firmly plugged/screwed in, so I doubt a connection is off. The kit is brand new, so I doubt the amp is dead (unless quality control is bad). Is there anything else I should check?

If anyone has any ideas as to what I can try to fix this, I'm VERY open to ideas. I'd hate to have just wasted that money and day of my life.

UPDATE: 9-16-07:
Last time I left the car, I had it hooked up as follows: Stock HU -> DICE -> Car's wiring (and the new speakers)

I woke up this morning, went to church, said a little prayer that I'd be able to fix it to myself, came back and had lunch with my roommate, and drove to my friend's place to get his multi-meter. I checked the amp in the parking lot and saw it was indeed getting 12.7v with the ignition off.

I drove home, and decided why not try it one more time. I rolled down the windows to get air flow and proceeded to remove the stereo and the giant loom of wires that now inhabit my dash feeding the amp and DICE. I plug everything in and suddenly I have audio (from the amp) in the rear but not front. Odd. I play with wires thinking I don't have a good connection and suddenly I get the amp turning on then nearly instantly turning off for 2 seconds. I remember that I read somewhere (useless little manual that came with it?) that said if it senses a short in the speaker wires, the amp will auto-cut-off for 2 sec so it doesn't kill itself. I turned off the car (and radio) and notice the windows aren't all the way down.

I pulled off the door panels and notice that the wires somehow came loose and were pulled shorting against each other because of how I had the wires placed in the door. I re-route the wires, turn on the car, and BAM! Sound! Right now I look like this -> because I finally got it to work. So far the speakers have about 1.5 hours on them (about an hour w/o the amp, about 30 min with the amp) and sound better than stock. MUCH more bass. I expect (hope) it will smooth out some after the break in period. I haven't noticed any difference with the surround sound switched on/off, but maybe I'm just not used to the sound yet. Either that or that didn't get plugged in right. Which ever, it sounds good now.

God answering my prayer this morning? Dumb luck? You decide. All I can figure it that even with the plugs that hold the radio -> speaker wires together that don't seem possible to not get right, I somehow didn't get it to connect correctly. After it breaks in some, I'll write up a review and maybe post up what I thought of the install itself.

 

Just to check the leads to the speakers use a 9volt battery and hook up the speaked (make sure your disconnected from the amp) this is also a good way to check phase on a speaker.

Is the amp turning on at all?

I would be new to DPSM but I assume it is line level imputs to the amp you could hook up a speaker to each before the amp just using a tap or splice (just ensure you disconnect from amp first at the plug to the amp)

 

The DPSM has two plugs on one end and one on the other. One of the two plugs gets a signal from the radio which would normally go to the speakers. These 4 signals (for each corner) go to the amp in back, get amplified, and return to the front where the other plug of the two sends the signal to the speakers.

When I tested by bypassing the amp, I basically took out the cable from the DPSM that intercepted the speaker signals and I connected it as it was. The new speakers I installed with the kit work fine when the amp is not in the loop, so I feel the problem is with either the amp not getting power or it's not working.

At the moment I have everything connected like I did in the troubleshooting phase - the radio -> the speakers (with none of this amp business until I can figure out what to check to try to fix it).

 

I don't have direct advice, but you might contact Ian Cull (GBMINI). He has done the DPSM installation (link) and he is an engineer who can suggest what steps to take next.

 

Some short advice options here... I found the instructions detailing which connector of the DPSM wiring loom was for the head unit and which went to the exsisting wire loom to be slightly confusing. Also, I found the fit was bit tight took a bit of pressure to seat properly.

2. Did you take a part the connector that leads to the amp and install the surround switch? If so, did the connector get re-aesmbled correctly?

3. When the Amp is in the circuit, does it get warm? That will be your first clue that power is getting to the amp.

4. Lastly (and this one falls into the duh category), did you remember to install the fuse in the fuse holder?

Keep us posted and good luck!

 

I agree on the tight fit. It seemed to take a bit more force that I would have liked, but I believe I got it in there right.Yes, I did take it apart to install those two leads. When I took the two female plugs out of the clip thing, I made sure to keep them oriented correctly. I'd say there's maybe a 15% chance I messed that part up.Like I said, it currently isn't in the circuit, but I will plug it in later (after I use my friend's multi-meter to check this). Now that you mention it, I would imagine the amp would be cool if it is malfunctioning - possibly this is one way to check that.I seem to remember that there was one already installed in the fuse holder (in addition to one in a little baggy). I'm going to feel very stupid if that was the problem, but I'll double check it the next time I go outside. If that was the problem, I'll just blame it on dehydration blurring my thoughts .Will do and thanks. I'm going to get some lunch, then I'm going over to my friend's place. I just remembered that he's an electrical engineering major. Who knows, maybe he can think of something to troubleshoot that I haven't thought of since he should know more about the magical electrons than a mechanical engineering major like myself

 

Well, it works now - see first post

 

Awesome I really look forward to reading more of your thoughts moving ahead!