Harman Cardon Amplifier Troubleshooting

The Fourth Amigo

The Fourth Amigo

Well-known member
Apr 20, 2009
641
2
I have had an aftermarket Alpine head unit installed for about 8 years.

All of my speakers stopped working. I tested some of the speakers by bypassing the amp and they work fine. So I suppose my amp is shot.

Does anyone have any tricks to prove that the amp is actually dead?
 
D

discostew

Well-known member
Sep 14, 2010
7,725
1,022
Northern Illinois
The Fourth Amigo said:
I have had an aftermarket Alpine head unit installed for about 8 years.

All of my speakers stopped working. I tested some of the speakers by bypassing the amp and they work fine. So I suppose my amp is shot.

Does anyone have any tricks to prove that the amp is actually dead?
Click to expand...

A lot of times Rover audio systems come down to substituting a known good part. But like Jymmie said check battery voltage and grounds. You know the signal is coming out of the radio head, so that's a good start anyway.
 
The Fourth Amigo

The Fourth Amigo

Well-known member
Apr 20, 2009
641
2
I don't really know that the signal is coming from the radio head. The signal to the Harman Kardon amp under the drivers seat comes from the red/white RCA outputs but the bypass to the speakers is coming directly from the head unit amp.

I assume the HK amp is dead because when I play with the RCA's I don't get any noise or popping from the speakers which I feel should happen. Not really a definitive test.
 
The Fourth Amigo

The Fourth Amigo

Well-known member
Apr 20, 2009
641
2
Problem solved.

I was only getting 5V at the blue/white remote turn-on wire coming from the head unit. I used the red accessory wire to tell the amp to turn on instead (12V) and it fired right up!

Glad I didn't throw parts at it.
 
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