Retaining factory B.A. amp with latest PAC RPK5 Dash kit

[Dahita]

Hello everyone,

I have purchased a Pioneer NEX 4200 radio + the latest PAC RPK5 GM4101 dash kit unit. I mounted all of it together and I made it! It works perfectly, EXCEPT one HUGE issue; I have the feeling my factory Boston Acoustic amp is not working anymore.

The sound comes from all 9 speakers, but I can only push the system to a medium volume before the sound distorts a lot. It has lost all the magic of the Boston Acoustic system that sounded so great. I rechecked all the wires from the main harness and, to me, they are all matched (except the 3 nav ones).

Would anyone know where else I could start looking for an answer?

Thanks
Dahita

[Dahita]

There is one thing that puzzles me and that might be where I need to be looking; the PAC RPK5 GM4101 has 2 RCA (White + Red) labelled "Aux In" coming out of the main harness. I plugged them the the RCA Aux In of my Stereo, but it makes no sense as the auxiliary is already provided by the Jack inside the center console next tot the USB plug. Could these RCA cables be the issue?

[Snoman]

If you're still seeking the mythical magic of Boston Acoustic, you may need to put the myLink HU back in. The OEM Amplifier uses high level speaker inputs and not RCAs as it was never designed/intended to be used with an aftermarket head unit. The NEX4200 is capable of driving the vehicle on it's own at 22x4 or you can purchase any cheap 25x4 or 50x4 amplifier like the RF-R300.

[Dahita]

Originally Posted by Snoman

If you're still seeking the mythical magic of Boston Acoustic, you may need to put the myLink HU back in. The OEM Amplifier uses high level speaker inputs and not RCAs as it was never designed/intended to be used with an aftermarket head unit. The NEX4200 is capable of driving the vehicle on it's own at 22x4 or you can purchase any cheap 25x4 or 50x4 amplifier like the RF-R300.

Hi Snowman, thanks a lot for your help.

Here is the description of the PAC RPK5:
"the electronic interface module also keeps other important functions from the original factory equipment such as steering wheel controls, OnStar functionality, and amplified sound systems."

It is supposed to work with it. The RCA is not to be plugged directly to the head unit; it's an added piece coming from the PAC RPK5 harness, which connects to the main one. I might also be wrong, and it might have nothing to do with my issue, but either way it's supposed to work. I'll contact them directly in the meantime.

[Snoman]

Understood, though the problem is not with the kit brother, its with the OEM amp. Be careful with how you read the product description, "amplified sound systems" is indicative of aftermarket amplifiers.

Regardless of your interpretation, I would invite you to read the Official C5 PAC support thread and ask there.

[Dahita]

Thanks Snowman,

They do specific "original factory equipment" when mentioning the amp. I will post on the other thread as well, thanks for the tip

[jeffa]

Originally Posted by Snoman

If you're still seeking the mythical magic of Boston Acoustic, you may need to put the myLink HU back in. The OEM Amplifier uses high level speaker inputs and not RCAs as it was never designed/intended to be used with an aftermarket head unit. The NEX4200 is capable of driving the vehicle on it's own at 22x4 or you can purchase any cheap 25x4 or 50x4 amplifier like the RF-R300.

I beg to differ with you on this. I have the BA system, and removed the factory amp and used the FARK system to interface the MyLink radio to an aftermarket processor/amps. The signal from the MyLink to the factory amp is 4 volts line level, which after I removed the factory amp, interfaced with my Audio Control DQ/DX processor line level inputs with no distortion at any input level.

All NON BA systems run at speaker level, as there is a different MyLink model for non BA systems.

To get the Pioneer to work with the factory BA amp, you would use the Pioneer's line level outputs, and make an RCA cable with one end RCA and the other end bare wire to connect to the speaker connector in the PAC kit. This will remove the distortion you are now experiencing now.

[Dahita]

Originally Posted by jeffa

I beg to differ with you on this. I have the BA system, and removed the factory amp and used the FARK system to interface the MyLink radio to an aftermarket processor/amps. The signal from the MyLink to the factory amp is 4 volts line level, which after I removed the factory amp, interfaced with my Audio Control DQ/DX processor line level inputs with no distortion at any input level.

All NON BA systems run at speaker level, as there is a different MyLink model for non BA systems.

To get the Pioneer to work with the factory BA amp, you would use the Pioneer's line level outputs, and make an RCA cable with one end RCA and the other end bare wire to connect to the speaker connector in the PAC kit. This will remove the distortion you are now experiencing now.

Hi Jeffa, thank you very much for your help.

Could I ask you to take a look at the kit instruction here, page 5, picture labbled "RP5-GM4101 Illustration / Schematic", there are 2 RCA plugs called "Aux IN" coming out of the main harness. Could these be what I should connect, since supposedly this kit handles the B.A amp?

[jeffa]

Originally Posted by Dahita

Hi Jeffa, thank you very much for your help.

Could I ask you to take a look at the kit instruction here, page 5, picture labbled "RP5-GM4101 Illustration / Schematic", there are 2 RCA plugs called "Aux IN" coming out of the main harness. Could these be what I should connect, since supposedly this kit handles the B.A amp?

No, the AUX in RCA connectors are used in the 2011 BA system if you don't have a USB port in the center console below the AUX plug. The black cable with a 3.5mm plug is used on the 2011 radio to connect the factory AUX in to the Pioneer radio, only if the car has a USB port.

Either way, these are not outputs, but are audio inputs, so they would have nothing to do with sending the audio output of the Pioneer unit to the BA factory amp. They are to interface the factory AUX in with the Pioneer radio.

Like I mentioned in my last post, you would use the line level RCA outputs (front and rear) on the Pioneer as the audio outputs to the BA factory amp. You would NOT use the speaker outputs on the Pioneer as you have most like done.

To make the interface cable, you would take an RCA cable (a short one) and cut off one of the RCA plugs. Strip the bare wire to get a signal and ground wires (usually red or white with a black ground). This is the wire that gets connected to the harness speaker wires in the diagram. So, the front left line level output (an RCA connector) gets plugged into the RCA to bare wire cable you made, and the bare wire side that is positive (+) goes to the white wire in the kit's harness and the negative side goes to the white/black wire. The other three outputs are wired the same way.

Hope this helps...

[Dahita]

Originally Posted by jeffa

No, the AUX in RCA connectors are used in the 2011 BA system if you don't have a USB port in the center console below the AUX plug. The black cable with a 3.5mm plug is used on the 2011 radio to connect the factory AUX in to the Pioneer radio, only if the car has a USB port.

Either way, these are not outputs, but are audio inputs, so they would have nothing to do with sending the audio output of the Pioneer unit to the BA factory amp. They are to interface the factory AUX in with the Pioneer radio.

Like I mentioned in my last post, you would use the line level RCA outputs (front and rear) on the Pioneer as the audio outputs to the BA factory amp. You would NOT use the speaker outputs on the Pioneer as you have most like done.

To make the interface cable, you would take an RCA cable (a short one) and cut off one of the RCA plugs. Strip the bare wire to get a signal and ground wires (usually red or white with a black ground). This is the wire that gets connected to the harness speaker wires in the diagram. So, the front left line level output (an RCA connector) gets plugged into the RCA to bare wire cable you made, and the bare wire side that is positive (+) goes to the white wire in the kit's harness and the negative side goes to the white/black wire. The other three outputs are wired the same way.

Hope this helps...

Again, very much appreciate you taking the time to help, thanks a bunch.

Ok, so to summarize and make sure I've got it (it's pretty much a one shot as I'm cutting harness wires back!):

1- Cut off Front left, Front right, Rear left and Rear right input wires from the provided PAC harness and previously soldered to the provided Pioneer harness' speaker wires

2- Use two pairs (one cable cut off) of RCAs, strip the cut-off part (each containing 2 wires: one shield wire, around another plastic-coated tinier wire which is either red or white). The shield wire is negative, the tiny plastic-coated wire is the positive one.

3- Solder the appropriate FRONT wires of the PAC harness to the first pair of RCA bare wires:
- white/black to shield wire, full white to coated wire for the left front
- grey/black to shield wire, full grey to coated wire for the right front

4- Solder the appropriate REAR wires of the PAC harness to the second pair of RCA bare wires:
- green/black to shield wire, full green to coated wire for the left rear
- purple/black to shield wire, full purple to coated wire for the right rear

5- Plug the RCAs to the RCA FRONT and RCA REAR outputs of the Pioneer unit

6- Enjoy the powerful and beautiful sound of the amazing Boston Acoustic system again

Did I sum it up correctly?

(PS:and if I did, one note: the inside coated positive wire of the RCA cable that I just cut off to experiment is EXTREMELY thin, exactly like in the picture from the link above; does this matter?)

[Dahita]

I wish I had waited for your confirmation.

I did all of this, and it is not working out. The volume is less powerful than previous setup (it's now really low), and distorts towards the highest volume level which still doesn't sound very high.

Would you have any idea of what's happening?

Edit: another user mentioned that my amp might not switch on because the blue/white cable is not sending enough power (12 volts/300mA). He suggested using the red cable (it reads "accessories output" in my case), which is a 12 volts/1A. I'll try this as well.

[Dahita]

Nevermind, I have FINALLY found the answer. I tried different things, none were working. As I was scratching my head looking at the PAC device, thinking something was wrong with it, I realized that one plug from the main harness (the factory sound plug) can fit into 2 different connector holes.

Sure enough, it was plugged in the wrong one... After redoing all the cables for 2 hours, I plugged everthing back and it works perfectly. In my defense, their schematic on the manual/guide is wrong; it does show the plug connected on the bottom left instead of the bottom right. However, what I had missed is that they are labelled. The amp functions exactly as it did before again, I'm very happy.



Now, I can't finish mounting the whole thing because trying the stereo 3 mins emptied my battery. It's like a never ending story!

Thank you all for all the help. I hope this can help someone else one day

[chevysquid]

Are you using the xm radio too? Did you need to purchase anything separate to retain that or is an adapter in the kit all that is needed?

[Dahita]

Originally Posted by chevysquid

Are you using the xm radio too? Did you need to purchase anything separate to retain that or is an adapter in the kit all that is needed?

Hi, can't tell you, I've never used XM radio