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Delerium
08-20-2003, 08:23 PM
ok, so I bid for a factory refurbished kenwood head unit (kdc-x859)
and the guy takes forever getting back to me on the auction.
he claims that the factory (kenwood) could not fix it so he had to wait for a new unit as a replacement.
I finally get it in the mail and Im wondering if it is the new unit or if its the refurbished one.
I install it in my mach stereo system and now either something is wrong with the head unit or I have a short somewhere in my wiring or I fucked up when I installed it (which I doubt).

So I had to get one of the little box thingies to step down the power from the amp in the head unit before it goes to the amps in the factory mach stereo system.

I get it all hooked up and at first it starts cutting out on me, and then is pretty much totally cut out and It would cut in every now and then and sound normal.

when I say "cut out" I mean the music stops while the unit is still playing the CD and I can barely hear a faded, distorted sound coming from the speakers.

I checked my wiring and it looks ok, I have the knobs on the "step down power box" turned almost all the way down, and when I use another electrical unit in the car such as the power windows and if I turn my dome/head lights on and off it cuts out then.

So Im thinking either the unit is defective and sucks too much power so when I got to turn the head lights on or work the power windows it cant get the juice and cuts out. Or maybe theres a short somewhere and I need to know how to find it.

thank you for any help

Delerium
08-22-2003, 02:24 PM
noone has any idea what might be the problem?

greenrebel
08-22-2003, 02:55 PM
Sorry, no idea from me. I figured EW would have responded, but I guess he's busy. Have you talked to the seller?

EW
08-22-2003, 04:23 PM
I can bench test it.

bigchief
08-22-2003, 04:28 PM
Check the power connection. You might have wired it wrong. Mine did that because I wired it to the wrong connection ,so when I turned on the lights it would turn off.

Delerium
08-23-2003, 02:11 PM
I guess Ill go try and wire it into my bros computer.

Is it possible that this happens a lot since the 3 factory amps and the head unit amp are all competing for power? They just cant get enuff?

I guess I need to rule out the unit being defective first. how do you go about bench testing it?

Delerium
08-24-2003, 06:31 PM
well, the head unit works fine in another car without the mach system. and I installed a different head unit in my stang and it didn't work either.

so I guess mach systems just suck huh

I bought the wiring harness that only plays through the front and rear tweaters and it sounds BAD

what r my options ...

Samhain
08-24-2003, 07:24 PM
Originally posted by Delerium
well, the head unit works fine in another car without the mach system. and I installed a different head unit in my stang and it didn't work either.

so I guess mach systems just suck huh

I bought the wiring harness that only plays through the front and rear tweaters and it sounds BAD

what r my options ...

Not to be an ass, take it to a good shop and have them correct your wiring problem. I still have the mach 460, and I run an Alpine head unit with zero problems.

Delerium
08-25-2003, 01:43 AM
does the alpine have an amp in the head unit?

Samhain
08-25-2003, 07:10 AM
Originally posted by Delerium
does the alpine have an amp in the head unit?

Yes, mine has 45 x 4. You do know it only takes 5 volts to turn on the mach amp instead of the 12 volts it takes for an aftermarket amp?