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2008 heritage Aftermarket headunit, Speakers dont work

PostPosted: Tue Feb 14, 2023 5:55 pm
by jazbirkin
so i have recently installed a Sony xav ax5000 into my car(stock was McIntosh single climate control). i have used two iso harnesses for my headunit and
no sound out of my speakers, any suggestions on what to do, do i need to re-wire my amps and how do i do so?, thanks.

Re: 2008 heritage Aftermarket headunit, Speakers dont work

PostPosted: Sun Feb 19, 2023 6:56 am
by bigBADbenny
You might need an adapter harness from the new head unit to your McIntosh amp?

viewtopic.php?f=22&t=35068

Re: 2008 heritage Aftermarket headunit, Speakers dont work

PostPosted: Mon Feb 20, 2023 6:34 pm
by jazbirkin
What exactly would that adapter harness be?, I have unplugged the 18 pin plug from my amp and I have looked at getting the APP030 although that seems to be a 16 pin harness, or do I have to run something additional from my amp to my headunit, I am just really unsure about what I have got to do, thanks

Re: 2008 heritage Aftermarket headunit, Speakers dont work

PostPosted: Mon Feb 20, 2023 7:37 pm
by Ric
Can you show us what the harnesses you have look like?
The cable from the amplifier to the speakers has 18 pins, but I think 2 are unpopulated.
The audio cable between head unit and amplifier uses a DIN CORD with 13 pins, that uses differential signalling (after market units uses "single-ended" signalling.)
Pinout info at https://www.subaruoutback.org/threads/p ... -hus.4426/

Re: 2008 heritage Aftermarket headunit, Speakers dont work

PostPosted: Tue Feb 21, 2023 4:30 am
by jazbirkin
Hey Ric, if you are asking for the harness that is at my headunit I have got the APP090 and the APP8SP5, but the harness down at my amp is the 18 pin but the middle two are unoccupied am I able to get a 16 pin adapter harness or will it not go back into the amp?,with the two harnesses at my headunit do I need to rearrange the cable layout in the harnesses pins?,thanks

Re: 2008 heritage Aftermarket headunit, Speakers dont work

PostPosted: Tue Feb 21, 2023 11:41 am
by Ric
The APP090 is designed for the cheaper Subaru integrated sound systems, where the head unit drives the speakers directly.
See https://aerpro.com/app090 which states:
Does not suit Liberty/Legacy/Outback McIntosh units.


These cables are not going to work, because the speaker wiring goes to the amplifier under the passenger seat, not to the head unit in the dash.
Have another read of the topic that Ben linked to.

His solution was to hack into the DIN cable, and drive the McIntosh amp from low level outputs on the head unit.
The other alternative is to bypass the McIntosh amp, and drive the speakers directly from your new head unit. That is going to take some wire cutting and splicing.

Re: 2008 heritage Aftermarket headunit, Speakers dont work

PostPosted: Tue Feb 21, 2023 2:24 pm
by jazbirkin
So would splicing the 13 pin Din cable from the old stereo and soldering them correctly into RCA leads be a possible solution?

Re: 2008 heritage Aftermarket headunit, Speakers dont work

PostPosted: Tue Feb 21, 2023 5:48 pm
by bigBADbenny
Yep I think that’s the diy amp harness thing for McIntosh.

I usually use google site search to get to keyword specific queries, like this:
https://www.google.com.au/search?q=site ... s-wiz-serp

Re: 2008 heritage Aftermarket headunit, Speakers dont work

PostPosted: Wed Feb 22, 2023 4:03 pm
by bigBADbenny
My limited understanding is that the speakers are driven by the stock Mc amp, which is driven by the stock Mc head unit via the din cable.

You can use the specific diagrams available online to create a patch harness for the low level outputs on you new HU.
So either a din socket to flying leads, or cut the stock din cable.

I guess getting into the speaker wiring plug on the Mc amp is another approach if using powered amp/s…

But yeah, my only audio mods since 2011 are sub, centre speaker delete, a Grom, Btssm on stock nav and sound deadening :P

Re: 2008 heritage Aftermarket headunit, Speakers dont work

PostPosted: Thu Feb 23, 2023 5:25 am
by Ric
jazbirkin wrote:So would splicing the 13 pin Din cable from the old stereo and soldering them correctly into RCA leads be a possible solution?

That is exactly what Tresidder17 documented in that linked to topic, with nice photos too.
As you will see, it's a fair bit of work.

Re: 2008 heritage Aftermarket headunit, Speakers dont work

PostPosted: Thu Feb 23, 2023 3:45 pm
by jazbirkin
I have got sound now!! :D Just had to splice the factory DIN cable from the stock stereo and solder the correct wires to rca leads and all is good!.