sittnduck

Hello, my first post on this site. I have read quite a bit on here concerning the Audio on an XJ powering on, but no sound, which is exactly my problem. I looked under the rear seat for the amp, but did not locate one, I can see where the carpet was sliced nice and neat so I think it must have been bypassed by a professional installer. I just bought this 00 Classic and I've had 5 other Cherokee's and never had issues fixing the sound, but they were all pre-1995 models. I am looking for help on determining if I need to install another amp to get the factory system working, or if I should just re-install an after-market radio. I would not know how to go about installing the amp, all I see under the seat are encased wires. I should mention I bought another tested good factory radio and had the same result, power, but no sound. My radio is the cd/cassette/am/fm with the 4 speaker adjustment. If I do need to install an amp, does anyone have a diagram? If I can use an afternmarket and not have to install an amp, that would be preferable. Thanks for the help.

InfinitySound

Well its kind of hard to give advice without being about to sit in the car, look at the wires under the seat you are talking about, and put my test meter on the system. I am a geeksquad auto tech for bestbuy in wichita ks and i have been professionally installing audio equipment for over 3 years now.

If i am understanding your post you are saying you just bought the vehicle and the radio in it will turn on but you dont get any audio? Did the previous owner say anything about having a amp bypass done? Does the factory radio or door panels say "infinity" or "infinity gold" on them? Also were did you buy the radio that "tested good"? I see it all the time that someone will bring in a salvage yard radio that the SY said was good, but in most cases all they do is make sure it turns on before they start yanking out the battery and other parts off the car without actually ever hearing the radio play. Another problem that you might be faced with is the factory radio may not be a mate with the system in the jeep, any one year of chrysler/dodge/jeep vehicle can have one of 4 systems,

Base - no factory amp
Prem sound - Factory amp powered
Infinity - Infinity amp powered
Infinity Gold - Slightly higher powered infinity amp powered

without knowing more about the jeep itself its almost impossible for me to help much, if you wanted to take pics of the plugs behind the radio and the wires under the seat i might be able to track down some wire diagrams. Worst case is you could have the car rewired, i know in most shops this is a VERY expensive task to be preformed but like i said, worst case.

Hope any of this helps!

sittnduck

Thanks for helping, I did leave out a lot of details. It does not have any Infiniti Logo's. I have attached some pictures of the unit and the rear seat area. Maybe it is the base system and does not require an amp. When I unplug the ground from the radio, I can hear the CD engage, all the power lights are on. I did hear this radio work before it was pulled, I took the original back and hooked it up in the same vehicle and it worked as well.

sittnduck

I took both front door panels off, there seems to be continuity on the speaker wires, and both speakers seem ok visually. I have the diagram for the speaker wiring so I was able to isolate and test for breaks. You mentioned a meter, I have one, I am getting 12v to the power, and my ground is good. After examining the radio's again, one ends with an "H" and one with a "D", the rest of the nomenclature is the same, are they in fact different models? Thanks again.

GS Audio

I've owned 2 96 XJ's and installed a stereo in a 2001 and do not recall seeing any OE amps under the seat. My 96 ZJ had the amp, but that was the Limited with Infinity sound.

The speakers in the XJ are powered off the radio's internal amp......rated for low to crappy wattage....lol.

InfinitySound

ok, well what i would do next is check the impedance on each speaker, in most cases you should have roughly 4 ohms on each. You have a wire diagram on the radio so just go to + and - of each speaker and see what you get. Also you can check continuity to ground on each separate speaker wire. If you get a weird reading on one of the speakers or if you get cont. to ground on one of the wires then you know there is a problem somewhere down the line on that wire. the easiest way to temporarily solve said problem is to just clip the wire that is testing bad, just make sure you cut in in a spot that can easily be reconnected later when u fix the problem. also just for ****s and grins check to make sure you have +12v on the wire that says ant. If it has ANY sort of amp inline then that wire will have to have 12v to it to turn it on. if it doesnt have 12v then run a jumper from your Acc wire.

sittnduck

Thanks for all the help. Looks like it was the speakers. I am replacing all the wire while I'm changing them out. Weird thing is, when I was snipping the wires to the speaker my door locks kept triggering on and off. I guess I might have some brittle wiring all the way through that door sleeve. Seems odd that all 4 speakers would go out at the same time.

sittnduck

wires wires wires. That's all it was, I should have taken that advice first and fixed the wires. I ended up splicing new wires to the door locks and windows as well. I appreciate the help and advice from everyone.