OK, back when I first got my b-ville (last summer) I knew next to nothing about it. The first thing I did was I had a new head unit installed at Future Shop (canadian equivalent to best buy, etc.). During the installation it took them a long time because "things needed to be re-wired" etc. So I told them to go ahead. Only now have I realized that they really changed it. Ofcourse the gain doesn't work, but I have also noticed that the woofers in the doors under the tweeters are not functional, and I am beginning to have suspicions that the tweeters in the back don't work. I was wondering if it would be AT ALL possible to try and restore all the original speakers back to functioning with my new headunit, and maybe even the gain switch? I have the '89 FSM but I find the diagrams somewhat confusing....is there anyone that can point me in the right direction?

This is what future shop left me with:

http://members.shaw.ca/bmcguire/GAIN.JPG

On the receipt it said rewire "performance sound" option...

*recalls head unit removal*

Umm.. how many connectors you got? I think there are three.. two.. no... three. ****, idk. Two or three.. you still got the old head unit? If not, i'll pull mine tomorrow to help out. If the old wiring is still there, then all you need to do is get a few adaptors and make the new head unit go on the old wiring [not sure why future shop didn't do that???]. Anyways, if that wiring is gone, you're fucked and you won't want to rewire it. Trust me, it'* not pretty in there. The stock setup isn't worth that much. It may be good, but it'* not 200 hours of your time good.


-justin

EDIT: Oh yeah, hit me up on AIM or whatever.. i'll fix ya right up. I've dealt with this stuff before.

EDIT EDIT: FYI: Anyone who replaces their head unit, don't have them rewire your system, there are adaptors for it all.. seriously folks. That, and the stock setup is totally retarded and not conventional.. not easy to rewire back to stock.

Looks like they ran speaker wire to two channels, maybe the fronts? Disconnect those wires and see what stops playing. If it'* the front speakers, it sounds like you just need to run that wire in parallel to both speakers in each door panel. They have crossovers built into them if they're anything like the 93 setup.

Utlimately you would want to run an aftermarket HU or amp, and run new speaker wire to each speaker, avoiding factory amps, and wiring.

Alright, I've figured out what they did. Those new speaker wires in the picture go to the rear deck and power the woofers. The rear tweeters don't work. I have also figured the front woofers ARE working, but not well. You can hear them only when the fader is all to the front, and the bass is maxed. Even then the bass is fair at best in the front. The bass in the rear however is pretty good (but the bass still needs to be maxed to be good), and they completely over power the front.

Now...do you have any idea why the bass is so lacking in the front? I noticed it my headunits manual that it says specifically not to wire more then one speaker to a set of speaker leads, except that is exactly how the sound is in the Bonneville. The woofers are wired in parallel with the tweeters.

Would this explain the lack of bass in the front? In the rear the bass is good, and there are no speakers in parallel. In the front the speakers are still in parallel and the bass sucks. Maybe it'* because the gain doesn't work anymore?

I know they also said they replaced an amp because it was making a humming sound, but thats all they told me. All I remember is that the bass was awesome with the stock deck, and I didn't have to max it out.

Justin: It has 2 connectors, one for the deck, and one for the steering wheel controls...I understand the wiring now. Just...why the lack of bass? lol

Thanks guys!

Sounds like high school dropout at future shop wired it kinda crappy. I think there are only two connections.. for the stock head unit. Do any of the old wires happen to still be there, or are they cut, or can you not tell?

My bass sucks if not maxed out too. I think the gain slider has like 7 positions. so it'* like 2%, 2.5%, 15%, 15.5%, 25%, 30%, 100%. It'* not linear, to say the least. If i'm working on the car, I always have to turn the bass down, because if I go 15ft away from the car, all I hear is bass. Do your steering wheel controls still work?


-justin

All the original wiring is still in there, except the wires that go to the rear deck are not hooked up...there is new speaker wire. The rest of the original wiring is used. And no, the steering wheel controls don't work...the connector for that isn't plugged in. I beleive you need an adaptor of some sort to get those to work again?

At any rate, how is the bass in your front doors? Can you hear it? Mine is virtually un-noticable if the rear deck is going.

Bass in the front? Ha! None. If I turn the gain off, there is still good sound quality, but it doesn't have the bass. If I turn the fade to the front, it really doesn't change a whole lot, but if I fade all to the rear, all I get is bass and just a little highs but they are droned by the 6x9s.

Balancing it doesn't change anything either.

Do you have the stock head unit? So you still have the factory wiring, but it'* not used? Well, why not get some adaptors and use the original wiring on the new HU? Personally, I wouldn't trust future shop'* wiring skills, especially compared to GM'*. But, that'* just me

If your new HU has a remote, you can get an adaptor to use the steering wheel controls. If it doesn't have a remote, there isn't anything available.


-justin

All the stock wiring is intact, and all of it is used EXCEPT the rear speaker wires. They put new wire in for some reason. I threw out the stock HU because it didn't work at all. I probably would have even kept it and not even got a new deck if it did work. I thought that the woofers up front were supposed to have decent bass...I'm kind of comparing it to our Grand Am. It has just the delco deck, but it sounds unbeleiveable for stock. I want my Bonne to be like it... :(

I guess I'll just get some subs when I get money.

I wish I had good sound recording equipment.. all the **** I got is well.. ****. Tomorrow i'm going to be working on the beast, so i'll have music playing. Maybe i'll give a few friends of mine a call and see if maybe they can hear it decently or something. Buuut.. I wouldn't count on it.


-justin

i dont care what anyone says, IMO i think that the stock system is good, for a stock system that is