CD Player Troubleshooting Help Needed

[Groundsel]

Panasonic CQ-DP383U
Car - 88 528E BMW
Problem - No sound during CD playback. Sound is OK during FM play.

Today I installed a new head unit into my 88 BMW 528. The FM radio
function works fine, but the CD player does not. It seems to be
reading the disk, and counting down the track time, as if it was
working fine, but I hear no sound.

This was a non standard installation, as the BMW uses (I believe)
common ground to chassis for the RF- and RR- and the same for LF- and
LR-. Anyway, per advice I found on the internet, when I installed, I
did not connect the head units speaker minus wires to anything, just
left them hanging, as the speakers are grounded to chassis. The rest
of the installation was by the book,

The FM works fine, but the CD acts as though it is muted. I will try
re-wiring to remove the chassis ground from the speakers and connect
them to the head unit speaker minus leads to see if that makes a
difference..

Any ideas on this problem? Perhaps this installation method would
cause the symptoms I see?

Thanks in advance!

[DJ TecThreat]

"Groundsel" > wrote in message
...
> Panasonic CQ-DP383U
> Car - 88 528E BMW
> Problem - No sound during CD playback. Sound is OK during FM play.
>
> Today I installed a new head unit into my 88 BMW 528. The FM radio
> function works fine, but the CD player does not. It seems to be
> reading the disk, and counting down the track time, as if it was
> working fine, but I hear no sound.
>
> This was a non standard installation, as the BMW uses (I believe)
> common ground to chassis for the RF- and RR- and the same for LF- and
> LR-. Anyway, per advice I found on the internet, when I installed, I
> did not connect the head units speaker minus wires to anything, just
> left them hanging, as the speakers are grounded to chassis. The rest
> of the installation was by the book,
>
> The FM works fine, but the CD acts as though it is muted. I will try
> re-wiring to remove the chassis ground from the speakers and connect
> them to the head unit speaker minus leads to see if that makes a
> difference..
>
> Any ideas on this problem? Perhaps this installation method would
> cause the symptoms I see?
>
> Thanks in advance!


To be honest, i've never heard of leaving the negatives off the speakers at
the headunit if they are indeed passive speakers and are not amplified
individually. I doubt that if the FM is working and the CD is not,
changing the speaker configuration is going to help. But it cant hurt as
wiring them directly to the headunit is normal procedure. Try connecting
the negative wires to the headunit, if that doesnt work i'm willing to bet
it has nothing to do with the install but its actually a malfunctioning head
unit.

DJ TecThreat
The Real Threat

[Chad Wahls]

"DJ TecThreat" <beaniATcharterDOTnetNOSPAM> wrote in message
...
>
> "Groundsel" > wrote in message
> ...
> > Panasonic CQ-DP383U
> > Car - 88 528E BMW
> > Problem - No sound during CD playback. Sound is OK during FM play.
> >
> > Today I installed a new head unit into my 88 BMW 528. The FM radio
> > function works fine, but the CD player does not. It seems to be
> > reading the disk, and counting down the track time, as if it was
> > working fine, but I hear no sound.
> >
> > This was a non standard installation, as the BMW uses (I believe)
> > common ground to chassis for the RF- and RR- and the same for LF- and
> > LR-. Anyway, per advice I found on the internet, when I installed, I
> > did not connect the head units speaker minus wires to anything, just
> > left them hanging, as the speakers are grounded to chassis. The rest
> > of the installation was by the book,
> >
> > The FM works fine, but the CD acts as though it is muted. I will try
> > re-wiring to remove the chassis ground from the speakers and connect
> > them to the head unit speaker minus leads to see if that makes a
> > difference..
> >
> > Any ideas on this problem? Perhaps this installation method would
> > cause the symptoms I see?
> >
> > Thanks in advance!
>
>
> To be honest, i've never heard of leaving the negatives off the speakers
at
> the headunit if they are indeed passive speakers and are not amplified
> individually. I doubt that if the FM is working and the CD is not,
> changing the speaker configuration is going to help. But it cant hurt as
> wiring them directly to the headunit is normal procedure. Try connecting
> the negative wires to the headunit, if that doesnt work i'm willing to bet
> it has nothing to do with the install but its actually a malfunctioning
head
> unit.
>
> DJ TecThreat
> The Real Threat
>
>

The speakers may indeed be amplified anf you are using the power antenna
wire not the turn on wire to send a sense voltage. Dunit- made me feel
stupid :)

Chad

[Groundsel]

Yes, that was it. When I changed the antenna power wire from the
radio's antenna power output to the radio's amp power output, it works
fine. Of course now the antenna is up even when on CD mode, but I
don't care.

I guess the stock amp in this car, (located in the trunk), gets its
power from the motorized antenna unit?....

Anyway, thanks all for the help, everything is peachy now.

>
>The speakers may indeed be amplified anf you are using the power antenna
>wire not the turn on wire to send a sense voltage. Dunit- made me feel
>stupid :)
>
>Chad
>
>