Stereo low power in accessory mode

[WookieMonst3r]

Have a 2001 land cruiser that I put in a aftermarket head unit. Not sure if I wired it up correctly or is normal behavior. When the car is on and running the sound system sounds fine, however in accessory mode it almost sounds like the amp is off and loses bass. There's still sound but it's very flat. Is this normal behavior to prevent killing the battery or did I miss something in my wiring?

 

[asmara]

Have a 2001 land cruiser that I put in a aftermarket head unit. Not sure if I wired it up correctly or is normal behavior. When the car is on and running the sound system sounds fine, however in accessory mode it almost sounds like the amp is off and loses bass. There's still sound but it's very flat. Is this normal behavior to prevent killing the battery or did I miss something in my wiring?

Check the, typically blue with white stripe, wire coming from your aftermarket radio to the amp when it is in ACC mode. See if it has power, and see if it changes in ON mode. If you have a blue wire and a blue with white stripe wire, and you connected the blue one for the amp, it could be that the aftermarket radio does not power the antenna in ACC mode (though that seems unlikely).

 

[WookieMonst3r]

Check the, typically blue with white stripe, wire coming from your aftermarket radio to the amp when it is in ACC mode. See if it has power, and see if it changes in ON mode. If you have a blue wire and a blue with white stripe wire, and you connected the blue one for the amp, it could be that the aftermarket radio does not power the antenna in ACC mode (though that seems unlikely).

So on yours when you turn the car from on to accessory mode you get no change in sound quality?

I checked my wires, I don't have the antenna hooked up as I don't listen to the radio, I'll get a multi meter and check what's going on with the wires as you suggested.

 

[asmara]

So on yours when you turn the car from on to accessory mode you get no change in sound quality?

I checked my wires, I don't have the antenna hooked up as I don't listen to the radio, I'll get a multi meter and check what's going on with the wires as you suggested.

Mine doesn't have an amp (but does have the power antenna). The stereo also only has one wire for the amp/antenna. Some stereos have two separate wires (blue and blue/white) so that the power antenna is only activated when the stereo is in radio mode. I was just trying to figure out a way that your amplifier might not be getting power in acc mode. If the amp doesn't have power, it will mess with the sound.

 

[WookieMonst3r]

I couldn't find anything wrong with my wiring, but I put the stock oem radio and it behaves exactly the same. I can't find anything documenting the behavior but did confirm it's nothing to do with aftermarket radio.

My educated guess is it's putting the amp in a lower power mode when the car is not on to not kill the battery

 

[leveeguy]

I couldn't find anything wrong with my wiring, but I put the stock oem radio and it behaves exactly the same. I can't find anything documenting the behavior but did confirm it's nothing to do with aftermarket radio.

My educated guess is it's putting the amp in a lower power mode when the car is not on to not kill the battery

Yes my factory system behaves the same way and i'm pretty sure it always has