Gentlemen, I need some assistance with the system in my new to me bike. First and foremost I have no idea what I'm doing but I am extremely capable. My 2008 Street glide has an aftermarket Kenwood head unit with Front, Rear, Sub RCA outputs, a 4 channel amp bridged for two channel wired to 6.5 speakers in the fairing. Only one side works so I pulled it apart and can see that the Rear and subwoofer wires from the Kenwood harness outputs are not wired to the bike harness, they're just taped off. My question is, can a stock 2008 Street glide harness be wired for the rear and subwoofer channels? I apologize if this is not clear if any other information is needed please ask. And of course any assistance is absolutely appreciated.

 

None of the wires from the head unit should be wired to the speakers in your scenario--the wires to the speakers go to the amplifier. If only one side works, I would swap your RCAs and see if it moves which side works. I've had RCAs go bad before and that's absolutely what the symptom looked like. if that doesn't work, swap the speaker wires on the amplifier side for side, as perhaps half of your amplifier has failed. And if you haven't, check your balance in the radio first.

 

Hey downzero,
Thank you for the reply. As I stated I don't know anything about audio so I apologize if I didn't explain it clearly. First off, there are No wires from the head unit going to the speakers and I had already done everything you suggested and ALL of that checks out when testing everything separately using only the FRONT RCA outputs. Again, the amp is a four-channel amp being bridged for two channel running a set of 6.5" speakers in the fairing. I have the FRONT set of RCA outputs running to the left channel of the amp and the REAR set of RCA outputs running to the right side of the amp from the back of the head unit, All the wiring, speakers, and both channels of the amp work when testing everything one at time from the FRONT RCA outputs. When attempting to do this from the REAR and SUB, RCA outputs nothing works. In my original post I stated that the wires speaker wires labeled rear and sub from the head unit harness were taped off and not wire to anything. After reading your reply in looking deeper into audio I see that any an all wires labeled for speakers should not be used if you're using the RCA outputs for amps. I was unaware of that. For the record I also did go in and check the levels of the rear and sub channels to make sure that they were at the correct levels which they are. Unfortunately it does look like the Rear and Sub RCA outputs are not working. Again, thank you for the input. I apologize for the long-winded reply I just wanted to be thorough and hopefully someone else would chime in with a solution or to confirm what you think before I reluctantly spend more money on a new head unit.

 

No worries, it sounds like your "rear" channel has failed. Unbridge the front and use front R&L and both speakers should work. What impedance are your speakers? Perhaps the amplifier was damaged by bridging it in the first place. Either way, if your front channel right and left work, you should be able to get it going.

 

This is exactly what I did with another 2 channel amp which only needs 1 RCA output for L\R for both speakers, and just as you said both speakers work. When switching the RCA cable to the REAR and SUB RCA outputs on the head unit I get Nothing. Unless I'm missing something your conclusion that both the Rear and Sub RCA outputs have failed... Man, that sucks. Thank you so much for helping me out.

 

Just a thought... Is there a way to test the RCA outputs? Say with a meter?
OR should I just fold...an cash out....
​​​​​​
​​​​

 

You can check the RCA Cable outputs using a DMM. Put positive to the center pin, Put negative to outer shield. Set DMM to AC Volts and check for HU Voltage output. Also check Headunit Fader F/R Function. I cant comment on the amplifier since i do not know the make and model.