Car Stereos: 2004 Celica - Pioneer CD Player Replacement, pioneer cd player, pioneer head unit

Question
Hi Brian,

I've just changed my standard Celica cd player to an aftermarket Pioneer cd player with PC2-17-4 but I notice the rear speakers are not working. It was working before I changed it. Do you have any idea how to resolve this? Cheers.

Answer
Hi Percy,

I'm not sure why you'd have a problem with rear speakers in a Celica.  Some Celica's are equipped with factory amplifiers, but if it's equipped, the amplifier drives all the speakers and not just the rears.  So that's unlikely to be the source of the problem, unless there's a major difference between the Celica sold in the UK and the ones I'm used to working with in the US market.  In any case, if your Celica were equipped with a factory amplified system, you wouldn't be able to use the PC2-17-4 wire harness with it.

The problem may lie in your Pioneer head unit's settings, however.  Many Pioneer decks include a feature called "front image enhancer"; it's labeled "FIE" on the audio settings menu.  Also, many Pioneer decks have a feature that lets you designate the rear speaker outputs as "subwoofer" instead of "rear".  If either of these functions is turned on, the effect would be to cut all high frequencies from the rear speaker outputs, so they only play deep bass.  This could make it appear that the speakers aren't working.

Hope this helps!

Brian