Car Stereos: no sound cd or ipod, dodge ram 1500, power antenna

Question
Hi, I recently bought a alpine deck, and i had it hooked up and everything. Sound is present only when i have the radio on. Now i understand people have posted stuff about amps being the problem, but I'm not totally sure. I have a 2000 dodge ram 1500 and it has a factory amp in it. So how does the amp effect sound coming from the cd or ipod? and not the radio? Thanks

Answer
Hi Aaron,

The factory amplifier is activated by a wire in the radio harness--when there's power on this wire, the amp turns on; no power, and it turns off.  If you used an adapter harness, then the amplifier activation wire is pinned to a blue wire in the harness.  And if you connected the blue harness wire to the blue Alpine wire, then your factory amp is only turning on when you select "tuner" as a source--because in an Alpine deck, the blue wire is for a power antenna.

The correct amplifier activation wire from the Alpine deck is blue with a white stripe.  If you connect this wire to the blue wire in your adapter harness, your factory amp will turn on whenever the head unit is switched on, regardless of the source selection.

So, to sum up: connect the blue wire in your adapter harness to the blue/white wire from the Alpine deck, and your problem should be solved.  

Hope this helps!

Brian