Audio Systems: High End Alpine Receiver Not Putting Out Sound, bench test, amp output

Question
I recently changed out a cd player for a friend in his 98 durango. It had the stock radio in it, so i bought an adapter faceplate and went to town... everything is hooked up except for a "Footbrake" and "Auto On" both say Lead on them and I have no wires to connect them too. The cd player gets power and works... but I am not getting any sound out of the speakers... but however I do get sound out of the back of the stereo when the volume is turned all the way up, the sound comes right out of the back of the head unit and it's the music from the radio, it's very faint but you can hear it. The 5in display works and nothing else is wrong with the system, there is no amp, or other high end compents and this has honestly stumped me. Please help

Answer
It is crosstalk you are hearing.  I am reasonably certain the speaker wiring is not correct.  Did you get the correct wiring harness adaptor for the durango?

If the wiring caused a short on the alpine it could be toast, so you must first check out the alpine unit.  Then, if it is okey, the wiring to the speakers must be checked out.

Here is what I recommnd - as painful as it may be:

ONE: Bench test the alpine unit.  Do this by pulling it out of the car. Connect it to the car battery with long leads.  Connect a single stand-alone speaker to one of the amp outputs (speaker can be one from in the house, for example).  Check each amp output one by one with the speaker.  If it checks out, then the alpine is still good to go.

TWO:  With an ohmmeter (if you don't have one you can get a good little one from Walmart electrical department for $9.83) check the wiring to each speaker in the durango.  Do this by placing a short on one speaker, then check the wiring at the radio end for the short.  Put a tag or marker on the wire so you know for certain which pairs go to which speaker.  Then, you have a way of knowing for certain where they all go.

Hope this helps you troubleshoot it down.

Cleggsan

http://installdr.com/Harnesses/DCP-Wiring.pdf

http://installdr.com/InstallDocs/DCP/PDF/327009.pdf

The two sites above MAY be helpful, but I would not trust them without checking them out with your ohmmeter.