Concert Sound III Amp

I only have distortion in my rear speakers (rear doors and rear deck). I get a little bit of rumble out of the rear deck speakers and the left rear door and I essentially get low level static out of the right rear door. I'm only getting this little bit of bass out of them with no midrange or higher. I tried unplugging the deck speakers and hooked in different speakers with the same result which would lead me to believe the amp is bad. However, I'm guessing it could be a bad head unit as well. Since everything runs through the amp, I'm not sure how to check to isolate where the problem is? I'm checking with a local boneyard to see if they have the amp, but I'm guessing it's not going to be cheap. Any help would be appreciated.

Tom

For all the trouble you're going through...dump the factory parts and go aftermarket.
...'95 PA with 600watts RMS@4ohm. All factory speaker sizes retained, plus dual 12 subs in 1.25 cf per side box, and a spiral cell in the trunk!

I'm no audio expert so dont quote me on this.Sounds like it might be your headunit thats causing you problems.You have the factory tape player,right?

Yes, it's the factory single CD / tape unit. With all the wiring running through the amp, it seems difficult to diagnose. I suppose I could throw a good speaker directly across the pins on the connector into the amp, it would just be a matter of finding the right wires. Or, is there an easier way to test.

PAman - did you have to cut the harness to wire in your system or is there an adaptor available somewhere?

Thanks.

Tom

Actually, I was nuts enough to run all new wiring to each...(much heavier). Check with someone like Crutchfield for adaptors...they have many ways to hook up many different replacement components, depending on the specific factory system you have. I consider them expensive, but you can at least get an idea of whats out there(find others with your search engine).
Oh, something to keep in mind; PA's factory systems were designed to have mid and upper frequencies reproduced mostly by the front speakers...doors don't do bass very well, and rears set up for mainly mid-bass to bass, as trunks do bass much better! This sets up a nice "sound stage", if you will, because the lower frequencies are less directional(ie: you can't tell where they are coming from). You probably need the amplifier component(s) of your system, they usually take the most abuse(electrically and thermally). Hooking up speakers to the head unit outputs probably won't get you anywhere, because it's probably high-impedence or line-level...therefore no sound, and could possibly damage it because you gave it a (very)low-impedence load. Depends on the circuit design...

Well, I swapped out the amp and that wasn't the problem. That leaves the head unit as the primary culprit. Does the Concert Sound System use a special head unit or will a unit out of another GM product work from the same era automobile? Also, are the radios different depending on steering wheel control or not (can I use a unit out of a car without steering wheel controls).

Thanks.

Tom