93 Caravan Infinity audio questions

Just pick up a 93 Grand Caravan ES from a local mechanic who does 95%
Chrysler work at his shop. When I looked at it it had a AF/FM/CD
Infinity stereo w/3 band EQ. He later called and said that that stereo
didn't work and he put in an Infinity AM/FM/cassette w/o EQ.

The problem is the sound is crappy. The top speakers (up near
windshield) sound OK, front door speakers (which say Infinity on them,
top and tailgate speaker grills don't have anything on them) have no
sound coming from them and the tailgate speakers sound faint and tinny.
The bass control doesn't seem to work (treble does). I'm wondering if
the unit is bad or if it's not the right Chrysler/Infinity head for this
year or it's just not hooked up correctly.

This cassette head has the BAL/FAD joystick-like control on the lower
left, doesn't look like the radio shown in the audio manual that came in
the glove box.

I have an Aiwa CDC-Z127 cd receiver that was in my old car, can I use
the RCA outputs on that with the Infinity amp? Where is the amp located
in the car and is a wiring diagram available?

Thanks for any help.
Sam

 

Hi Sam...

Have a teensy bit to contribute for once, having just gone through
a long and convuluted experience with much the same.

A forewarning, though... retired old stroke victim electrical guy, with
my first ever lifetime non-gm car... a 94 lhs. I leave it to you to
relate the 94 lhs to your 93 caravan

I believe that infinity and three band equalizer are mutually exclusive.
As are infinity and no equalizer. I believe that the only possible
combinations are plain-jane and three band, or infinity and five band.

Seeing I now have several, would be happy to send you pics if it's of
any help or interest to you.

Here's what I've learned, and how. Bought this 94 lhs, like new in
every respect. If you couldn't recognize it, you could perhaps believe
that it is current model.

Except - had the "real" infinity 5 band stereo in it, sounded fantastic,
but the display didn't work.

Didn't like that, so I bought a pull from a 2000 caravan. Non-infinity,
three band equalizer, plug in replacement. Display worked, but it
sounded nothing at all like the original, and it wouldn't play burned
cd's. (though it happily played commercial ones)

Finally bought another of the original infinity 5 bands, and it again
sounds absolutely awesome, and I know what time it is

Hope this helps a bit...

Take care, and all the best in the new year.

Ken

 

That's the wrong head for a 93 GC. The 3 band EQ didn't come out until
the 3rd generation Infinity, when they moved the amp into a box under
the passenger seat. The 3rd generation Infinity systems are crap, by
the way.

Depends on what year he got it from.

No. Typial symptom of a lack of power to the speaker-mounted amps.

The 2nd generation Infinity system is a great system, sound is very good out
of
it if you have the 5 band EQ head. The way they do it is they put bass amps
on the rear 2 speakers and bass amps on the door speakers.

The door speakers are ONLY bass speakers, the rear are combo treble/bass
speakers.

Power leads run in addition to the speaker leads to the door and rear
tailgate
speakers. Power to these amps is switched on when the radio is turned on.
There's a relay and a fuse involved, you have to take a lot of the dash
apart
to get to them.

if the mechanic didn't connect the ground wire to the back of the radio the
speaker amps will not get power and the symptoms are what you are hearing.

A factory wiring diagram is essential to tracing out the problem here.

There are FOUR amps on the RH and LH door speakers and the RH and LH
tailgate speakers.

These amps are designed for low impediance inputs. (ie: speaker inputs)

The original Infinity factory head has an amp in it, it can drive speakers
directly.

You would have to rip everything out and start over with all new speakers
and get an amp and do some rewiring to get your Aiwa head to work.

No, not true. The non-EQ head for the Infinity system was an option.

But, you do not want to use it because the factory stock Infinity system
has a resonance in the 250Hz range that must be equalized out.

Sound impediance output was all wrong from that head. The 2000
heads with the 3 band EQ were designed to drive a single external
amp, not the individual amps in your system.

Actually, the 3rd gen Infiinity system is crappy, and if you have a
vehicle with a non-functional one you might as well junk the system.
The factory amp is cheap and poor sound quality, and the heads
are nothing to write home about (and won't play burned CD's as
you have found) and the speakers aren't that great.

The 2nd generation system with the individual speaker-mounted amps
is a very good system if you have a 5 band EQ on it and you
adjust the EQ.

Ted