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Farmerben



Member Since: 16 Jan 2017
Location: Herefordshire
Posts: 605

United Kingdom 2015 Defender 90 Puma 2.2 HT Keswick Green
Trying to understand my Puma wiring - upgrading sound
I’ve trawled the ICE threads for as many clues as I can and already learned a lot about how to upgrade the sound on the Defender but my truck just keeps throwing me curve balls.

What I’m trying to do
Install 2 new woofers, tweeters (with crossovers) into my 2015 90 HT. New LRI Solutions Stage One Kit - Ground Zero instead of the Focals which I’m already regretting.

Install second hand alpine amp/sub (take-off part from Defender - one with integrate sub/amp and writing correct way up when mounted on back of cubby)

Change Censored Clarion HU for Pioneer Flip out jobby

What I’ve got
Clarion single din hu (DAB aerial ready installed)

What I thought was factory speakers - turns out they’re Pioneers (and possibly better than the one’s I’ve just bought)

Looked under tweeter blanks - no wires to be seen, either side.

However do have sub connector under cubby (which is odd - thought if I was going to have that, would definitely have tweeter connectors)

What I’ve managed to do
Fit sub to cubby

Take out old HU and centre dash panel and other bits of dash trying to find tweeter wires

What I need help with

If I don’t have tweeter wiring and use the wiring supplied with the speakers/crossovers, where/how do I add them to the loom?
With the sub plugged in under the cubby, does all the wiring run up and into the stereo loom and is there anything else I need to do?
If my existing speakers are in fact better than my new ones, can I use the new Ground Zero crossovers with the old Pioneer speakers?

These are a few pics of what I’ve got.....


Click image to enlarge

Loom that was running into back of HU. Not sure what grey connector in centre left of frame is.


Click image to enlarge

Thought this was the tweeter cable however pretty sure it isn’t and is just the woofer wire.



Click image to enlarge




Click image to enlarge





Click image to enlarge

Existing speakers.



Any help you could give me would be amazing, thanks. https://instagram.com/bentheoandrews
Post #752170 18th Jan 2019 5:07pm
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custom90



Member Since: 21 Jan 2010
Location: South West, England.
Posts: 20282

United Kingdom 
Most spare audio connections are left hidden behind matting or taped up.
Those wires do indeed look like the connetions, trace the wire and don't try to just pull it out it is likely stuck down or the plug caiught possibly.
I was surprised how small a gauge the tweeter wiring is when I did mine, not ideal really but sufficient for factory fit I suppose.

When you are fitting in your various speakers, bear in mind the final impedance and how you've got it wired so the impedance, and RMS wattage match the power source as closely as you can.

Most factory Heads have outputs around the 20 - 25wrmw per channel output @ 4Ohm impedence.
Which isn't much, and can even be max wattage instead..

If you are using an Amp you can wire your speakers to what ever impedance you like that your Amp is stable at, if wiring in series or parallel etc will affect final impendence.
Just make sure both the final speaker impedance and wrms and the Amp output match as closely as possible.

I tend to treat the HU as more of a signal source than a power source, they aren't much use for anything the majority of the market unless you get one with a specific higher output per channel.
And even then if you did, you've then got to upgrade the primary power and ground and outputs rendering the factory loom useless.
You'd then need to re-wire from scratch leaving the factory loom in situ. ⭐️⭐️God Bless the USA 🇬🇧🇺🇸 ⭐️⭐️
Post #752182 18th Jan 2019 5:54pm
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Farmerben



Member Since: 16 Jan 2017
Location: Herefordshire
Posts: 605

United Kingdom 2015 Defender 90 Puma 2.2 HT Keswick Green
Thanks for the comprehensive reply Steve! Will have a proper ferret around in daylight tomorrow. Got elbow deep in the dash and couldn’t find anything so might be a full dash off job in the morning.

I’m not going with anything too heavy - ones in already are 190W Max, 30W nom, 4 Ohm
The new. Ones are 100W Max Confused
Not putting anything extra in other than the two under dash woofers and top dash tweeters.

Sub/Amp is the factory fit Alpine so that should be ok to just plug in and go though right?
Still unsure what the unused grey connector in the picture is for....

Until tomorrow! https://instagram.com/bentheoandrews
Post #752214 18th Jan 2019 8:03pm
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williamthedog



Member Since: 29 Dec 2012
Location: south wales
Posts: 3441

2011 Defender 90 Puma 2.4 PU Tamar Blue
Yes as Steve said they tuck wiring in out of the way places. I've got poverty spec pick up and the wiring for the tweeters was tucked in by the wiring for the main speakers. Getting them up to the tweeters I used a piece of welding rod to pull the wiring up. Thumbs Up
Post #752226 18th Jan 2019 8:53pm
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custom90



Member Since: 21 Jan 2010
Location: South West, England.
Posts: 20282

United Kingdom 
Just be careful the plugs don't catch on something, so if it feels like it's caught stop or it might cause wire damage.
You can bet your life the plug will catch on something unless it's pulled out carefully. Thumbs Up ⭐️⭐️God Bless the USA 🇬🇧🇺🇸 ⭐️⭐️
Post #752246 18th Jan 2019 9:38pm
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Farmerben



Member Since: 16 Jan 2017
Location: Herefordshire
Posts: 605

United Kingdom 2015 Defender 90 Puma 2.2 HT Keswick Green
Thanks both for the advice. Was a dash off job to get the near side one but all in and working now.

Only problem is sub isn’t working.

Just looking at the loom with the ISO adapter and looks like someone has been mucking around with it.....


Click image to enlarge


One orange wire appears to be bypassing the loom connector and a red and yellow seem to have been cut and swapped.

Any ideas if this could be anything to do with it? https://instagram.com/bentheoandrews
Post #752347 19th Jan 2019 1:10pm
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PaulMc



Member Since: 17 Jan 2009
Location: Kent
Posts: 499

United Kingdom 1989 Defender 110 2.5 TD HT Arles Blue
Re: Trying to understand my Puma wiring - upgrading sound
Farmerben wrote:
These are a few pics of what I’ve got.....


Click image to enlarge



Any help you could give me would be amazing, thanks.



The Grey 4-way connector is C1516, which is the other end of the sub-woofer harness.

There's a link harness LR040847 to go from C1516 to the head unit -







. Paul.
1989 Arles Blue 2.5TD 110 Hardtop
1999 Epsom Green Discovery II 4.0 V8i 'XS'
Post #752373 19th Jan 2019 3:16pm
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Farmerben



Member Since: 16 Jan 2017
Location: Herefordshire
Posts: 605

United Kingdom 2015 Defender 90 Puma 2.2 HT Keswick Green
Thanks for that!
It’s one step forward, two steps back here this weekend.

Speakers work fine with old head unit (but desperate for the bass from a sub!) but when new head unit is installed I only get decent sound from near side - off side is very quiet and muffled.

Have checked balance settings on head unit - all fine.......
Although when I alter balance, moving all sound to right on head unit sends sound to left speakers.
Moving all sound on head unit to left and I just get the quiet muffled sound from the driver’s speakers.

Switch back to old HU - fine.

Doing stuff like this reminds me why I usually pay people to do these things. https://instagram.com/bentheoandrews
Post #752578 20th Jan 2019 11:23am
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Farmerben



Member Since: 16 Jan 2017
Location: Herefordshire
Posts: 605

United Kingdom 2015 Defender 90 Puma 2.2 HT Keswick Green
Right. Think I’ve managed to knacker 2 new head units.

So initially tried the Pioneer Z7100 flip out stereo - worked fine on test until it pushed it into the slot and lost sound (well, muffled) sound to the driver’s speakers.

Removed and replaced with old Clarion unit. Worked fine.

Tried swapping back - Pioneer still dud on one side.

Clarion back in - fine.

So went to Halfords and got another new cheap Pioneer head unit (yeah I know - fool and money etc). Again, with head unit out worked fine. Pushed it in and same thing - sound dies on right side. Pull it back out and sound still not working. Wiggle all the wires. Nothing.

Clarion unit back in - working fine.

I would have thought there would be some sort of built in protection to stop it blowing something irreparable????

This is a picture of the wiring loom. I’m not sure why the orange bypasses the connector......?

Should I get a pro to look at it before I break anything else?



Click image to enlarge
 https://instagram.com/bentheoandrews
Post #753191 22nd Jan 2019 8:08pm
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Farmerben



Member Since: 16 Jan 2017
Location: Herefordshire
Posts: 605

United Kingdom 2015 Defender 90 Puma 2.2 HT Keswick Green
Sooooo.....

Been playing around and still only sound to passenger side. Switched L/R speaker cables and still only sound to passenger side so that rules out faulty head unit.

Fiddled with speaker settings on head unit (yes, balance is balanced) and switched “subwoofer” on/off. When on I was getting just bass through the driver’s side woofer. Which is odd. Fiddled with more settings and switched off “Low Pass Filter” in sub settings and suddenly full audio in driver and passenger speakers.

Received the appropriate cable that plugs in one end to sub loom and has RCA leads on other end to plug into head unit. Was a second hand Alpine sub (Land Rover one with just the sub connector that connects to pre-wired loom under cubby). Tried plugging into head unit Sub sockets and no life.

Some improvement but still a head scratcher and currently more a work around than a solution..... https://instagram.com/bentheoandrews
Post #755252 31st Jan 2019 1:29pm
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Farmerben



Member Since: 16 Jan 2017
Location: Herefordshire
Posts: 605

United Kingdom 2015 Defender 90 Puma 2.2 HT Keswick Green
99% of the way there!

Turns out the LR->ISO connector had all the wires in the wrong place. Bought a new one off Mud and speakers all behaving as they should. Got some Focal speakers and they sound AMAZING.

Just the sub not firing up now. Got it going in on Friday for some experts to sort the sub out.... fingers crossed. https://instagram.com/bentheoandrews
Post #756320 4th Feb 2019 7:39pm
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Zed



Member Since: 07 Oct 2017
Location: In the woods
Posts: 3246

United Kingdom 2010 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 XS CSW Santorini Black
Good news. Nearly there!
Post #756322 4th Feb 2019 7:42pm
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Farmerben



Member Since: 16 Jan 2017
Location: Herefordshire
Posts: 605

United Kingdom 2015 Defender 90 Puma 2.2 HT Keswick Green
It's all done!

Pioneer z7100 Flip out head unit
Focal ES100K kit in the front
Focal PC130 in the back (mounted in Mud rear speaker panels)
Alpine SWE1200LR mounted to back of sub.
Mic for bluetooth mounted on top of A pillar trim

All working and sounding un-freaking-believable.

Thanks to everyone for the help.

Thumbs Up https://instagram.com/bentheoandrews
Post #757359 8th Feb 2019 6:07pm
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corgi1



Member Since: 26 Feb 2017
Location: bucks
Posts: 440

England 2009 Defender 90 Puma 2.4 XS CSW Stornoway Grey
good for you, at least you had a go ! I just took mine to URBAN who did it all for me, not sure I would have your patients !
Post #763062 12th Mar 2019 4:38pm
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Farmerben



Member Since: 16 Jan 2017
Location: Herefordshire
Posts: 605

United Kingdom 2015 Defender 90 Puma 2.2 HT Keswick Green
Post #763157 13th Mar 2019 10:39am
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