Aux-in problem

I got the Audiovox Sirius tuner with the RCA patch cord kit (I mentioned this in the Off-Topic forum) and I'm having a small problem.

I hooked it all up and I am only getting the right channel with audio. It is a 1/8" mini-stereo to RCA plug cord plugging directly into the empeg AUX cables. When I fiddle with the mini-stereo jack end by partially inserting it into the Sirius receiver, I can get some audio thru the left channel. When all the way seated, I get right channel only. The meter indicate full signal on the right channel and a little noise on the left, maybe a 10% indicator on the meter. This sounds like I have a bad cord in the kit, and not a problem with the aux RCA cables on the empeg, correct?

It just occurred to me, though, that I should be able to switch the white->white and red->red cables to be white->red and red->white to see if I do have a bad connection on the empeg sled or not. Will this work? I need to run down the the truck at lunchtime and check it out. Otherwise I was going to try to find another patch cord to make sure that's the problem before going back to the store. Swapping red and white should be OK right? Thanks for any input!

By switching the RCAs, the problem should switch side if the empeg is OK, the problem would then be in the 3.5mm jack/plug.

/Michael

I could swear someone else reported an almost identical problem (only one channel of aux-in) elsewhere on the board a while back...

Hmmm, is this ringing any bells?

Try grounding the shields of the RCA plugs.

Hmmm, that's interesting, but I don't think it's the same as my problem. I tested the cables by swapping them, it always plays thru the right channel only. The cord tests fine for continuity, so I'm thinking my white RCA plug has a bad connection to the sled. Does this sound reasonable? How easy/hard is it to fix the sled connections?

As for grounding the shields, the Sirius is drawing power from the cigarette lighter, would grounding the shields have any effect since they (empeg and Sirius) essentially have the same ground?

I'm hoping my problem is not the sled connections, but I think it is.

Well, it's certainly easy enough to test by grounding the aux RCA shields, should only take a minute to do the test...

should only take a minute to do the test

Yep, just gotta go take the dash apart again, the RCA cables on the empeg are about 8" too short to feed out thru the dash...

Hmm, i was thinking floaty grounds but I thought i'd wait until you'd tried swapping the leads over.

Is it possible to get at the aux-in leads on the Sirius side, or is that embedded in the dash?

Not sure what your asking, Paul. The Sirius audio output is the 1/8" mini jack converting to the RCA cables. It's a standalone unit (link) and the car docking kit is this one. I can't use the FM modulator because my tuners FM output is broken... DOH!

I've not done the ground shield test yet, but I'm nearly convinced I have a bad connection on the sled, which if that's the case I won't get to attempting to fix it until the weekend. Is it a solder or a crimp connection for the sled connector to the RCA cable?

I am just wondering if there was some way to just test with a wire connected to the ground ring of the mini-jack... If you cannot test from the end near the aux-in, perhaps there is a way to test at the other end of the cable...

It's the sled connection. I tried it in a buddy's empeg, and it works great...

Fixed it. Thanks to whoever made the mpg of the sled connector pin removal that is linked in the FAQ. Very helpful, all it's missing is the Haynes Manual step "Installation is reverse of removal."

The video was made by our good friend David Moss. He made a bunch of great videos before departing Cambridge for other pastures.