bad stereo wiring?

I am neither a car audio guy nor a car guy really, so please bear with me.
long story short, when we bought our 2nd hand Honda Element, it came with a Kenwood DNX690... and some odd amp bolted to the rear floor.
our dog vomited on the amp and shorted it out. Fried it completely. so I removed after which time the bluetooth function no longer worked. sometime later 3 of the 4 standard OEM speakers stopped working.

after some digging in and investigation I have determined that the feeds from the "head" (the 4 pairs of wires to the speakers) are all working (by connecting a standalone speaker to each)
Also that all the speakers are working (by bypassing the internal wiring with some speaker wire to the speaker connectors.)

so I tested the wiring that runs through the car.
From the clip the radio attaches to, to the speakers wires in the doors, I only get continuity on one pair of wires, the one to the speaker that works.

which leads me to suspect that the internal wiring has somehow gone bad.
but that seems improbable - that suddenly 3 of 4 pairs of wires would go bad.

what do I do next?
is it even possible to replace that wiring that is buried in the dashboard and doors? without half disassembling the car?

Which model do you have? LX or EX? The EX has a separate factory amp, and I wonder how they bypassed it, assuming there is one.

Would a different amp possibly make all speakers work ?

Vomit/liquid proof amp, would help. Name, model of amp that quit ?

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Originally Posted by BigAl205

Which model do you have? LX or EX? The EX has a separate factory amp, and I wonder how they bypassed it, assuming there is one.

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Mine must be the LX model.
It originally had a simple car stereo and it has just 4 standard door speakers.

the previous owner though swapped in the Kenwood DNX whatever "head" and installed the amp that was bolted to the rear floor (and some additional wiring to feed it.)
But I had no idea what that amp did or how it worked and so once it blew up I just wanted to revert to a simple sound system.

We tossed that Amp that died.
as I think I wrote, the speakers all seem to be good. and the "feeds" from the Kenwood head all seem to be live (the 4 pairs of wires for the 4 speakers)

but only the Rear Left wiring seems to work. (so if I hook up RF, LF, RR leads from the Kenwood to the wires labelled RL they all produce sound)

So does the amp really have an impact?

What the "amplifier does is step up the power available

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Originally Posted by Hic

What the "amplifier does is step up the power available

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Conversely, a resistor placed in the power wire going to a speaker will use up, attenuate or lessen the power going to speaker, {commonly done to control rear speakers for "ambience or spaciosness" in systems }!

pstock ,

You will enjoy the music with some additional power , 4 JBL co-axial speakers [ 6 x 9 ] with an amplifier plus a small subwoofer [ 8 inch or 10" ].

A 5-channel amp would do "Nicely" :happy:

Sorry I took so long to respond, you could disconnect the speaker wires from the radio, twist the wires going out to the speakers together, and then check continuity on the speaker end. If you don't read continuity (near zero resistance) then there's a break in the wire somewhere.

How did they have the amp wire to the speakers? Did the amp's output connect to the speaker wires behind the radio, or did it intercept the wiring somewhere else?

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Originally Posted by pstock

but only the Rear Left wiring seems to work. (so if I hook up RF, LF, RR leads from the Kenwood to the wires labelled RL they all produce sound)

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Apparently , one channel is working on Kenwood . A new head unit may solve problem with other speakers.
An amp will play music louder , add a subwoofer for 20 hertz to 20,000 hertz or full range of music you are playing.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pstock

Mine has4 standard door speakers.

Kenwood DNX whatever "head" and installed the amp that was bolted to the rear floor (and some additional wiring to feed it.)

But I had no idea what that amp did or how it worked and so once it blew up I just wanted to revert to a simple sound system.

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A different "head unit" with a built in amp (IC chip) will run all 4 speakers .
A 6 1//2 inch sub was what I added (Parts Express has them ) , plus a 100 watt mono amp (very similar to your description of system from previous owner. )

I'd replace head and add a sub b (wires may already be in place for sub amp ).

Good Luck !

It appears the wires going to the speakers are still viable as are the speakers themselves .

So now , have you decided on a replacement for the Kenwood ?
Get a head unit to replace the one that is damaged and you should be good to go.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pstock

We tossed that Amp that died.
as I think I wrote, the speakers all seem to be good. and the "feeds" from the Kenwood head all seem to be live (the 4 pairs of wires for the 4 speakers)

but only the Rear Left wiring seems to work. (so if I hook up RF, LF, RR leads from the Kenwood to the wires labelled RL they all produce sound)

So does the amp really have an impact?

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https://www.ebay.com/itm/Polk-Audio-....c100009.m1982Polk Audio PSW111 Subwoofer 8” Speaker up to 300W

Nice small subwoofer $30.00
https://www.ebay.com/itm/4-JBL-GTO93...b9a4a57af7983a

3-xhannel amp , 4 - six-by-nine speakers