Weird fader/balance issue - Help!

[dubdub]

So I spent the morning wiring in my E34 speakers in the rear of my car along with my new GAS crossovers. Well in the process of doing so, I've noticed something really strange with my system.

I faded the fader all the way to the rear to hear the new speakers, and - with the balance in the middle - there is very little sound coming out of either speaker... however, if I shift the balance to one side or the other, the sound comes up on either speaker. I must not have noticed this before, as I typically have very little sound of my rears.

I triple checked all the processing on my head unit (newer Kenwood (KIV 701)) and made sure it was shut off as much as I could, so it wasn't playing with the sound. It is running through a JL 500/5... but since it is behind the plexi of my GAS amp rack, I have not dug into it yet...

Anyone have any guess as to what could cause this? The amp is clearly working, as the rears work when balanced to either side... but in the middle, it is almost dead silent... it gets louder the more it gets shifted to either side. Ideas?

[StereoInstaller1]

You have them out of phase somewhere, I promise

[dubdub]

Interesting. I've never seen anything like this. With your helpful coding on the crossover, I know those are correct... you think swapping one of the leads into the crossover will resolve it?

[StereoInstaller1]

Yes

[StereoInstaller1]

Do this: turn off the sub, turn off any high pass. Compare the phase of the left front and left rear, then compare right side.

If you hear one side drastically worse than the other (phase won't be as obvious as the 2 rears are) that's the side to change

[dubdub]

Well it is fixed... though I am not certain how. I tried swapping the leads, but that didn't solve the issue. I also just unplugged one side then the other, but that didn't change it either. So I started back at the amp and started from scratch, checking each RCA lead on each channel to confirm everything was going where it should. I think I may have had a conflict on the amp set up. I think I had it set as if it was only receiving 1 RCA input, yet had 3 different sets coming in. I am just not sure how I could have noticed this before... though that is possible, as I really turn down the rears so they are just a bit of fill, probably more-so than most. Though, how could I have not noticed this when tuning originally? Anyway, problem solved. Thank you for they timely assessment of the problem, that at least got me going down the right path.

I ended up just getting half the install done, as one of the E34 speakers came in bent... requiring me to get another one. I did get the rears in, however. I was not sure I loved the sound right off, but then I realized that I also had dialed out all of the EQ settings that I had for the past 4 years or so... which also contributed. I probably have been listening to some seriously adulterated sound over that time, trying to make it sound better. Once I get the fronts in, I can start from scratch with a tuning effort, then assess.