Lost Fade (front to back) on aftermarket stereo install

[MikuhlBrian]

I've done aftermarket car stereo installs in some of my previous vehicles and were all pretty easy. But I'm having an issue with one I just installed into my Magnum SRT8. The stereo I have is the ATOTO S8 Premium Android head unit. (ATOTO S8 Android Car in-Dash Navigation Stereo System,S8 Premium S8G2B73M,Powerful Soc,Dual BT w/aptX codec,Phone Integration Li - Car multimedia - ATOTO Android Car Stereo Entertaiment system - SHENZHEN AOTULE ELECTRONICS TECH CO.,LTD). To install, I used the Scosche LPCR15 wiring harness Link+ Interface (04-17 Chrysler Interface w/ Steering Control | LPCR15 | Scosche). My car has the factory navigation system, but does not have the Kicker Subwoofer.

After everything wired up, I have sound coming out of all of the speakers. Apple Car Play works, Wifi works, Radio works, Bluetooth Streaming audio works, and the steering wheel controls work. When I would adjust the balance left and right, works as expected. But, when I fade to the rear I only hear sound from the rear, but when I fade to the front I lose all sound. Also, when I tried out the Bluetooth calling, my husband could hear me on the other end but I couldn't hear him.

I reached out to ATOTO Tech Support, and one of their suggestions was to make sure that signals were going to the front speakers. The Bluetooth calls only go through the front speaker signals. When I was shopping for my wiring harness adapters, I had also looked at the Metra kit AXDIS-CH13 (Metra Online). I went with the Scosche because I was able to find it in stock and it was less expensive. However, one line in the description of the Metra kit stuck out to me after hearing back from ATOTO. "Retains balance and fade (non-amplified models only)". That isnt mentioned on the Scosche kit, and got me to wondering.

I rewired the harness, swapping the front speaker signals for the rear speaker signals on the speaker wires. When I fired it back up, I still get sound out of all 4 speakers (when the fade is set in the center). I can now hear the caller on the other end of the Bluetooth and I can also hear the "beeps" on the stereo when I was pressing buttons. Now, when I fade to the front sound comes from the front, but when I fade to the rear everything goes silent.

So it looks like the Scosche kit is taking whatever is being fed to the rear speaker control and piping that out to all 4 speakers. Does anyone have experience with this Scoche kit? Is there any way to work around this? Do I need to swap out for the Metra harness adapter, anyone have experience with those?

Pics of the install:

.

[MikuhlBrian]

A quick update. After talking with ATOTO support, they recommended that I perform the following. Use a separate speaker to test the feed coming directly from the unit by disconnecting a speaker feed (i.e. right rear + and -) and connecting it to the separate speaker, then fade/balance to ensure that the signal is fading/balancing correctly. I did this with all 4 speaker outputs and everything works correctly from the unit, which definitely points to the Scosche adapter mucking up the feed.

I'm going to look into getting the Metra adapater. It's more expensive, but it does state that it will retain the balance/fade. I'll update once I get one and get it installed.

[BryGuy]

The idatalink Maestro also retains fade and steering wheel controls. Plus you get OBD functionality with some decks.

[Jbyron]

Yeah I did idatalink and maestro first go on my msrt, everything works. GL with the troubleshooting!