I installed a pair of tweeters (Blaupunkt, built in crossover) in the back using the rear speaker outputs from the radio (wired into harness using plugs and stubs from another harness). Stock head.
Now, when I turn up the volume , ALL the speakers are cutting out for a short period of time.... like static, cuts in and out, but only at high volume. If I fade up to the front speaker only the problem goes away. If I fade back to the rear speakers only, I have the symptom.
At 'normal' and low volume it's fine.
Does this mean that my tweeters can't handle the power or
is it another problem like crossover or bad tweeters or not enough power from the head?

I can rebuild an engine, but I've never been a stereo guru. HELP.
Thanks

 

If you are using the stock head unit it sounds like your speakers are under driven (i.e. the head unit can't power the chosen speakers). Might want to consider upgradiing the head unit.

Utah

 

if you want to keep the head unit, upgrade to an amp. it'll sound a lot better.

 

The head unit swap is very simple....and you can easily retain the remote functions. To amplify the factory head unit is a joke. Replace the head unit.........period. Verify that the output wil support your speakers.....most will as the OEM unit is weak.

Utah

 

I'm no stereo expert by any means, so correct me if I'm wrong here.....don't the tweeters handle the higher frequency range, and the crossover is supposed to switch those high(er) frequencies, from (going to) the main speakers, and route them to the tweeters? If that's the principle, it sounds like that's exactly what the crossover is doing - sending everything to the rear, and taking most of the frequencies away from the main speakers. Also, I thought that the tweeters and crossover are supposed to be on a dedicated main speaker pair - not wired (on their own) directly from the unused rear outputs.

I don't know if I'm right in suggesting this (although it makes sense to me) but I would simply rewire the tweeters and crossover in-line with the front main speakers, and forget all about using the rear outputs like you're doing now. (Obviously, you can still retain the tweeters where you have them located now, in the rear.) If you wanted to, you could always add seperate main speakers in the rear (from the rear head unit outputs), by installing lucid's mod.

I don't know if the "experts" would agree with your choice of tweeters by themselves in the rear, but I feel fairly sure that if that's the way you want to keep them, then my suggestion (to add them into to the front speaker circuit) will probably solve your cut-out problem.

 

While I have no direct experience with this problem, others on this board have. I believe there is a TSB for the stock radio audio output cutting in and out at high volume. From what I've read (and this make sense in your specific application), some of the stock head units have a tendendancy to overheat at high volume, and the amps shutdown intermittently.

By adding speakers to the rear channel, you've increased the load (and heat genereated) on the head unit, and the problem has surfaced.

You will get as many opinions on "keeping the stock head unit and adding an amp" as you get responses, but in my opinion, adding an amp does significantly improve the sound of the stock unit. AND it will eliminate the overeheat problem since the HU will be loafing by only having to drive the higher-impedance line adapter instead of low-impedance speakers. As long as your cut out problem is the 'normal' HU problem, it will probably go away if you add an amp. And adding the amp gives you the chance to upgrade to better speakers without worrying about not having enough power to drive them.

And what's the worst case scenario? You add the amp, still want better sound, and add a new head unit to go with your new amp.

1Y2KS2K - gene's setup sounds correct, as long as he is using a crossover (or high-pass filter) between the HU and the tweeter. The crossover will only allow high frequencies to go to the tweeters, so as not to overdrive them with audio they can't reproduce anyway. Since the tweeters are on a separate amp (in the HU) they take nothing away from the fronts, except for the apparrent overload condition he's experiencing. It's possible that the HU could handle the tweeters on the front channel better than on the rear, but I would be surprised if it did. Won't hurt to try though.