worm

To make a long story short...

Replaced the front speakers with new Sony speakers a few years ago and have worked fine til now. Installed rear speakers. No problems. Installed new Alpine head unit. Again, no problems. Installed sub in trunk and sub in spare tire well and that has performed without failure for the past year or so.

Now about 2 weeks ago I go out to wash my car...great, looking nice and clean. About 1 minute into my drive, the front and rear speakers go out, however I am getting sound from the sub. (you can hear the base). So I fiddled with some wires and took the head unit out, checked the wires, etc. but can't find the problem.

After a few days, the cabin speakers came on again and now cut in and out whenever I hit a large bump (and I think it happens when I hit something on the drivers side) But this only happens with the cabin speakers and the sub in the trunk (and the amp) are unaffected.

Anyways, is there a connector pin or plug somewhere I am missing that links in all these speakers? Is it possible something got wet and now has a simple short?

I took all the plug and wires on and off from the back of the head unit and nothing seems to work...I am thinking there is something under the dash.

Not an expert in this department, but was able to install everything myself. So if anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them. But mostly, I loved to hear my cabin speakers 100% of the time.

thanks everyone.

PJK3

what have done to check the door speakers?

and what method did you use to connect them?

(though it's hard to believe both would go out simultaneously from a loose connection.)

also, are the in cabin speakers powered by the head unit or by an amp?

worm

The front door speakers are connected to the Alpine unit by twisting and then electrical tape. The rear speakers (behind the seats backs) which I also installed are connected in the same way and they are all independent of each other as connected to the head unit.

So my thoughts are there is a pin somewhere where all four connect too. I know there are a couple of these that interface with the HU and I have taken them apart and put them back together, but to no avail.

These units are not connected to an amp. The only amp I have is connected to the sub in the trunk.

bobby

It sounds to me like one of your door speakers in grounding out, either the metal terminals or the wire itself is touching the doors sheetmetal. When this happens the internal amp (inside of radio) shuts down to protect itself. When you are hitting bumps this causes the short to happen then go away. You can check for the problem with a muti meter, just switch the meter to continuity, ground one of the leads and touch the other lead to your speaker wires behind your stereo. If you here the meter beep or buzz that speaker is your grounding problem. or if you dont have a meter turn on your radio and disconnect one speaker at a time. If you still dont get sound with that speaker disconnected hook it back up then move on to the next speaker. The sound shoud come back on when you disconnect the problem speaker. then remove speaker find problem, fix problem, and put everything back together. This is my best guess and fix remedy.

worm

Interesting. So basically isolate each speaker. I wasn't aware the internal amp would shut down to protect itself, but like all electronics, that seems spot on.

Duh, I should have thought of that...I'll try that tonight or tomorrow night. Thanks for the help. I really think its something simple like that. I'll keep all posted as to what I come up with.

Any other suggestions are welcome. I appreciate everyone's help.

Kronos

While you are in there checking connections why don't you get some crimp connectors...may help you out down the road.