I just got back from the stereo installer, with my MY06, and I think I'm worse off now than I was before. They installed a new Kenwood KDC-X492 HU and a set of Infinity 6020cs component speakers.
Everything was fine until the volume was turned up. When the volume goes up it's like everything is shorting out. The stereo cuts out intermittently and then goes completely out. The installer believes that because the rollhoop speakers in my 06 just cannot handle the power of the HU and they are the source of the short. They tried running the tweeters in series to increase the ohm load and drop some of the power, but that didn't work.
A quick fix remedy for this was to not connect two of the roll hoop speakers. I'm not satisfied with this as a permanent solution, since I still can't really turn up the volume without the music cutting out.

Has anyone encountered this type of problem? Any advice is welcome, as I'm heading back to the stereo store tomorrow with some new ideas to try to get this fixed.

 

it sounds like a speaker connection problem, try playing all speakers independly(FL/FR/RL/RR) and see which one of these shorts out your radio.

 

I'm pretty sure the rears are wired driver+passenger in series for a 4-ohm
load, so I doubt that's your problem (besides, they worked fine with a
crappy oem headunit, why not with a better Kenwood?). If the headunit
still cuts out with them disconnected it's surely not the problem.
A *possibility* is that those Infinity speakers, per Crutchfield
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-qxNTWA4Y5lB/A...spx?I=1086020CS
are 2-ohm impedance, while most headunit amplifiers aren't designed for
impedance < 4-ohms.
Infinity claims their 2-ohm speakers are "compatible with all factory or
aftermarket car stereos" however, despite the headunit manufacturers
warning against low impedance speakers.

 

alright, now that it's day time I had a little more opportunity to do some of my own diagnosing. I turned bass, treb, and mids all the way up and singled out each channel (front right, front left, rear right, rear left). even at maximum volume to each individual channel, I was not able to replicate the breaking up. Next I tried combinations ( rear only, front only, right only, left only). Again, no luck in recreating the problem. Starting off with full power on front speakers and fading more power to the rear speakers (and that's only 2 out of 4 of the rollhoop speakers, they can't draw THAT much power) does the sound start breaking out. On a 15 point scale, it's around fade level 6 that I lose the ability to turn it up.

I'm beginning to think I actually need an amplifier to run this tiny setup of mine. Can this really be possible? This is not my first time jumping into the arena of car stereo, I had a fairly complex setup in my old car that I hand installed. This one is just baffling me.

 

NO that would not be because of the rool hoop speakers. Your installer is not even close to finding the problem by messing with them.

Your issue would likely be due to a bad install @ the wire harness behind the radio, or a bad connection @ the speakers.

who and where installed it?

 

It was installed at a place called "Sound Proof" in Douglasville, GA. I was directed to them by someone who had a good experience with them, and after talking to them, the guy that actually did the install drives an S2k. Earlier model, of course, without the roll hoop speakers.

 

Tweets have a tendency to cut in/out at levels of distortion. Kenwood has a tendency to short out/cut out when to much power is applied at distortion level, or "ground out" has occured. Factory HU dont have these feature. Its the reason so a less chance of blowing your speakers or HU will be reduced, not eliminated. If you like LOUD music and/or just listing with your top down, get a 4ch amp. It minimizes distorsion and doubles the sound output w/o distortion(with proper tuning).

 

I had a kenwood in my 06 and i played it loud no problem

maybe one of your tweet in blown then?

 

Sounds like your HU doesn't have enough juice to power all speakers, esp if you are running a pair of 2 ohms. Even some amps have trouble powering 2 ohm speakers at high volume. Infinity/Crutchfield's marketing is quite misleading.

Have you tried replacing the pair of Infinity with a pair of 4 ohms speakers and run all 4 speakers together? If it works, then it's time to shop for amp or replace the Infinity with their 4 ohm equiv or other speakers... depending on how much more you want to spend.

 

check your fader see if u can fade to rear and itll goto the rear, FL,FR etc etc.
if it doesnt fade rear he prolly wired everything to the front speaker connects.