Marauder Sound System Trouble

[Marauder57]

Hey all,

I thought I would get some input from the gang on an issue I am having.

I had Infinty speakers put into my MM on all 4 corners....sounds great.....well after about 2 weeks.....I started getting like a "buzzing" sound from the speaker in the Passenger door. First it was intermitant.....and the buzz was not always noticable except during talking or some bass....basically the voices would sound a little "Tin-Like" or robotic.....if you ride in it everyday you can tell....but if you fade to the front and alternate door speakers you can tell.....So I took the car back to Circuit City...and they replaced it.....sounded great and worked fine for about 2 weeks....then the buzz came back intermitant until now it is all the time.....

So went back to Circuit City today and told the guy.....he took off the door....and checked all the wires (I was standing there) checked all the solder points....all the wiring all the stuff around the speaker.....then I asked him if he could plug the speaker in somewhere else to see if it worked....so he grabbed a wire harness and directly plugged it to an amp that displays speakers on the wall and the speaker in question sounds great! CRAP!

So after a long discussion the CC guy thinks that there may be a problem with either the Factory Radio or Factory AMP...something like a channel that may be off and is only effecting the speaker there....he suggests going to the dealership and getting them to pop in another stereo and see if it gets it done.....if that does not do it he thinks it is in the AMP. He did a nice job of trying to identify the problem and seems to know what he is saying....

So what do you think?
:confused:

[scherermaddness]

well, I do not know much about car engines, but I happen to know a a bit more about car stereos (mostly from getting scre*ed over so much, and starting to do my own installs... some of the things that I would take into consideration is that possibly you could have blown a channel on your factory amp. I would highly recommend that if you go to the dealership though, you do not mention aftermarket speakers, or else they may give you a bunch of crud aobut that voiding the warrenty or something... the other possibilites that I would take into consideration is that possibly the wiring that you have (which it more than likely still factory) may not be large enough to carry the singnal, reducing clarity. but nither of these would explain why the speakers quality degrades after two weeks... if either of the about where a problem, it would be constant... Does it only happen after a long drive when your amp might be posibly starting to overheat? Do you only notice this problem with certain songs, on certain cds, or radio stations? I doubt that it is the infinity speakers, generally they are good products, I have them in my Impala SS, and will be pulling them out right before I sell it, and putting them in my marauder, so I would love to know how this turns out... good luck!

[Marauder57]

It is only the one speaker on the passenger side in the door.....at this point...it is consistently a problem.....just some songs or talk radio it is really bad.....when I isolate just that speaker it sounds like when a channel is inbetween antenaes or is just not tuned in completely....a little buzzy....and it is only the one speaker....all the wiring is factory...and the speaker works...we verified it....

Your suggestion about the AMP is what the guy at CC suggested...I think he suggested the radio first because it is so simple to pull out and check.....

But I can tell you when all 4 speakers were working...man it sounded great in there.....it is just that one speaker....and it is pointing right at me which makes it worse...

And under the wierd and strange....While I am in there having the guy look at my speaker...another guy is getting Satelite radio installed...so they had his factory one out.....when the guy goes to put the factory radio back in....he reads the sticker on the radio of the manufacture date.....Sept. 11 , 2001....... :(

[cyclone03]

Sounds more like wiring to me.
I'm sure it's a PITA but can you bypass the stock wiring from the amp to speaker?

[jerrym3]

What happens when you put back the stock speaker? Problem go away?

How about switching the new speakers left/right?

[MI2QWK4U]

The factory amp drives the subwoofer exclusively. When I redid my speakers, I understood the radio head itself drove the 4 6X8 cabin speakers, which is why I added the new amp. There is no amp that drives the factory speakers. The speaker wires should trace back to the wiring harnes behind the radio. I got this info when I redid my system a month ago. Someone please correct me if im mistaken. Just to clarify, I left the factory amp to drive the new subwoofer and added a new second amp to drive the new cabin speakers.

[Murader03]

MI2QWK4U is correct. Accorrding to the wiring manual, the door speakers are driven directly from the radio head unit. No external amp as there is for the sub. The speakers come off pins 8-9-10-11,12,21,22,23 on the rado plug. If you need color combinations of the wires, let me know and I'll post them.

[joflewbyu2]

where does the sub AMP get its signal from? an amplified signal wire from which corner - right front, right rear, left front or left rear?

[joflewbyu2]

MI2QWK4U, how did you add your amp? where did you get your 4 speaker inputs from? if i add an amp with high level inputs - i take the 2 from the rear and get the other 2 front inputs from the harness behind radio? where is the sub getting its signal from?

[Marauder57]

Originally posted by jerrym3
What happens when you put back the stock speaker? Problem go away?

How about switching the new speakers left/right?

I did not put back in the stock speakers......just put back in the infinity in the same door.....but I was not having a problem with the stock speakers before I changed them....but then again they were pretty crappy and I did not play the music that loud....


OK...so you are saying that the cabin speakers.....meaning the 4 corners are run by the radio.....so then the problem could be with the radio or the wiring in from the radio to the speaker on the passenger side door....this is good to know...at least I know I don't have to worry abou the AMP being the problem. So if it it wiring problems it is occuring somewhere up the wiring past the door because in the door the wiring looks fine and we checked all the solder points....etc.

Well at least I have some specific directions for the dealership....


Now hypothetical.....if the problem is the wiring and I put in a new radio.....they would use the current wiring and the speaker would still have the problem because of the wiring not the radio....right????

[TripleTransAm]

Originally posted by Marauder57

Now hypothetical.....if the problem is the wiring and I put in a new radio.....they would use the current wiring and the speaker would still have the problem because of the wiring not the radio....right????


Should be correct, unless the fact of jiggling the wires about "cures" the problem (ie. it's vibration-dependant). Then it could mislead you...

Judging by your description (without actually hearing the sound), it almost sounds like an oscillation problem I had with an old 80's Nikko Alpha 230 amp about a month ago... this would indicate your head unit is fubar'ed, as the only way I could cure the Nikko was to replace a whack of capacitors. :(

[Crazieboutamerc]

From what I read it does sound like that channel is gone. Check to see what the factory speakers Ohm rating is( should be marked on the back) most factory systems are between 6-10 Ohms. 99.9% of all aftermarket speakers are 4 ohm. you could have a weak factory system where the ohm drop fried the amp channel. Most factory systems will handle 4 ohms, but your could be a weak one.

Tim

[Marauder57]

Well needless to say I have been listening to the speaker like crazy....and the noise is still there.....it was very apparent on talk stations...and on certain songs......one by Aerosmith...but I cannot remember the song.....

So I will go to the dealership and see if it can be cured with the radio swap.....I hope that is it....not the wiring...

The mention of the amp channel frying the speaker came up...but why would it just effect one speaker...and besides the speaker sounded fine when attached to a different radio.....

[MI2QWK4U]

OK...so you are saying that the cabin speakers.....meaning the 4 corners are run by the radio.....so then the problem could be with the radio or the wiring in from the radio to the speaker on the passenger side door....



yes...this is correct. Have you tried the radio diagnostic test? Turn the radio on...then hold down the #3 and #5 buttons at the same time and hold for 10 seconds or so, untill it enters test mode. It will single out each channel, or speaker, including the sub, and play each speaker for a couple seconds before moving on the the next.

[duhtroll]

What Crazie said - check the ohms. That is rule #1 when setting up sound systems.

If the ohms don't match, you're asking for it. Doesn't matter how good each component is if they are not rated the same.

The strange thing is I have never had problems matching when I chose new stuff - maybe I am just lucky.

Thanks,
-A

[Marauder57]

I will try the diagnostic test....but what will it tell me...will it say channel is bad? Or will it just run through everything and then that is it?

[gja]

Maybe a code will pop up, but good luck finding a reference for what they mean. You just know the dealers have no clue as to what they mean. If a radio sounds wrong they will probably just r&r as it is just easier for them.

[MI2QWK4U]

The diagnostic will isolate each speaker channel and let you listen to it by itself, may help you hear whats wrong a little better.

[martyo]

The head unit is easy to pull out. Come over and swap your radio with mine and we'll be able to eliminate the head unit from the equation.

[MI2QWK4U]

That sounds like the best idea of all....