Thread: Audio Gremlins
View Single Post
Old 10-28-2004, 07:00 PM   #1
SpeakersGoBoom
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Posts: 865
iTrader: (0)
Audio Gremlins

Ok, this is my situation.
When I bought the car, it already had a pretty decent sound system in it.
-UT-4 Stock tape deck head unit (the nice one with the 5 band equalizer)
-Stock 4 speakers upgraded
-Stock amplifier in dashboard w/ stock bass gain control and cutoff switch(not connected)
-What appears to be 800w from 2 amps in the trunk. (Kenwood is one, the other i think is a company called "Majestik" or somethign like that. anyone ever heard of it?)
-2 10" subwoofers (kicker) in a ported box.

A little while after I bought it, the FR speaker started to go. sounded like crap. I ignored it for a while (somewhat tight funds, but nothing compared to what im in now) until the subs started to sound like crap. Not having any time to do it myself, i took it to the audio shop in fairlawn that i go to for them to replace the speakers.
Turns out the paper on the speakers was done from the sun. the speakers appeared to be as old as 9 years (thats when the guy said he used to deal with those types of speakers. dont remember what kind the front were)

The subs were replaced with 10" aluminum subs from Diesel Audio. 600w max each. The front two were replaced with vynal speakers. dont remember the brand name, but they were 250w max each. At that time, i decided to start looking for a cd player

A few months later (very end of summer/beginning of school) the rear speakers went. started out with, if i remember correctly, the RL sounding fine and the RR sounding low (litterally, low volume), then it deteriorated to RL sounding low, and RR being dead. finally, it progressed to both being dead.

Not giving it much thought, i assumed that it was from age, and replaced the speakers. No name brand 4 way speakers I had lying around the house. 250w each. That did nothing. Again, ran out of time after that weekend between school and work, so i had to take it in for repairs. After probably 4 hours of work, the shop determined that there was nothing they could do more than get a very low sound back to the speaker. feeling that they didnt do anything, they didnt charge me (sweet, sort of)

Continue driving along, and now the FL speaker sounds low, and teh FR speaker starts to sound like pure garbage. I bring up the point to my father that its as if the FL, RL, and RR speakers are UNDERPOWERED, while the FR was OVERPOWERED. He came to the conclusion that I was somewhere between stupid and crazy.

I pull out the radio, and down drops a black box that was tucked underneith the climate control unit. Turns out to be some sort of distribution control, with apparantly all of the power set to go to the FR speaker (HA! WHOS NUTS NOW?!) I adjust it, and the sound balances out (for the front two. the back 2 are still almost mute) although the damage was done to the FR. I take it to the shop (speakers under warranty) and they replace it free of charge.

I purchase and instal the CD Player. Delco Pontiac Monsoon w/ 7 band equalizer from a 00 T/A

Recently, my left sub stops working. upon some experimentation with the wires, I come to the conclusion that the amp is bad on one channel.

Within the past few days, the FL speaker starts to sound like crap.

Within the past TWO days, at times ALL of the speakers begin to sound underpowered and crappy. When the radio is turned off and turned on again, the crappy sound continues. When the CAR is turned off and turned on again, that seems to fix the problem.

I am currently looking for a new amp, and am going to take the car back to the shop to get it checked out, but a thought came into my head that maybe there are problems with the electrical system. Does anyone have any ideas/experiences that sound like this one? I see no point in spending a few hundred for a good amp and replacing the speakers if it doesnt do anything, just destroys the new stuff, or gets even worse than it is.

BTW, I really have no idea about the electrical system in the car. As Trans Am Chick and TPI Monte SS can attest to, the wire harness is laughable/sickening. its the clip, about 1 to 1 1/2 inches of wire, and then it just breaks off into EVERYTHING! Crimps, splicers, electrical tape (think i even saw some DUCT TAPE in there!) and some other things that I dont ever remember seeing before. It became pretty obvious that the harness was worked on when i found that control unit, and there may be even more that i dont know about...unless that control unit was stock, which i doubt, but i guess anythings possible. I'm considering looking up Vito (dude who owned the car before me. Even wrote his name on the doors) and asking him if he remembers what he did to teh car. Anyway, does anyone have any ideas as to what i might be able to do? I'm pretty much stumped. I dont want to get a new wire harness and redo the car, but i may have to...
Like i said, any ideas? thanks!
SpeakersGoBoom is offline   Reply With Quote