pacey205 2 Posted June 19, 2006 Right Im having issues with my stereo in the car. Its been working fine but just cut out the other day, no sounds from it at all. Headunit powers up fine its jsut that theres no sound output. Ive got continuity on all the speaker cables which would suggest its not a speaker wire shorting somewhere but I was thinking it amy be an earth problem. Where does the earth for the stereo run to (no Haynes on me) and is there anything I should look at with regards to this. Also any other ideas, I know the descriptions a bit sketchy but electrics arent my thing lol. Michael Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest smokinslim Posted June 20, 2006 If you have power running to the speakers your HU will be earthing ok, no earth means no power. Are you certain that none of the speaker cables are catching anything? Once experienced the same in a mates corsa, everything worked but no sound apart from bass from the sub. We took the HU back to where he got if from, they plugged it into their display and it worked perfectly. Put it back in the car, sound was gone again. Fiddling about, pretty much out of ideas by this point, i disconnected the front speakers from the loom and hey presto the rear speakers started pumping. Plugged the fronts back in and the sound went again. The front speakers were brand new and in perfect order, they had been working at first. As it turned out, the fronts were aftermarket replacements for the standard door speakers, and whilst they fitted perfectly in the spaces left by the originals certain dimensions were slightly larger. Where the wires connected to them they were just skimming the edge of the inner door panel causing a short circuit. The short was causing the protection circuit of the amp to kick in and switch it off rather than damaging it. A bit of insulating tape around the connections and the problem was solved. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pacey205 2 Posted June 20, 2006 Well I tried disconnecting the speakers in turn and it made no difference, only thing I didnt try was running a speaker direct to the head unit. Mate told me it may be that the earth to the HU was bad and it was earthing through the aerial instead, mind you I tried it with the aerial unplugged as well and it amde no difference either. Guess the only way to rule out the wiring is to run a new wire direct from the HU to each speaker individually and see what happens then. Michael Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest smokinslim Posted June 20, 2006 That would rule out a HU problem if they all work that way. Easiest way to check the HU earth is to run it straight to the chassis, instead of through the loom. Another possibility (i'm not suggesting that its wrong, just trying to help you narrow down the problem) is if one or more speakers are connected incorrectly to an amp (sometimes even just + and - the wrong way round) it can prevent the amp from fully switching on. If the amp has a power led it will light up red if this is the case, green when fully functioning. Again a protection system to prevent the amp being used incorrectly connected and promptly dying. It's quite hard to narrow down problems like this with little information, and by the sounds of it your system isn't just your average tinny door speakers and 6x9 setup. If you can test different parts of the system independantly, this should help you narrow it down to a specific area of your setup, if not leading you to the problem. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ahl 4 Posted June 21, 2006 Its unfortunate, but if you can't find any other problem, then it could just be your HU needing repaired. Its not all that uncommon for the relays or similar to fail on the output stage of the amp. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pacey205 2 Posted June 21, 2006 Cheers for the pointerd lads, Im not massively fussed at the momoent as the sound of the Mi is more than enough to keep me happy but I do like some tunes in my car. The setup itself is pretty basic, just a Clarion mp3 head unti with standard door speakers and some in the shelf (not 6x9's) all in from the original owner (apart from the head unit). Hoping its not the HU as its discontinued now and I like the minamlist look of it, suits the rest of the interior. Michael Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Paintguy 0 Posted June 22, 2006 You can rule out the speakers by disconnecting their wires from the HU, and flicking them across the terminals of a 9V battery. If the relavent speaker makes a noise, then it shows that that particular speaker, and the wiring to it, are fine Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Michel_De_Lattre 0 Posted June 22, 2006 Even a 1.5V battery would do the job. If it makes some noise... it should work. Is the connector deep enough in the radio? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
scotthall39 0 Posted June 22, 2006 Could be you have shorted the front output on the stereo which when connecting is shorting the headunit output, but connecting just the rears is fine. Seems like a repair is in order. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
