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help speakers not working

Discussion in 'General Car Audio Discussions' started by nolan004, Mar 23, 2010.

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  1. nolan004

    nolan004 Full Member

    I have a '94 Dodge Dakota, with aftermarket head unit, speakers, sub, and amp. The problem is, when I am driving, the speakers will fade out, but not the subwoofer. When I come to a stop, they fade back in, but as soon as I accelerate they fade again. I have checked the wiring and have grounded the head unit directly to the battery.
     
    nolan004, Mar 23, 2010
    #1
  2. fstrfvo

    fstrfvo Full Member

    So what happens when you have the car in park and rev the engine?
     
    fstrfvo, Mar 23, 2010
    #2
  3. fstrfvo

    fstrfvo Full Member

    Do the speakers just get softer or do they stop all together with NO sound?
     
    fstrfvo, Mar 23, 2010
    #3
  4. nolan004

    nolan004 Full Member

    I have be driving for about 10 minutes or so and after awhile I will start to notice the subwoofer overpowering the speakers. When I stop and start to go again the speakers will fade out dramatically. It takes awhile, but they will eventually fade all the way out. I have also noticed that the subwoofer will amplify the noises the head unit makes when changing tracks on a cd. I don't know if that is related at all.
     
    nolan004, Mar 23, 2010
    #4
  5. fstrfvo

    fstrfvo Full Member

    so the head unit powers the front and rear speakers and the amp to the subwoofer?
     
    fstrfvo, Mar 23, 2010
    #5
  6. nolan004

    nolan004 Full Member

    Yes. The head unit powers the 4 speakers through the factory wiring, and the amp is pushed by the rca outputs. The amp is powered directly from the battery.
     
    nolan004, Mar 23, 2010
    #6
  7. fstrfvo

    fstrfvo Full Member

    So has it done this since the day the HU was installed or did it just start doing this all of a sudden. What kind of head unit is it and who installed it?
     
    fstrfvo, Mar 23, 2010
    #7
  8. nolan004

    nolan004 Full Member

    I had a panasonic head for about a year and then one day it started doing this. I got a JVC headunit and it still has the problem. I installed everything myself.
     
    nolan004, Mar 23, 2010
    #8
  9. fstrfvo

    fstrfvo Full Member

    so the Panasonic worked ok at first?
     
    fstrfvo, Mar 23, 2010
    #9
  10. nolan004

    nolan004 Full Member

    Yea for about a year
     
    nolan004, Mar 23, 2010
    #10
  11. fstrfvo

    fstrfvo Full Member

    ok so is it caused by vehicle movement or engine speed. What happens if you have it in park and rev the engine, do they cut out or play ok?
     
    fstrfvo, Mar 23, 2010
    #11
  12. fstrfvo

    fstrfvo Full Member

    also did you use your own speaker wires or did you connect the HU to the factory wires?
     
    fstrfvo, Mar 23, 2010
    #12
  13. nolan004

    nolan004 Full Member

    I am using the factory speaker wiring for the speakers, and the engine speed doesn't seem to affect it. What does affect it is the heater. The speakers will fade out faster if I have the heater running, and I noticed that the heatsink on the HU gets pretty hot, but someone said that was normal.
     
    nolan004, Mar 24, 2010
    #13
  14. nolan004

    nolan004 Full Member

    and they only fade out when I am driving, but I have to be driving for quite awhile before it happens. If I stop and turn the key off and then back on, without starting the engine, the speakers work fine. It seems like maybe it is overheating, but I don't know how that could be, it doesn't heat up CD's that I have noticed.
     
    nolan004, Mar 24, 2010
    #14
  15. nolan004

    nolan004 Full Member

    Is there any chance that there is a factory amp somewhere in the truck that is failing? I don't know what else it could possibly be?
     
    nolan004, Mar 24, 2010
    #15
  16. fstrfvo

    fstrfvo Full Member

    If its easy pull the HU and wire a speaker up with new wire, see what happens when you bypass the factory wiring. I know some cars in that era had a device that increased volume when the speed increased and decreased the volume when the car slowed down. But of course that is oppisite of what your car is doing, but its just the first thing that comes to mind. As for overheating you said that it comes back on when you come to a stop so that cant be it.
     
    fstrfvo, Mar 25, 2010
    #16
  17. nolan004

    nolan004 Full Member

    Yea I had that exact same idea today. I will try that and get back to you. Thank you, by the way, for all the help!
     
    nolan004, Mar 25, 2010
    #17
  18. nolan004

    nolan004 Full Member

    So I wired up an additional speaker directly to the headunit, and it fades out as well...
     
    nolan004, Mar 27, 2010
    #18
  19. fstrfvo

    fstrfvo Full Member

    wow thats bizarre, if you have 2 different hu and different brands I would say something is wrong with the way the radios are being installed.
     
    fstrfvo, Mar 27, 2010
    #19
  20. nolan004

    nolan004 Full Member

    Wow. After all of that, it turned out to be a bad voice coil. one of the speakers had locked up. I took it out and now it works great and sounds better than it did before.
     
    nolan004, Mar 28, 2010
    #20
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