Stereo troubleshooting... help?

[pat_ernzen]

So, in my Rambler I have a pretty simple setup. A couple of small, cheap speakers under the dash along with the head unit, then a pair of amped Infinity 6x9s in the trunk, pointing through the rear bench.

When it was working properly, it actually sounded quite good considering everything is completely hidden and I didn't cut into anything. But now I'm having issues and I can't quite figure out why. I know little about this stuff, so I'm really hoping someone here can help me out.

A while back, sound was cutting out in one of the two rears, then, eventually, both of the two. Thought it was just the amp going bad and in particular, the stereo cable inputs, but I don't think this is the case anymore. I put a different amp in (which I'm not certain works, to be honest) and I couldn't get it to work either.

The thing is, there is a bit of sound coming out of the speakers, but it's hardly anything at all. I put a voltmeter on it and have about 13.5 volts, which I believe is enough. Would I have that kind of voltage if it was a bad ground?

Any ideas? Hate driving around without music, haha.

[Stock?]

13.5v should be good
if you are getting some sound out of them I would consider a few things
Your speakers are blown
The RCAs from the deck back are bad
The RCA outputs from the deck are bad
In that order.

First thing I would try is to take a known good speaker and connect it to the amp to see if that works, this will show you if it's the speakers or RCA's
If the new speaker doesn't work run a new set of RCA's, just connect them to the deck and to the amp, no need to hide them at this point. If this works, it's your RCA's
If not, i would say your deck is bad, either get a new deck or a line out converter and hook it to the rear speaker leads to use for RCA outs.

[pat_ernzen]

Thanks a lot for the input. The sound coming out almost sounds like it's just the tweeter or something. I doubt I blew them, but I guess it's possible. They used to cut in and out like this (where they'd do this same just a bit of sound thing) and then fire right back up fine. It's possible the RCA is bad... I just remembered that before I was using a mini-stereo to RCA cable with my MP3 player to test exactly this. I also just realized I have some little bookshelf speakers that I could hook up to test it, too. Those two things should rule out the RCAs/speakers being the problem.

Any idea what to look for if it acts exactly the same with these variations? Likely just a bad amp at that point?

[Pendulum]

What brand is the head unit? Pioneers are known for having pre-amp issues.

[pat_ernzen]

Cheap unit I picked up at Best Buy or something. JVC KD-R200. One amp is an older Alpine V12 and the other is an even older Eclipse. Haven't really had time to mess with it much lately.

[DarkAngel]

If you have intermittent cutting off of sound, it is most likely your RCA's or like Stock? stated. I had this issue and went nuts trying to figure it out. Even bought a new speaker. Well low and behold it still did the same thing. In the end I looked at the RCA's connecting to the amp and yeah one was loose and appeared broken. I jiggled it a bit and sound started to pop back on. Well I purchased a good set of RCA's and walla, problem solved. Well for me that is. Hope it is as simple as this for you.

[casto27]

it sounds like you might have a ground issue with the speakers. how do you have those 6x9 hooked up? did you run speaker wires straight to it amp from the back of the radio... or speaker wires from the 6x9 to the amp?

[99luder]

ok u have 13.5 volts.. does ur system work on low volume but not high volume?
1 check for voltage at ur remote wire.. then check continuety to ground throught remote.. u should not have it..
2 check for proper ohms reading through ur speaker wires.. if u have had ur speaker wires or speakers ground out they will have sound at low volume and not work at higher volume..(check with known good speakers and wires)
3. check rca cables for frays cuts and so on..
let me know what u find...
also check ur charging system.