2005 Equinox sound system issue

[bamboo101]

I have 2 Kenwood 12s running at 4ohm 250w a piece on the stock radio, It was installed professionally by a company who has done installs on 3 of my cars and have always done a great job.

Anyways It will be running perfectly at one point and then just start to sound as if they are losing power, start to cut in and out, and eventually shut down and just kinda quietly hum. It is quite unpredictable when it will happen so it is hard to get it in the shop as its happening. I have had the wiring double checked it all looks great and the ground is solid, And I have run a volt meter on the car and it runs at 14.5 or so when running and around 12 when off. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

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[i2ain2thunder 10+ year member]

Problem could be your PCM Module, or really anything in that vehicle...sorry but the 05 Equinox's sux man. check out the link: Chevy Equinox - PCM Root of Problems - Topix

P.S. If you take it to the dealer and they claim they don't know anything about the problems those 05 equinox's have, do me a favor and slap them.

 

[i2ain2thunder 10+ year member]

Also what is the rest of your system and what kind of wiring-if you know?

 

[bamboo101]

It is a kenwood 9105d Amp, Memphis Audio 4ga wiring kit, also has an LC-1 installed.

 

[i2ain2thunder 10+ year member]

Do you have headlight dimming issues at all? Is the amplifier in protect when this happens or does it seem to be operating normally?

 

[bamboo101]

Not really noticeable while driving, Maybe a bit while at idle. I am not sure about Protect mode, All the lights are still on, on the amp, and like I said it still outputs a bit of sound when it shuts down that may just be Interference in the line from the engine, just a guess though.

 

[i2ain2thunder 10+ year member]

Well I know some stock radios have a feature that lowers the bass to protect the speakers when the volume gets high, since I'm guessing your stock radio doesn't have rca outputs for a sub. The installers probally used a line out converter, possibly using signal used for the speakers, this could be causing the effects you're having. I'm a little skeptical though because it would probally do it more often if that was the case. Just have one last question for ya, do the speakers seem to be operating normally when this happens and it's just the subs that have issues?

 

[bamboo101]

Yea, I don't think that sounds too likely because some days it will pound full blast for an hour and other days the issue will happen before I can get out of my neighborhood. And to answer your question, when the subs go out the speakers are all still working fine.

One thought I had was that it has a little stock amp for an 8in sub that it came with, That sub was blown when I got the car. I replaced it with a JL W1 8in on the same little amp. Any chance that amp is causing issues? I mean it is really not putting out any power... the JL barley puts out any more bass than my other speakers.

 

[i2ain2thunder 10+ year member]

Alright, I can't think of a definite cause, If I were you I'd check all the wiring I could and make sure power/ground/rcas/remote wire are good and not loose at all or on a bad connection. After that is done I'd take it back to the shop that installed it and tell them to fix it/recheck the setup and make sure everything is installed properly, I'd assume they'd do that for free if they wanna keep a customer. If that doesn't solve it I'd take it to the dealer and find someone knowledgeable about those pcm issues and see if that could be an issue. I know those kenwood amps for the most part they are extremely reliable so I don't think it would be a mest up amplifier. It definitely sounds like either a signal or power issue so I'd check those wires and they're connections really well. If that doesn't seem to be the problem have the shop look at it and get more info on the pcm issues. past that I don't know hopefully you'll get some more feedback from people on the forum, theres probally many people more knowledgeable than me on this subject, and sorry I couldn't be of more assistance, oh and check the connections on that other amp too, make sure theres not a short somewhere.