After 5 years with the same install, finally its crapping out...WHY?

[dakotus 10+ year member]

Hey guys, have a question for the car audio gurus. I have an older Sony Mobile ES deck CDX-C6950. (told ya it was old) Running a Planet Audio PA2004 amp, CDT components in the front, and rear fill. The problem I've been having lately is that the sound will cut out randomly at any volume. Sometimes this happens at low volume, sometimes only when I start turning it up.

Sometimes it happens when I start lowering the drivers window, which led me to believe it was a component wiring issue in the drivers door, but I looked, and there are no apparent wire frays.

To try to help rule things out, I connected my blackberry directly to the inputs on the amp, and there was NO cutting/crackling of any kind, at any volumes. Even tried lowering the windows, still no problems.

Is it possible for the RCA outputs on a deck to go bad? I realize this deck is probably 10 or more years old. What other things can I check to rule things out? Try a different patch cable from deck to amp? Grounding? Thoughts?

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[T.I.K. 10+ year member]

Because it's 5 years old?

 

[Kangaroux 5,000+ posts]

sounds like a bad RCA connection. have you tried replacing the RCA cable?

 

[dakotus 10+ year member]

Just tried running a new patch cable from the deck to the amp, and the same problem is there. Speakers just pop, but the Sub channel seems to be unaffected.

Bad deck?

 

[Kangaroux 5,000+ posts]

Just tried running a new patch cable from the deck to the amp, and the same problem is there. Speakers just pop, but the Sub channel seems to be unaffected.
Bad deck?

either that or your amp for the speakers is bad. do you have a multimeter? you can check the voltage coming from the RCA's for the speakers. if when there isn't sound the voltage is extremely low, then chances are it's a bad deck. otherwise it's your amp

 

[dakotus 10+ year member]

Kangaroux, Thanks for the insights. I dont know if you noticed, but I thought that would be a problem, so I ran a connection from my BlackBerry to the amp via a RCA/3.5mm cable, and I was getting fantastic sound. I think the amp is working fine.

Sadly, no multimeter here.

 

[dakotus 10+ year member]

Guys I should also note, that via the deck the Sub preout is working fine. The crackling is just coming from the other preouts. Any other thoughts?

 

[smoka 10+ year member]

Most likely a bad ground on the deck or amp. You may have a ground that is getting corroded, or over time if the wire moves you may have a break in it that might not be easily noticeable.

 

[Phoenix Risen 10+ year member]

have you tried hooking an ipod or mp3 player directly into the amp imputs? that will rule out the deck and rcas if the problem still persists.

 

[daboyfrumdabx 10+ year member]

have you tried hooking an ipod or mp3 player directly into the amp imputs? that will rule out the deck and rcas if the problem still persists.

He mentioned doing this with his blackberry twice in this thread lol. RCAs were swapped with same results. Has to be HU preouts.

 

[Phoenix Risen 10+ year member]

He mentioned doing this with his blackberry twice in this thread lol. RCAs were swapped with same results. Has to be HU preouts.

my bad. alcohol and reading dont mix too well

 

[DeathByWaffle 10+ year member]

Why don't you buy new stuff? whats the point in wasting time with old stuff?? only to cause you anger. Thats why

 

[SPL Blazer 10+ year member]

Sounds like it's time for a new deck, and something besides Sony.

 

[dakotus 10+ year member]

Well guys I thought I'd post a little follow up in case someone down the road wanted to reference this thread. I replaced the head unit, and all was great...until I closed the drivers door. Then the original problem came back.

This time I used a different GROUND for the HU, one that is verified as good and working.

I believe the problem is with the wires going from the AMP to the CROSSOVER in the door. I took the drivers door apart, and looked at wires, all seem to be in good shape. To be thorough, I replaced the wire from woofer to xover. I brushed all the rusty terminals of the crossover so theyre decently clean.

Everything SEEMS to be working now, but I do not have faith that it will last.

Do you think there could be a short in the crossover? or the wire from AMP to Crossover??