Brand new system installed...crackle & pop = speakers dead. Now what?

[MDew1 10+ year member]

I just paid over $700 to have a deck, amp, front & rear speakers & powered sub installed in my 2003 Toyota Highlander in a local audio shop. It was a lightly-used deck & amp I bought elsewhere (they looked new) and brand-new speakers from Amazon. Shortly afterwards, I noticed odd crackling noises and the occasional loud pop when listening to music at relatively low volumes (from the speakers, not the sub). Then, when turning the key in my car's ignition the deck powered up, I heard a scratchy noise & pop (similar to a record needle fumbling around on a record) and all the sound went out at once. All that remained was very faint sound from the tweeters and the rumbling of the sub.

I took it back into the shop (this was 3 days after the installation) and they took it apart & verified that all of the brand-new midrange speakers were blown. The sub is still functioning fine since it was not wired to the amp. They attributed it to a sudden surge of power from the amp, and that basically it must be faulty and delivering "dirty" power. They disconnected one speaker and hooked up a test speaker and verified it was working again now...but essentially left me high & dry as to where to go next. How do I verify that it was indeed the amp that was at fault? And IF it was what recourse do I have (since returning the amp is not an option)?

Deck: Sony XAV-W650BT

Amp: Rockville RXA-F2 2400W Peak/1200W RMS 4-Channel

Front Speakers: Polk Audio DB6501 6.5" 2-Way Component System w/ speakers, tweeters, crossovers (300W Peak/100W RMS)

Rear Speakers: Polk DB652 6.5" UltraMarine Dynamic Balance Coaxial Speakers (300W Peak/100W RMS)

Sub: Rockville RW8CA 8" w/ wiring kit

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[Jeffro83]

I don't know what you can do about it now but that sounds fishy to me almost like they didn't have the gain set properly and the amp was clipping and that killed your speakers but I am no expert I'm sure others will chime in

 

[MDew1 10+ year member]

Yeah that's what I'm worried about. Considering taking it into another shop for a 2nd opinion just to double-check their work since I don't really know what to look for.

 

[Jeffro83]

Definitely not a bad idea to get a second opinion I would ask around on the Forum and see if anybody knows of a good shop in your area

 

[BOOMINGRANDPA 5,000+ posts]

amp coulda been bad or they coulda done crappy job with ground or had wires touching idk of a way to find out other than to try a new amp, see if it has noises (make sure amp ground is good 1st, no paint under it)

 

[MDew1 10+ year member]

Diagnosis from the 2nd audio shop confirmed that the amp was fine, the problem was either due to faulty wiring or faulty speakers. I tore the speakers out in order to return them to Amazon so we'll see what happens. Judging by the reviews, it seems others have had problems with those same models.