Distorting & cutting out at high volume

[justinmperry]

I just put a kenwood radio in, its probably a year old, has pandora and stuff so its not a dinosaur. and I have 2 12s too but the thing is, the subs sound fine mostly when i turn it all the way up, but the last 25% of the turn has the door/deck speakers distorting real bad and it gets quiet kinda because of the distortion. When turn all the way up it will sometimes start cutting out, like the radio will stutter or something. Please help, ive been messing with my audio for like a year trying to get it perfect lmao. thanks

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[The Camry]

Are your speakers powered by amp or your head unit?

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

I just put a kenwood radio in, its probably a year old, has pandora and stuff so its not a dinosaur. and I have 2 12s too but the thing is, the subs sound fine mostly when i turn it all the way up, but the last 25% of the turn has the door/deck speakers distorting real bad and it gets quiet kinda because of the distortion. When turn all the way up it will sometimes start cutting out, like the radio will stutter or something. Please help, ive been messing with my audio for like a year trying to get it perfect lmao. thanks

don't turn it up at that point, that point you are clipping and distorting. Google up what clipping and distortion is.

 

[justinmperry]

Are your speakers powered by amp or your head unit?

The car has a factory amp, but im amussing theyre powered by the headunit.

 

[potvin]

Double check your connections. Make sure your cd player has a decent ground. Maybe try to relocate its ground to make sure. Check all grounds at amps etc.

Sometimes if speaker wire leads or RCA cables are shorting against each other or grounding out somewhere that will cause the sound to be distorted and maybe causing one or more of your items to go into thermal protection. I would check every wire and contact point before diagnosing any further.

 

[justinmperry]

don't turn it up at that point, that point you are clipping and distorting. Google up what clipping and distortion is.

lol i know exactly what clipping and distortion is, which is why im here. I need to know why its distorting, and I don't see how im clipping cause my headunit is flat on all settings, and it has nothing to do with my subs cause i can turn them off and the radio still sounds like dump 75% up. I have had a couple speakers blow in the car, maybe theyre all just blown lol? theyre stock speakers

 

[potvin]

The car has a factory amp, but im amussing theyre powered by the headunit.

Wait, you're assuming the front speakers are being powered by the headunit? ... Didn't you say you've just installed a Kenwood headunit?

 

[justinmperry]

Wait, you're assuming the front speakers are being powered by the headunit? ... Didn't you say you've just installed a Kenwood headunit?

yeah, honestly didnt know there was a difference between the factory amp and headunit though. Im not sure what youre trying to say

 

[potvin]

lol i know exactly what clipping and distortion is, which is why im here. I need to know why its distorting, and I don't see how im clipping cause my headunit is flat on all settings, and it has nothing to do with my subs cause i can turn them off and the radio still sounds like dump 75% up. I have had a couple speakers blow in the car, maybe theyre all just blown lol? theyre stock speakers

If a couple of speakers are blown then that could be it. Maybe the voice coils are shorting at high volumes and the deck doesn't like the taste of it.

 

[potvin]

yeah, honestly didnt know there was a difference between the factory amp and headunit though. Im not sure what youre trying to say

Headunit = CD player, DVD player. Factory amp would be an external amplifier.

 

[justinmperry]

If a couple of speakers are blown then that could be it. Maybe the voice coils are shorting at high volumes and the deck doesn't like the taste of it.

now that you mention it, my rear deck speakers are both blown and out, the whole rubber seal around the cones were like destroyed, same with the driver side door, idk about the rest. this all happened with the factory radio though.

 

[potvin]

Ok well then...start by turfing those. It's likely your problem. Even if it wasn't, they should be replaced...nobody likes the sound of a woofer with no surround

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

lol i know exactly what clipping and distortion is, which is why im here. I need to know why its distorting, and I don't see how im clipping cause my headunit is flat on all settings, and it has nothing to do with my subs cause i can turn them off and the radio still sounds like dump 75% up. I have had a couple speakers blow in the car, maybe theyre all just blown lol? theyre stock speakers

If you have a factory amp, the new head unit's preout signal will be stronger than the factory head unit which can easily drive your factory amp to distortion. OR the new head unit's distortion point is at 75% volume, Some head units signals arent that clean. Factory amps should have a gain level adjuster, if not then you'll need to bypass the factory amp.