front speakers. no signal and over heating... what to do?

[doseofdc2]

i have a 96 dc2, recently bought 2 12" 2000w ppi's on a clarion 1500w rms. with a crappy old kenwood headunit.

for some reason i took a hard turn and the headunit restarted, and the speakers stopped working.

i bought a new pair of cadence but after wiring them no signal, but the driver side heats up super hot while passenger stays cool.

checked headunit wiring seemed fine, and subs also work fine. just front speakers have next to no signal but they do spark when the wires touch.

could there be some unseen wiring issue? HELP!?

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[QuikSilverRS91 10+ year member]

YES, there could be an unseen wiring issue. Do you have a DMM? Check for continuity on the wiring. Take one lead and place it on the deck side of each speaker wire (individually, not at the same time), then place the other lead on the respective speaker side of the wire. If you have anything more than about 2 ohms, you have an issue. Also, check for continuity to ground to see if one of the wires is shorted. To do this, place one lead on each speaker wire (individually, not at the same time--and you can place it at the deck side or speaker side, doesn't matter) and place the other lead on a chassis ground. If you get.. well.. any reading really.. you have a short. If you get something to the tune of Megaohms you're probably fine, but if it's a low number there's definitely a short.

Also, there's still the very strong possibility that your deck is fried.

 

[QuikSilverRS91 10+ year member]

Oh and I almost forgot; check to see if there's continuity between each positive and negative wire. To do this, place one lead on the positive wire and the other on the negative wire. Make sure you disconnect the speaker and radio first, or you won't get a proper reading. That actually goes for all these tests. If you receive a low number during this check, it means the positive and negative wires are shorted together (not to a ground).

 

[doseofdc2]

oh cool so i just do a current check between the wires running into the speaker... and if its 2ohms there is a short...?

 

[doseofdc2]

Oh and I almost forgot; check to see if there's continuity between each positive and negative wire. To do this, place one lead on the positive wire and the other on the negative wire. Make sure you disconnect the speaker and radio first, or you won't get a proper reading. That actually goes for all these tests. If you receive a low number during this check, it means the positive and negative wires are shorted together (not to a ground).

ok so if this is the problem how could i fix it? re-wire the WHOLE thing?

 

[doseofdc2]

Oh and I almost forgot; check to see if there's continuity between each positive and negative wire. To do this, place one lead on the positive wire and the other on the negative wire. Make sure you disconnect the speaker and radio first, or you won't get a proper reading. That actually goes for all these tests. If you receive a low number during this check, it means the positive and negative wires are shorted together (not to a ground).

oh and btw what is DMM?

 

[QuikSilverRS91 10+ year member]

You have to do all these tests to properly determine the problem, because just doing one only tells you so much information. For example, a successful test during this first test could still be hiding a wire shorted to a chassis ground.

TESTING FOR CONTINUITY OF THE WIRE

-This tests to see if the wire is in tact and carries a signal from its origin to its destination

-Place one lead on the origin and the other lead on the destination

-You want a LOW number (roughly 1 ohm for every 10 feet of wire travel.. so about 2-3 ohms is acceptable)

-A HIGH number indicates a broken or chaffed wire

TESTING FOR CONTINUITY TO GROUND (shorted)

-This tests to see if a given wire is shorted to a ground

-Place one lead on the wire (either at the origin or the destination) and the other lead on a chassis ground

-You want a HIGH number (like.. megaohms or "OL" on some meters--meaning overload or open)

-A LOW number indicates the wire is shorted to ground

TESTING FOR CONTINUITY BETWEEN WIRES

-This test is to determine whether two wires are shorted together

-Place on lead on the first wire, and the other lead on the other wire (in your case, + and - for the speaker wiring)

-You want a HIGH number (megaohms, etc.)

-A LOW number indicates the two wires are shorted together

Remember that you need to disconnect the head unit and speaker during these tests.

If everything checks good during all this, I would suggest swapping the head unit for a new/different one.

 

[QuikSilverRS91 10+ year member]

ok so if this is the problem how could i fix it? re-wire the WHOLE thing?

Yeah if you have a wiring problem like this it's best to just run some new speaker wire from the head unit to the speaker. Don't get freaked out, it's really not that hard.

oh and btw what is DMM?

DMM=Digital Multimeter

You can use an analog meter too, but DMMs are much easier to read. Analog meters are better in other situations.

 

[doseofdc2]

Yeah if you have a wiring problem like this it's best to just run some new speaker wire from the head unit to the speaker. Don't get freaked out, it's really not that hard.

DMM=Digital Multimeter

You can use an analog meter too, but DMMs are much easier to read. Analog meters are better in other situations.

thanks your a legend, i'll test all this tomorrow and let you know how it goes. ty ty ty buds

 

[QuikSilverRS91 10+ year member]

thanks your a legend, i'll test all this tomorrow and let you know how it goes. ty ty ty buds

Not a problem, let me know what you come up with and I can try to steer you a little further in the right direction.