HELP very weird problem with speakers cutting out (Car Audio Experts Needed)

[Rkrajnov 10+ year member]

Ok so let me give you some background. I installed my system about a year ago. It consists of a subwoofer (Fi Q 12") hooked to an audioque 1200d. I also have some hertz hsk 165s bridged to another amp (JL 300/4). Anyways, everything worked GREAT until a few months ago. Absolutely no problems. Now back in august my subwoofer blew. Not quite sure why, but this is pretty irrelevant, just thought i would mention that. I finally sent it in for repairs now, but it's still out of commission.

Anyhow, let's move on to the problem. Back around october my speakers began to randomly cut out at loud volumes. Everytime they do this, it is just for a couple seconds, then they will come back and you will hear them very quietly for about half a second and then they pop back to full volume. This problem is completely sporadic. It doesn't happen at a set volume (though it usually won't happen if the volume is lower) and it will happen completely randomly. For instance, it was acting up pretty bad for a while in october and into november and now for the last month it hadn't happened once until yesterday and since then it has occurred a few times again.

I am careful to never push my speakers to distortion. I have my amp set so that about 30 is the loudest I can safely play and I never go above this. Also I have watched the amp while this occurs and the overheating light doesn't come or anything nor does it turn off. I'm no expert in car stereo systems though, so I really don't know what to think of this. It seems like a very strange problem to say the least, especially because its so random (like I said I always blast my music in the car and this sometimes won't happen for days or weeks at a time and it never happened once during my first 8 or 9 months with the system). I have no idea where to even begin and don't want to just start tearing things out and trying to replace them at random. Could it be that my speakers are cutting out because they are clipping or something? I mean they never get pushed to distortion, but could it be possible they are still being overpowered. The JL 300/4 bridged should be pushing a healthy amount to them, but I am no expert with setting amps and just winged it and played it by ear, so could my settings be causing this?

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[audiobaun 5,000+ posts]

I would try lowering the gains just a bit,and try that for a little while see how that goes.Sounds like you may be clipping though.I would also look into to see if the pos+ connection on the speakers are not grounding out on the metal door frames, and check the grounds pretty good for the amps/amp, and if you havent already, unhook the rcas to the sub amp too.This is what I would do first.While you have the speakers out, wouldnt hurt to tape up the poss+connections on the door speakers.IMO, yet, turn your gains down just a bit, may be fine

 

[disturbedfuel15 10+ year member]

To add to what audiobaun said, I would check your connections all the way around. My first guess would be a weak connection somewhere. See if it happens when your car is not moving. Test it out like that for awhile. Turn down your subwoofer for this so there's no unnecessary vibration. If the problem doesn't seem to happen when your car is at a standstill, and you find out it only happens when moving, it could be a loose, poor connection going in and out or, as stated in the above post, a wire touching metal that isn't supposed to. I would imagine if a power wire is touching metal, a fuse would blow though. Just double check your connections, and make sure all the connections are sealed up with electrical tape, shrink tubing, etc. No exposed connections.

 

[Rkrajnov 10+ year member]

The connections should be fine but I will recheck them. If a connection did get grounded however would that cause BOTH speakers to cut off? I'm no expert on car audio, so I'm not sure, but wouldn't just the side that had the connection problem be interrupted or could it actually happen to both? Also, it has happened at a stand still. I've been thinking about it and I realized that this problem didn't start until after my sub blew? Is there a chance that having that the sub amp still hooked up to the headunit could be causing some sort of problem since the power/signal is being redirected no where or does that not really make any sense? Probably a stupid question, but it wouldn't be the first time something you would never think of has caused a problem for me. I'm just trying to think of all the things that would cause BOTH sides to go out simultaneously. Loose connection does sound most likely just because of the infrequency of it (of the 2 hours I've driven over the past couple days its only happened 3 times and i've been blasting my music nearly the entire time).

 

[audiobaun 5,000+ posts]

Amps getting Toasty??You have the gains set more than the 1-Oclock position,using Loud button , and or boost while blasting?These can also be a factor,causing the amplifier to get/run too hot and shut down on you too.Just couple things to consider to possibly make some changes.If so, it may be time to upgrade to a more powerful amplifier??//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[kramer_212 10+ year member]

sell sounds like the gains wern't set correctly, and thats why the woofer blew, as for the speakers i have seen this a few times, the gains again are probally not set correctly and one of your tweeters is fed, up reason i say this is because the other 3 times i have seen this that was the case, it only happend at high volume.

 

[akheathen Premium Member]

sounds to me like the on/off "soft start/shut-down" circuitry cycling on the jl (not saying it's malfunctioning). i would definately inspect the remote wire and take voltage/ground reading at the power terminals on the amp, and compare with battery voltage

 

[Robert 2001 10+ year member]

Check all your vc for proper readings. Had a set of tens do this as vcs where goin bad would play till they got hot then all of a sudden they quit working all together

 

[Rkrajnov 10+ year member]

Alright well I haven't got a chance to test anything or look at the connections really yet because I have been out of town, but I'd like to add a few things. One, I noticed that while it mostly happens at high volumes it has also occurred a few times at only a medium volume. Also when it happens it will lots of times randomly occur many times within a small time frame and then not happen again for a while (regardless of volume). One last thing is that when the speakers cut back on they are slightly quieter and have a static-y sound for a second before coming fully back in. Just wanted to let you guys know, in case that gives anyone a better idea of what is happening. I'd like fixing this to hopefully be as quick and painless as possible.

 

[Dr. Slam 10+ year member]

From what your saying you had the same symtoms that I had. How is your amp grounded? I had a jl 300 2v2 grounded to a distribution block and from there to a battery in the trunk. it used to cut in and out on me a lot at mid to high volume. I regounded it with a shorter wire a few inches away from the amp, directly to the frame of my car and my problem was fixed.

 

[Rkrajnov 10+ year member]

Alright, I have a couple more things to note. The first is that this seems to happen most often when the battery drops under 13V (my car shows battery levels). Not to say it hasn't happened when its been above that but now it is frequently occurring when the battery dips down below. I wouldn't think its a power issue because the battery and alt are both fairly new and the alt is just a stock but I believe its 135 amps so its decently powered, but I'm no audio nor electronics expert so I really don't know. It was never a problem in the past though, even with my 5 year old alt I had before this.

Also, I noticed something that could be important in determining the problem. I stopped and listened for a minute while my car was off and the speakers actually ARE still playing. They never fully cut out. They just get extremely quiet. But you can still hear them playing when they "cut out". I haven't really had time to try and fix anything because I won't be back home till tomm but hopefully I can try and fix this problem soon (if I can figure out what the source of it is).

And I will just note again that it doesn't seem to happen at all at low volumes but is now happening at both medium and high volumes. The amp also remains powered the entire time. No overheating, no light changes. Just the power light constantly on. I'm really confused at what could be causing the volume of the speakers to just drop to an almost inaudible level, but some of you may have a better idea (I'm hoping haha).