I just blew my brand new head unit (Blaupunkt Toronto 420BT)!

Should I be confident the replacement will be reliable?

  • Yes, Blaupunkt is a good brand, you just got a defective one, the replacement will be great

    Votes: 3 42.9%
  • No, Blaupunkt is known for constantly blowing up, choose a more reliable brand, like . . .

    Votes: 4 57.1%
  • User error, stop abusing your head units and they'll treat you well

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    7

motochrome

Junior Member
I haven't had a "system" in over twenty years, and was REALLY enjoying finally having this for the three days it lasted. I'm bummed. I pulled up to a stop-light and it just quit. I didn't smell anything that resembles "electrical smoke", but the display went dark and it wouldn't turn on again. I did have the volume about 93% of the way up . . .

I thought I blew a fuse, but checked all three (including the one in the Head Unit itself) and they're all good. I even checked them with a continuity meter just in case. Then I went a step further and made sure voltages were getting to the harness where it plugs into the back of the HU. All good. Constant, keyed and I even double-checked the ground and they're all golden to the point where the harness plugs into the HU, so it's not the wiring (which is all soldered and heat-shrinked into a factory harness connector/adapter).

My question is regarding the probability that I got a lemon, or if I abused it by cranking the volume? I just want to make sure this doesn't happen again when the replacement comes. I've never blown anything before in my life, and I always make sure I keep the levels below any audible distortion, so as not to clip the outputs. I had it loud, but it was still sounding clean.

When I removed the HU, I smelled it real hard, but nothing smells burnt at all, so it's weird. I would think that if I blew its internal amplifier, I'd smell "electrical smoke" and it might still turn on, just wouldn't output any signal . . . but this thing is as dead as it gets.

So should I take a chance on another one? Is Blaupunkt an unreliable brand? Is it likely I just got a defective unit, or did I cause its death somehow?

I just ran all the wires cleanly hidden, including the external microphone for the bluetooth calling. I don't want to go through soldering another 18 wires or so for a different head unit, if I don't have to.

 
it's possible you got a bad product, this why they make warranties. with that being said i have no idea what headunit you're using or who the company is, but i would call them and explain your situation and ask about getting it warrantied. i'd be pretty upset if i bought a new headunit and it failed so quickly, running it at near max volume can't damage a headunit lol your speakers would be blown before that happened unless you had a direct short or something

 
i have no idea what headunit you're using or who the company is [snip] a direct short or something
"(Blaupunkt Toronto 420BT)!"

The replacement is already on its way, so I won't have to re-wire any harnesses. If the replacement does the same thing, I'll look into Alpine HU's or similar.

You're right, I guess if the speaker wires shorted or something, it could've blown the HU . . . I guess I'll double-check all the speaker wires to make sure none of the positives have continuity with any of the negatives. Good call. (All I did was plug in the factory-adapter leads they sent me, but I'll check it out anyway - The new JBL speaker's Voice-coil could have shorted out internally and blew the HU's amp . . . unlikely, but it's possible.)

 
Blaupunkt makes ok product. I've had a couple of their HUs when I've wanted to maintain a stock look. Does the HU have a reset button perchance? It may be worth a shot. Also as Trumpet said testing it on another power source wouldn't hurt. Defective units do happen on occasion though.

 
Trying a different power source without disassembling my soldered/heat-shrunk harness could be done by smashing some leads into the chassis of the radio, driven by my 12V power supply. I'll try that, but I did verify proper voltages at their terminations in the truck. I'll go ahead and give it a shot though . . . Luckily my multi-meter leads fit into the banana plug outlets of my 13.8V DC (12V) power supply, and I was able to grab onto the little tangs inside the radio's chassis with alligator clips, but it didn't do any good. I matched up the tangs with the wires on the connectors for the appropriate positive and negative connections, as well as the 12V with key on. Dead as can be. Nothing.

I could not find any reset button on the unit, or in its manual.

I guess this little experience cost me a CD that I can't get out of the defective unit, and a few days I'll have to wait without any audio in my truck - makes driving lame, especially after being teased for a few days of pure sonic bliss.

They're o/s...esp that hu.
Old School? Sorry, I'm not aware of that abbreviation/terminology. I tried google, but only came up with: Operating System, Outside, One Size, on sale, Offset, Overseas, Outstanding (unpaid insurance claim), Out of State, Oversize (Canada Post), On Scene, Outstanding Shares (stock market), Operational/Support, Outstation, Ocean Surveillance, Outlaw Shark, and Organisation/Schmelt (Germany/Poland). Are any of those what you meant? Maybe you could offer a hint?

Out of Stock? Overrated S...? Am I close?

 
Blaupunkt was a mid-lowerish line, a little above Jensen and JVC, used to sell them at Best Buy back in the late 90's, so old-school //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

Can't speak for todays quality though...

I highly recommend the Pioneer DEH-80PRS!!!

It has 5v pre-outs, has a very clean signal, full volume (62), eq set to B. Boost, no clipping (tested with o-scope).

 
They used to be decent. Preferred them over lower end common brands. No idea about today. I still have 3.5" blaupunkts in my car. Back in '96 they were some of the only 3.5s sold around here but I didn't have internet then. Haha.

 
Thanks. I do have an old PUNCH amp, but it's overkill and would overpower my R300-12 sealed sub too. I just didn't feel like adding it after hearing the way it sounds now from just the 22W off the HU. I'll figure out another use for it, like possibly adding a system for my cargo/boondocking trailer, and just using the RF PUNCH to power these JL Audio 10-inch subs I have, and getting another head unit, probably an Alpine or something, and a bunch of thick cable and fuses/circuit breakers.

Thanks for all the help and advice.

 
once you hear the SQ improvement from adding an amp for your door speakers and sub I bet you'll change your mind //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

amps arent always for loudness, and you can always keep your gain low.

 
Thanks. I do have an old PUNCH amp, but it's overkill and would overpower my R300-12 sealed sub too. I just didn't feel like adding it after hearing the way it sounds now from just the 22W off the HU. I'll figure out another use for it, like possibly adding a system for my cargo/boondocking trailer, and just using the RF PUNCH to power these JL Audio 10-inch subs I have, and getting another head unit, probably an Alpine or something, and a bunch of thick cable and fuses/circuit breakers.
Thanks for all the help and advice.
Your deck doesn't put out 22w. I don't think I'm understanding right...you have the old RF amp for subs or for mids/highs?

 
Your deck doesn't put out 22w. I don't think I'm understanding right...you have the old RF amp for subs or for mids/highs?
Sorry, I was just parroting the specs from them, "built-in amplifier (22 watts RMS/50 peak x 4 channels)". If you're saying they hyped up those ratings, I won't argue with you, but it seems about right, listening to it.

My RF PUNCH goes both ways. It's rated at 100W x 2, but sounds WAY louder. It's intense. It's got switches to HPF or LPF, so I've hooked it up both ways. It PUSHES my dual 10's that're rated at 300W RMS. It's probably just a "real" RMS rating, instead of the hype that so many other companies say. Maybe it's 100W, 20Hz - 20KHz, instead of just at 1kHz or whatever, you know what I'm saying. It's a good amp.

I've had the PUNCH on mids/highs and it can make my ears bleed (figuratively) if I wanted it too. On the subs (2 x JL Audio CP110-W0v3's), it makes them thump WAY harder than my powered RF R300-12 "PRIME" that says it's 300W RMS. I just think PUNCH puts PRIME to shame, for some reason - not sure why since they're from the same company, why they'd rate differently for each respective series. I just know that PUNCH amp is no joke (for my modest budget).

So, yeah, the old RF PUNCH can be used for either mids/highs, or subs, and I've had it both ways (not at the same time), so it's versatile like that. I'd rather use it for my subs, because it's a bit overkill for mids/highs (for me anyway), a bit too much power for what I'd need in that regard. Regards.

 
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motochrome

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