Left channel not working

[WillyG4444 10+ year member]

Sooo the left side of my car (front and rear speakers) only come in from the right side. Stock head unit at the moment. I got new speakers so I know it's not the speakers. I'm guessing a a channel is blown in my head unit?

My girl admitted to blasting my stereo at one point when she turned the car on, (volume was almost to the top and she didn't turn the radio off) which I'm guessing messed my head unit up.

So, my question is, before I go and buy a new deck which I really don't want to as of now, can I fix a blown channel for cheap in a stock head unit?

It's a 2001 Avalon XLS with the JBL system. I wouldn't know what part to get, I'm hoping someone could shed some light, thanks in advance.

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[revrider1 5,000+ posts]

Get a small 4ch amp

 

[WillyG4444 10+ year member]

erm I have my front components being powered by a 200.2 forgot to mention.

 

[WillyG4444 10+ year member]

Bump please... for further info on my problem since it wasn't clarified, the stock amp is bypassed and nothing is being powered by the stock system. I have a 200.2 for components and 800.1 for sub. I've narrowed it down to some problem with the head unit, I'm just wondering if it's fixable without buying a new unit as I'm not ready to spend the money.

 

[WillyG4444 10+ year member]

bump....

 

[quins90lac 10+ year member]

did you check the rca's

 

[IDSkoT 5,000+ posts]

Sooo the left side of my car (front and rear speakers) only come in from the right side. Stock head unit at the moment. I got new speakers so I know it's not the speakers. I'm guessing a a channel is blown in my head unit?
My girl admitted to blasting my stereo at one point when she turned the car on, (volume was almost to the top and she didn't turn the radio off) which I'm guessing messed my head unit up.

So, my question is, before I go and buy a new deck which I really don't want to as of now, can I fix a blown channel for cheap in a stock head unit?

It's a 2001 Avalon XLS with the JBL system. I wouldn't know what part to get, I'm hoping someone could shed some light, thanks in advance.

To test, I would get an LED, which are actually pretty common around your house. If not, go buy one at RadioShack. They're probably like $.60 cents and they're pretty good for diagnosing things. Unplug your left speaker, put the LED into the speaker power, and if the LED lights up, it's your Speaker... if it doesn't, it's your unit.

As for fixing a channel, simply answer: no.

Unless you can grab a schematic of it, and you know how to desolder / solder on parts, not to mention finding those parts might be hard.

 

[bladebarrier 10+ year member]

Bump please... for further info on my problem since it wasn't clarified, the stock amp is bypassed and nothing is being powered by the stock system. I have a 200.2 for components and 800.1 for sub. I've narrowed it down to some problem with the head unit, I'm just wondering if it's fixable without buying a new unit as I'm not ready to spend the money.

Explain the system a little better for us.

You have an aftermarket amp running from a stock deck, that's running the left speakers, that don't produce any sound.

The amp is feeding off of speaker wires that are converted by the amp, or by resistors that change the feed to RCA's, or the deck has RCA outputs.

All speakers on the left side are being powered by the same amplifier channel.

No sound at all from the left side, at all, front and back, and you of course checked the deck settings to make sure the balance is in the centered.

You're interested in replacing a stock deck that could cost you $1200 but is worth about $75.

/Quote my post, and edit in bold with what's not correct in my guesses.

 

[WillyG4444 10+ year member]

To test, I would get an LED, which are actually pretty common around your house. If not, go buy one at RadioShack. They're probably like $.60 cents and they're pretty good for diagnosing things. Unplug your left speaker, put the LED into the speaker power, and if the LED lights up, it's your Speaker... if it doesn't, it's your unit.
As for fixing a channel, simply answer: no.

Unless you can grab a schematic of it, and you know how to desolder / solder on parts, not to mention finding those parts might be hard.

Ah, thanks. I'm pretty positive it's my unit because it happened with stock speakers, and after I replaced them with CDTs the problem still occurred, and the speakers were tested first and worked fine. I guess I'll start saving for a new unit //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crap.gif.7f4dd41e3e9b23fbd170a1ee6f65cecc.gif

 

[WillyG4444 10+ year member]

Here

Explain the system a little better for us.
You have an aftermarket amp running from a stock deck, that's running the left speakers, that don't produce any sound.

Yes, I have an amp that is running my CDT component set up front, and give a little power to the stock 6.5s in the rear.

The amp is feeding off of speaker wires that are converted by the amp, or by resistors that change the feed to RCA's, or the deck has RCA outputs.

All speakers on the left side are being powered by the same amplifier channel.

The amp is giving the left side (front and back) and combined 200wRMS and same to the right side.

No sound at all from the left side, at all, front and back, and you of course checked the deck settings to make sure the balance is in the centered.

Yes I did. When turned up loud you can hear the left speakers but it's about 1/6 the volume of the right side. And I can feel the mid flexing, but like I said the left side is very feint compared to the right side.

You're interested in replacing a stock deck that could cost you $1200 but is worth about $75.

LOL no, I was hoping to fix the channel in the stock unit if possible, cause I'd rather not spend the cash on a double din just yet, because I have other crap I should be doing with my money.

/Quote my post, and edit in bold with what's not correct in my guesses.

 

[WillyG4444 10+ year member]

Ergh double post. **** caraudio.com freezing at this time.

 

[bladebarrier 10+ year member]

This sums up the problem completely, but I can't remember why.... Someone else should know.

I've seen this happen before, where it plays really quiet through a channel, like a whisper.

I think it means, but it must be 10 years since I've diagnosed the same issue, that a wiring problem is blown at the level where it amplifies the initial signal, or a wire is no good.

Swap your wires first! It could actually just be a RCA connection. Change out the RCA cables, and check the all of the speaker connections. If the connections aren't sitting just right, you can get all sorts of issues, including that. Sometimes a wiggle of the connection will fix it, sometimes it won't. Wiggling usually just makes the connection inside the amp/deck break sooner.

If not, reverse the connections on the amp. If the right input can power the left side ok, the amp is good and we'll take it from there.

If not, it's that the channel is blown, and you're hearing the pre-amp level audio trickle through, unamplified. This means your channel is blown on the amp, or you have a bad connection that you didn't find from my test, above.

 

[WillyG4444 10+ year member]

Ah, thanks. I'm going to check the connection to the head unit tomorrow. I actually had someone install these for me, and I bet they didn't use new speaker wire even though I told them too. I definitely should've checked. I'll be back tomorrow!

Also, if this helps. Originally when the problem was happening, it wasn't this bad. Actually, if I made a hard turn to the right, sometimes it would push the sound back to the driver's side speakers. Then if I made a hard left it would take away the sound and I'd get that whisper effect again. This is when I had the stock speakers running off the stock amp, not the comp set on external amp.

Does this confirm it is a wiring problem from the speaker to the head unit?

 

[bladebarrier 10+ year member]

Ah, thanks. I'm going to check the connection to the head unit tomorrow. I actually had someone install these for me, and I bet they didn't use new speaker wire even though I told them too. I definitely should've checked. I'll be back tomorrow!
Also, if this helps. Originally when the problem was happening, it wasn't this bad. Actually, if I made a hard turn to the right, sometimes it would push the sound back to the driver's side speakers. Then if I made a hard left it would take away the sound and I'd get that whisper effect again. This is when I had the stock speakers running off the stock amp, not the comp set on external amp.

Does this confirm it is a wiring problem from the speaker to the head unit?

It pretty much confirms that it's probably a wiring problem, yeah. Whether it's internal at the amplifier level, or speaker wire, or an RCA, you'll have to check each one for. But I'd bet money that it's a connection issue.

Btw, your avatar is really distracting and hawt. Who are the girls, and please let them be over 18?

 

[Johnny Law.Lulz 5,000+ posts]

Your girl need to buy you HU cuz she messed up something