Hey all,
I recently decided to learn more / self-teach myself more about car audio/electronics/wiring/etc. While trying to set up the head unit, I probably contributed to my current issues. Here’s my story/wall of text:
TL;DR - Static/Crackling in the rear-left speaker only and the front-left speaker seems to be pretty quiet compared to the front right. All co-axial. Issues stemmed after I tried to install the head unit, realized I didn’t know what I was doing, and took it to Mobile One to get it taken care of. They re-wired it, installed new rear speakers, and put in a new amp, but I now have the issues mentioned above. Don’t know where the issues stem from; need advice on whether I need to take it in for wire-work, get the head unit fixed, or do anything else.
I recently have come into various issues with my current setup. This occurred after I decided to upgrade the head unit for bluetooth audio support. Before getting the work done, this was my situation: I drive a 2006 Honda Accord Sedan and in early 2011, I replaced the stock audio with aftermarket equipment. I’m not 100% on what they put in, but it was a Pioneer head unit with I believe coaxial front/rear speakers and a small kicker amp. I don’t know the models for any of these.
Chronology:
1. A couple months ago, I bought a new head unit (Kenwood KDC-BT752HD) and attempted to install it myself. During install, I accidentally let two wires touch, which sent the (new) head unit (and I think the Amp too) into protect mode.
2. **** this. I don’t know what I’m doing enough yet. I took it to multiple places but ended up going with Mobile One. The guys there pretty much told me that I could pay a fraction of the price if it’s under the table and in cash. Why wouldn’t I want to do that?
3. The guys at Mobile One tested my amp and speakers individually, and hypothesized from whatever results they saw that the wiring done behind the dash was probably done poorly. They recommended that I re-wire the car audio. I said ok and they were going to do the work the next day.
4. That night, when going home, I toyed around with the settings to see if anything had changed. At that moment, only the rear speakers worked, though they sounded just fine. Balance/Fade seemed to be reversed, though, as the fade setting on my head unit affected the balance and the balance affected the fade. The new head unit powered up, allowed for aux input, and seemed to be functioning properly.
5. The next day, I went back to get the re-wiring done. I’m not sure what all the re-wiring entailed, but I know for sure they ran new wires from the amp to the head unit or battery (not too in-the-know on car audio yet).
6. After hours of work, they came to me again and said they think there’s an issue with one of the rear speakers, which may have been sending the amp into protect mode again? Don’t remember 100%.
7. They replaced the rear speakers with a set of 6x9 Coaxial Speakers - JVC CS-HX6948.
8. I drove away that day and went to go toy with the audio. At this point, the bass seemed to be severely diminished, to the point where max bass and minimal treble still seemed to have nearly no bass. The mids were pretty underwhelming, too. The fade/balance issue had been addressed/fixed, though. I think at that point I felt like I was getting sound from the front two speakers and the rear left, but nothing from the rear right.
9. I went back again to drop the car off for the weekend the next day. This time, they told me I probably needed to replace the amp (Model xxx-xxxx). They actually did this and didn’t charge me. Don’t know the model off the top of my head, but I’ll check next time I get to my car.
10. Picked it up (for what I hoped to be the last time) and everything seemed to work at first listen. After driving/toying around with the system again, continuing from then to today, I started to notice a number of issues that presently persist.
Present Issues/Conditions:
1. Static from the rear-left speaker. I notice this speaker primarily when I’m just starting up the car. It seems to get worse (more crackly/loud) when I’m in reverse. Once I’m in drive, it seems to get better. Once I start playing music, it gets even better. If the music has a decent amount of bass, the static/crackling seems to come to a stop pretty quickly. I don’t know if this is because of a loose wire and the vibrations from the bass are separating some kind of connection or bringing something back together and stopping the issue temporarily. I also thought maybe it has to do with something related to power and that the longer I’d been running the car, the better the flow of power to the speakers becomes? This static also seems to be affected/sometimes fixed when I jiggle around the faceplate of the head unit or push it in. The static remains a constant volume regardless of whether I have the volume at 1 or 30. I replaced the auxiliary cable to rule that out, and it seemed to get better for a few days before the problem came back. Probably just a coincidence.
2. The front-left speaker seems to be lacking in some ranges. It works, and sound comes out of it, but it seems notably quieter than the other speakers. I isolated each speaker individually (fade/balance) to see that they were working, and the front left compared to the front right just seems quiet. Still gets bass / different ranges of highs, just doesn’t seem ‘powerful.’
3. When I connect my phone (HTC One running ViperOne ROM) to the head unit’s bluetooth, the music that comes through the speakers sounds like I recorded audio at a concert. I’ve looked into compatibility with my phone and the head unit (which checked out), and have read reviews/forums re: the head unit. Some people say it works just fine, whereas other people mention issues with the head unit’s communication with my phone and that my phone might be sending poor audio quality. Some people have recommended a high quality bluetooth app. This isn’t huge on my list of things to fix, so I haven’t tinkered with this really. It’s pretty on the back-burner compared to the crackling / front-left speaker.
4. That high pitched whine that increases in pitch / seems to match with the revs of your engine. Pretty sure it’s an amp issue unrelated to my other issues, but I’m not sure.
5. When I disconnect the face plate to my head unit, all issues cease.
Kenwood:
I’ve e-mailed Kenwood regarding warranty work / repair, but I'd have to send it away to one of their centers for testing //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif Top that off, and if they don't find anything wrong, then I get charged as if it weren't a warranty submission.
I e-mailed Kenwood with a similar amount of detail and questioning, to which they responded suggesting I isolate each speaker to test. They also asked where the static was coming from (one speaker vs many). I told them that it came from multiple speakers, because in the past I remember hearing very slight static coming from the front speakers in a few limited situations.
It hasn't happened since, and the primary issue is the static and that appears to be coming from one speaker only. I asked them what it means if it's coming from one vs coming from multiple and they said that multiple is indicative of a head unit issue. I didn't follow up with a "what if it only comes from one speaker?," but I assume that they would have told me it's probably an issue with my wiring / not their head unit.
Also, here’s a prior e-mail exchange from a couple weeks ago:
Me: "After testing the other speakers and monitoring them over the course of the past week, there appears to be static from other speakers as well. I tried changing out the auxiliary cable, but the issue still persisted."
Them: "The testing you done with your radio indicates that the issue is caused by an internal problem with the radio and not anything to do with the wiring or your speakers. The exact cause can not be determined unless the unit is sent to a service center for evaluation.”
Deciding what to do:
I hope to come to some kind of diagnosis (even if it’s just an educated guess) to help me decide what course of action to take. Ultimately, I’ll do whatever I have to to have a working/functioning/enjoyable setup in my car. I’d like to rule anything obvious out though before deciding. With that, I have a few questions:
1. Should I send it to Kenwood to have them look at it? If the issue sounds like it’s caused by something other than the head unit, I’d like to hold off on sending it to them until I exhaust other options.
2. Does this sound like a wiring issue? I don’t necessarily have the fullest faith that the guys at Mobile One did a flawless job. There were little issues along the way that I noticed that kinda shook my confidence in them (one time I couldn’t open my door from the inside; another I couldn’t pop the trunk from the driver’s seat), so I wouldn’t be surprised if there was an obvious/simple fix in the wiring.
3. I bought replacement speakers for my front two speakers. I’ve had issue with my front-left for some time, and now with new speakers in the back it got even more noticeable how not awesome they are. Could it be possible that an issue with the wiring in one of the speakers, or the speakers themselves, be affecting the rest of the system?
I’m pretty sure that a lot of this would be hard to address strictly from reading an account online, and that it would be much easier in person / at a shop, but I appreciate the effort and time everyone/anyone takes to read this and try to help!
I recently decided to learn more / self-teach myself more about car audio/electronics/wiring/etc. While trying to set up the head unit, I probably contributed to my current issues. Here’s my story/wall of text:
TL;DR - Static/Crackling in the rear-left speaker only and the front-left speaker seems to be pretty quiet compared to the front right. All co-axial. Issues stemmed after I tried to install the head unit, realized I didn’t know what I was doing, and took it to Mobile One to get it taken care of. They re-wired it, installed new rear speakers, and put in a new amp, but I now have the issues mentioned above. Don’t know where the issues stem from; need advice on whether I need to take it in for wire-work, get the head unit fixed, or do anything else.
I recently have come into various issues with my current setup. This occurred after I decided to upgrade the head unit for bluetooth audio support. Before getting the work done, this was my situation: I drive a 2006 Honda Accord Sedan and in early 2011, I replaced the stock audio with aftermarket equipment. I’m not 100% on what they put in, but it was a Pioneer head unit with I believe coaxial front/rear speakers and a small kicker amp. I don’t know the models for any of these.
Chronology:
1. A couple months ago, I bought a new head unit (Kenwood KDC-BT752HD) and attempted to install it myself. During install, I accidentally let two wires touch, which sent the (new) head unit (and I think the Amp too) into protect mode.
2. **** this. I don’t know what I’m doing enough yet. I took it to multiple places but ended up going with Mobile One. The guys there pretty much told me that I could pay a fraction of the price if it’s under the table and in cash. Why wouldn’t I want to do that?
3. The guys at Mobile One tested my amp and speakers individually, and hypothesized from whatever results they saw that the wiring done behind the dash was probably done poorly. They recommended that I re-wire the car audio. I said ok and they were going to do the work the next day.
4. That night, when going home, I toyed around with the settings to see if anything had changed. At that moment, only the rear speakers worked, though they sounded just fine. Balance/Fade seemed to be reversed, though, as the fade setting on my head unit affected the balance and the balance affected the fade. The new head unit powered up, allowed for aux input, and seemed to be functioning properly.
5. The next day, I went back to get the re-wiring done. I’m not sure what all the re-wiring entailed, but I know for sure they ran new wires from the amp to the head unit or battery (not too in-the-know on car audio yet).
6. After hours of work, they came to me again and said they think there’s an issue with one of the rear speakers, which may have been sending the amp into protect mode again? Don’t remember 100%.
7. They replaced the rear speakers with a set of 6x9 Coaxial Speakers - JVC CS-HX6948.
8. I drove away that day and went to go toy with the audio. At this point, the bass seemed to be severely diminished, to the point where max bass and minimal treble still seemed to have nearly no bass. The mids were pretty underwhelming, too. The fade/balance issue had been addressed/fixed, though. I think at that point I felt like I was getting sound from the front two speakers and the rear left, but nothing from the rear right.
9. I went back again to drop the car off for the weekend the next day. This time, they told me I probably needed to replace the amp (Model xxx-xxxx). They actually did this and didn’t charge me. Don’t know the model off the top of my head, but I’ll check next time I get to my car.
10. Picked it up (for what I hoped to be the last time) and everything seemed to work at first listen. After driving/toying around with the system again, continuing from then to today, I started to notice a number of issues that presently persist.
Present Issues/Conditions:
1. Static from the rear-left speaker. I notice this speaker primarily when I’m just starting up the car. It seems to get worse (more crackly/loud) when I’m in reverse. Once I’m in drive, it seems to get better. Once I start playing music, it gets even better. If the music has a decent amount of bass, the static/crackling seems to come to a stop pretty quickly. I don’t know if this is because of a loose wire and the vibrations from the bass are separating some kind of connection or bringing something back together and stopping the issue temporarily. I also thought maybe it has to do with something related to power and that the longer I’d been running the car, the better the flow of power to the speakers becomes? This static also seems to be affected/sometimes fixed when I jiggle around the faceplate of the head unit or push it in. The static remains a constant volume regardless of whether I have the volume at 1 or 30. I replaced the auxiliary cable to rule that out, and it seemed to get better for a few days before the problem came back. Probably just a coincidence.
2. The front-left speaker seems to be lacking in some ranges. It works, and sound comes out of it, but it seems notably quieter than the other speakers. I isolated each speaker individually (fade/balance) to see that they were working, and the front left compared to the front right just seems quiet. Still gets bass / different ranges of highs, just doesn’t seem ‘powerful.’
3. When I connect my phone (HTC One running ViperOne ROM) to the head unit’s bluetooth, the music that comes through the speakers sounds like I recorded audio at a concert. I’ve looked into compatibility with my phone and the head unit (which checked out), and have read reviews/forums re: the head unit. Some people say it works just fine, whereas other people mention issues with the head unit’s communication with my phone and that my phone might be sending poor audio quality. Some people have recommended a high quality bluetooth app. This isn’t huge on my list of things to fix, so I haven’t tinkered with this really. It’s pretty on the back-burner compared to the crackling / front-left speaker.
4. That high pitched whine that increases in pitch / seems to match with the revs of your engine. Pretty sure it’s an amp issue unrelated to my other issues, but I’m not sure.
5. When I disconnect the face plate to my head unit, all issues cease.
Kenwood:
I’ve e-mailed Kenwood regarding warranty work / repair, but I'd have to send it away to one of their centers for testing //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif Top that off, and if they don't find anything wrong, then I get charged as if it weren't a warranty submission.
I e-mailed Kenwood with a similar amount of detail and questioning, to which they responded suggesting I isolate each speaker to test. They also asked where the static was coming from (one speaker vs many). I told them that it came from multiple speakers, because in the past I remember hearing very slight static coming from the front speakers in a few limited situations.
It hasn't happened since, and the primary issue is the static and that appears to be coming from one speaker only. I asked them what it means if it's coming from one vs coming from multiple and they said that multiple is indicative of a head unit issue. I didn't follow up with a "what if it only comes from one speaker?," but I assume that they would have told me it's probably an issue with my wiring / not their head unit.
Also, here’s a prior e-mail exchange from a couple weeks ago:
Me: "After testing the other speakers and monitoring them over the course of the past week, there appears to be static from other speakers as well. I tried changing out the auxiliary cable, but the issue still persisted."
Them: "The testing you done with your radio indicates that the issue is caused by an internal problem with the radio and not anything to do with the wiring or your speakers. The exact cause can not be determined unless the unit is sent to a service center for evaluation.”
Deciding what to do:
I hope to come to some kind of diagnosis (even if it’s just an educated guess) to help me decide what course of action to take. Ultimately, I’ll do whatever I have to to have a working/functioning/enjoyable setup in my car. I’d like to rule anything obvious out though before deciding. With that, I have a few questions:
1. Should I send it to Kenwood to have them look at it? If the issue sounds like it’s caused by something other than the head unit, I’d like to hold off on sending it to them until I exhaust other options.
2. Does this sound like a wiring issue? I don’t necessarily have the fullest faith that the guys at Mobile One did a flawless job. There were little issues along the way that I noticed that kinda shook my confidence in them (one time I couldn’t open my door from the inside; another I couldn’t pop the trunk from the driver’s seat), so I wouldn’t be surprised if there was an obvious/simple fix in the wiring.
3. I bought replacement speakers for my front two speakers. I’ve had issue with my front-left for some time, and now with new speakers in the back it got even more noticeable how not awesome they are. Could it be possible that an issue with the wiring in one of the speakers, or the speakers themselves, be affecting the rest of the system?
I’m pretty sure that a lot of this would be hard to address strictly from reading an account online, and that it would be much easier in person / at a shop, but I appreciate the effort and time everyone/anyone takes to read this and try to help!
