Ongoing Car Audio Issues, is it the Head Unit?

[BrackishWarden]

My car is a Subaru Forester 2006.

Very long story, last June my front left car speaker was starting to make crackling noises, and after about a week it just shut off entirely. These were speakers I had installed back in mid/late 2019. I don't remember the make/model of them, they were around $70 for the pair from a local car audio shop. So I figured it was time to get them replaced. I went back to the same store and a bought a new set of better speakers this time (Alpine S-S65) and paid the shop to install them (I'm not familiar with installing car speakers). After driving home for about five minutes, all of the audio in my car suddenly stopped.

I called the store right when I parked (they were about to close) and they told me "that radio must be out," so I assumed I just needed a new one? They're the experts, right? lol so I took their word for it like a moron and bought a new cheap head unit (radio, stereo, head unit, that's all referring to the same part, right? The box that goes into the car dash and plays the audio?) and had them install it. Same problem occurred: audio was on for a bit, then suddenly shut off. When I told them about this again, they wanted to charge me to "diagnose the problem" but I was almost certain they were the ones that caused it (it's an odd coincidence that my car never had an issue like that with my initial head unit, and the moment after they perform an installation, it suddenly "goes out?")

So I took the vehicle to my local Car Toys since they claimed they'd charge less to diagnose it at least. Turns out there was, from how they worded it, a "grounding issue", apparently the speakers were touching metal in the doors and that was causing them to shut off? They remounted them and the audio worked normally again. At the same time, the head unit I got was very cheap and from Amazon so I figured I'd just return it (it had an awful high pitched whine/buzz noise coming from it). So I bought a Kenwood DPX594BT head unit and paid them to install it, just to be done with this whole mess. But after the installation, here is where the problem came in.

After driving for about 30 seconds and having the audio relatively loud (around 18-20), I would hear lots of distortion and crackling coming from all of the speakers. Of course, I went back there and asked them about it. I went there multiple times and tried to take advantage of their "lifetime warranty" policy and troubleshooted what was going on. They tried replacing a bracket of some kind, checked the wiring, can't remember exactly but no luck; the issue was very odd, it was inconsistent and would only come in typically when I'm driving the car (not when it's idling or if the engine isn't started, usually).

A quick fix I found out was to turn the Kenwood's fader all the way up to the front; for whatever reason, when I mute the rear speakers, the distortion wouldn't come in. So for a few months, that was my workaround. On top of that, I always noticed my front left speaker had more bass and less treble than the front right speaker. Another workaround I implemented was to move the balance of the head unit to the left a bit, which would make the audio sound a bit more centered. I knew something was still wrong, but I already spent about a grand in car audio repairs and troubleshooting appointments and didn't feel like spending anymore just to have more problems come up. However, a couple of weeks ago, my left front speaker started acting up AGAIN: distortion, crackling, and after a few days it just shut off entirely.

I had a local mechanic friend of mine take a look at it a few days ago (which is probably what I should have done in the first place). Thinking that the speaker blew out/went bad, I bought 4 brand new speakers from Amazon to replace all of them in the car (Boss P65.4C for the front and Boss P55.4C for the rear). Apparently my car's front windows were crushing/disconnecting the wires, which is what caused that front left speaker to shut off. But regardless, I had all the speakers swapped out... and the distortion issue I've been having since I got that Kenwood head unit persists.

So I'm PRETTY SURE it's NOT the speakers, as BOTH sets have the exact same odd distortion problem. AND even on this new pair, again, the front left speaker is quieter and has less treble than the front right speaker. This tells me that, most likely, it's not that the previous set of speakers went bad, but something else is causing this audio issue. My mechanic told me that it was very likely the amp in the head unit.

I'm assuming at this point, after all that, I'm left with a bad head unit, that was defective out-of-the-box. I'm on this forum to ask anyone with more knowledge than me what I should do. My plan is to attempt to return this Kenwood head unit that I assume is defective and swap it out with a new one (I don't want to go to anymore audio places). I've installed head units myself before, and I'm assuming if I get another Kenwood dual head unit (I'm looking at the DPX395MBT, basically the same one as my current one but without a CD slot), the wiring/configuration in the back should all be the same? It would just be a matter of unscrewing the old one, popping out the connectors, and just re-inserting them all into the new one?

Can anyone give me any input as to what is going on now? Would you agree it's the head unit, or, after all these installations/replacements, could it STILL be some other factor? My plan is to just try out that new Kenwood head unit from Amazon and return it if it also does not solve the issue. Sorry for the long post, but this has been driving me NUTS and I already spent over a thousand on what should have just been one single simple installation. Never knew it would turn into such a mess!

THANKS!!!

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[dragon.breath 10+ year member]

Before I bought any more new equipment, I would replace all of the speaker wires in the car with new ones. The most likely problem that you are fighting is a broken speaker wire. And it’s a 99% probability that it is in the junction between the door and the body of the car. Where the wires bend back and forth every time you open and close the door.

 

[audiobaun 5,000+ posts]

Before I bought any more new equipment, I would replace all of the speaker wires in the car with new ones. The most likely problem that you are fighting is a broken speaker wire. And it’s a 99% probability that it is in the junction between the door and the body of the car. Where the wires bend back and forth every time you open and close the door.

I like this answer here, and would like to add.. To Reset the HU and go back in and tune all your speakers again. Monoprice 16ga speaker wire is great for the $ and they have a warranty as well,and should be large enough for your needs.

https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=13723&utm_term=&utm_campaign=PMax:+Smart+Shopping+Monoprice+-+Audio+Cables&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&hsa_acc=6614305189&hsa_cam=17489108049&hsa_grp=&hsa_ad=&hsa_src=x&hsa_tgt=&hsa_kw=&hsa_mt=&hsa_net=adwords&hsa_ver=3&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiApaarBhB7EiwAYiMwqgsE4hi1g5UcE9mH65zQQpsTSW6AOTfg5cY9L3phLXr-x7mU_GtCJRoCy8QQAvD_BwE

 

[HardofWhoring]

I would at least inspect the speaker wire behind the speakers. You should check the ends where the connectors are and see if there was any damage done to the wire. Its' frayed and contacting metal, that can cause distortion and whine. Especially since you have already had a problem.


Check your vehicle on crutchfield. They may have limits on speaker depth, and can filter those out for you right away. You should also take the speaker out, put the window down, and measure how much clearance you have. If you can find anything to put across the speaker hole, then measure down from there to the window at it's closest point, (they are curved, so it might be getting closer as it goes up). This will tell you, your maximum speaker depth, (minus a 1/4-1/2").

I don't think the head unit was bad when you got it. When you first left the speaker store, and 5 minutes later the audio stopped, you may have hit the wire, (with the window), and damaged the channel. I 100% believe that is something the audio installer should have tested (on every single install, on every vehicle), when they did the install, and they didn't. They would have taken the speakers back, and found another set, or found a way to mount the speakers higher off the door, with spacer rings, or adding some material between the speaker and the door. (I've had my own BAD experience with a audio shop that had been around for 30 years. People don't realize it sometimes, but there is no professional training. There is no certification, or qualification to claim to be an audio installer, or to even have a shop. The problem with going back there, is it doesn't sound like they are very good at their job. They may try to sell you something else. Unless you can prove that is the problem, they may or may not warranty or honor their work.

 

[1aespinoza 10+ year member]

I've installed head units myself before,

My 2 cents is to remove the radio and connect it direct to the battery. Remove the 2 front speakers and test it out for at least half an hour. If all plays well, run new speaker wire or source it out (labor intensive). This will at least guarantee that the speaker wire will not be the issue if problems persist. From there we can assist further if you still need it.

 

[BrackishWarden]

Thank you to everyone who replied so far, good insights. I'm not very good with car audio installation, all I know is how to swap out a head unit (I know next to nothing about installing the actual speakers, using wire, etc. I just don't have the equipment or knowledge at the moment).

As for the issue I had with "the left speaker having more bass than the right one", apparently that was just an EQ setting in the Kenwood head unit that was on by default, which I shut off and now the speakers no longer sound lopsided.

As for the windows being the culprit for the speakers shutting off, yes, I 100% agree that was the issue from the start; nothing but bad experiences from these car audio shops, and yes I also speculated that they basically have no certifications or even training required to perform this stuff in the first place. You can push all you want to try and prove to them that they caused a problem, but without any "technical evidence," they're not going to take any responsibility for any of it and just blame you and/or your vehicle and take your money regardless. My mechanic (friend of mine I've been working with for about 7 years and have always had great experiences with) told me he rerouted the wires and installed them so that the windows and doors would no longer cause any problems with them.

He told me he initially speculated that there was some sort of electrical/wiring issue which was causing the distortion, but again, after he finished fixing/installing everything, he told me that it's most likely the amp; although all my speakers work again, I'm back to square one with the issue of the rear speakers causing distortion when I have them on (turning the fader up all the way to 15 [the max] still resolves this, for now). My original head unit did not have this issue, not once. It was ever since I got the Kenwood.

Judging from the responses I got on here so far, it sounds like it is either the wiring or the head unit itself. Again, my plan is to Amazon up another Kenwood of a similar profile and attempt to swap it out and see if I get any luck... if not, I can just return it and start checking the wiring (I don't know anything about wiring through vehicles and doors, I'm going to have to look into that when the time comes).

Thank you all again!!

 

[HardofWhoring]

Thank you to everyone who replied so far, good insights. I'm not very good with car audio installation, all I know is how to swap out a head unit (I know next to nothing about installing the actual speakers, using wire, etc. I just don't have the equipment or knowledge at the moment).

As for the issue I had with "the left speaker having more bass than the right one", apparently that was just an EQ setting in the Kenwood head unit that was on by default, which I shut off and now the speakers no longer sound lopsided.

As for the windows being the culprit for the speakers shutting off, yes, I 100% agree that was the issue from the start; nothing but bad experiences from these car audio shops, and yes I also speculated that they basically have no certifications or even training required to perform this stuff in the first place. You can push all you want to try and prove to them that they caused a problem, but without any "technical evidence," they're not going to take any responsibility for any of it and just blame you and/or your vehicle and take your money regardless. My mechanic (friend of mine I've been working with for about 7 years and have always had great experiences with) told me he rerouted the wires and installed them so that the windows and doors would no longer cause any problems with them.

He told me he initially speculated that there was some sort of electrical/wiring issue which was causing the distortion, but again, after he finished fixing/installing everything, he told me that it's most likely the amp; although all my speakers work again, I'm back to square one with the issue of the rear speakers causing distortion when I have them on (turning the fader up all the way to 15 [the max] still resolves this, for now). My original head unit did not have this issue, not once. It was ever since I got the Kenwood.

Judging from the responses I got on here so far, it sounds like it is either the wiring or the head unit itself. Again, my plan is to Amazon up another Kenwood of a similar profile and attempt to swap it out and see if I get any luck... if not, I can just return it and start checking the wiring (I don't know anything about wiring through vehicles and doors, I'm going to have to look into that when the time comes).

Thank you all again!!

My 2 cents is to remove the radio and connect it direct to the battery. Remove the 2 front speakers and test it out for at least half an hour. If all plays well, run new speaker wire or source it out (labor intensive). This will at least guarantee that the speaker wire will not be the issue if problems persist. From there we can assist further if you still need it.

What he's saying is you need to pull the head unit out of the dash. Leave it connected to play, pull the speakers out of the door, and the wire out of the head unit, and connect known-good speaker wire from the speakers to the head unit. Doesn't need to be long, a foot will work. You don't need connectors for this, just make a connection that will work while just sitting there. This will tell you if it's the speaker wire. You have already had problems once, and you need to figure this out. You're just guessing right now. You need to start isolating what it is and what it isn't.


It's pretty basic stuff. Even if you don't know how, you can easily find a youtube video and watch someone else do it. Don't know how else to say it, but you're either willing to put in a minimal amount of effort or you're not.

If you just won't do that, my suggestion is to find a different audio shop, most likely a big box store like best buy. See if you can find someone who will do an install deal if you buy equipment from them. Consolidate your stereo story, and write it for the install tech, and they will know to, or specifically ask them to :
make sure the speaker depth works,
make sure the vehicle connections at the speaker are still good,
ask them if they will test the speakers with the head unit, before installing it. (They should have spare equipment they can use and do that in a couple minutes. If you tell them why they SHOULD understand and be cool about it).


FYI, Seriously, we've almost all been in a similar situation at some point, got fed up with their BS, and wanted to learn how to do it ourselves. We learned what we needed to, and just kept wanting to learn more for what new things we wanted to do. What you're wanting to know is really basic stuff, and if you put in a little effort, I'm sure you can pick it up.