Something is going bad in my audio setup

[rondog 10+ year member]

I've had this stereo installed about 3 years ago. It's all been fine till now. I have 2 Polk Momo amps...a 4 channel for 4 speakers and 2 tweeters. The other amp powers my 2 10" subs.

The subs are fine. I am having an issue with my speakers.

The two rear speakers sound distorted..all scratchy as if they were blown. I removed the door cover and un hooked the speaker and plugged a new one in and same thing. I then checked the fuse going to the amp. It had some fouling inside so I replaced it with a new one. Same thing..still distorted.

I noticed that my pioneer HU is now making a "clicking" noise through the speakers when I adjust the volume. It has never done this. Is it possible the HU is causing the distortion? I would hate for the amp to be the cause of the problem.

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[SPLluminator 10+ year member]

Its your ears, change them and you'll see great results.

For real tho it sounds like a HU problem or a wiring problem to the speaker, or RCA's if the speakers are amped.

 

[rondog 10+ year member]

Do RCA wires just go bad? They are connected to my amp. I hope it is the head unit

 

[GLN305 10+ year member]

Sounds like a bad RCA or bad ground

 

[rondog 10+ year member]

ok again..so these RCA cables just go bad after a while or what?

 

[SPLluminator 10+ year member]

They can if you pull on them/short them out.

 

[rondog 10+ year member]

I never pull on them, they're under the seats...hardly ever down there

 

[itsblown 10+ year member]

make sure the rca's are making a tight connection at the amp and the back of the head unit. Also are you running a set of 4 channel rcas to the 4ch amp?

 

[rondog 10+ year member]

They are tight at the amp, I'll check if they are tight behind the head unit when I get home. I am running a set of 4 channel RCAs to the 4ch amp. This is my setup

 

[rondog 10+ year member]

It was my head unit..who woulda thought! The rear output pre outs went bad. I got a new HU today and all is well again

 

[Falcons 5,000+ posts]

finally someone that does their own investigations lol

 

[rondog 10+ year member]

yeah I figured it out when first I tried a new RCA cable going straight from the deck to the head unit and it still sounded bad, so that ruled out a bad cable. Then I plugged the front speakers into the rear from the head unit and determined whatever was plugged into the rear pre outs of the HU didn't work.

Now I actually do have one bad speaker. My front passenger speaker hasn't been making any sound so I removed that door panel and plugged my ole living room speaker into the wiring and viola, sound came out

 

[nu2spl 10+ year member]

Sounds like a bad RCA or bad ground

this^^ pioneers are real bad for ground loops,i had to cut an old rca and plug it into the hu and then ground it to the chassis to get mine to stop doing that

 

[rondog 10+ year member]

what is a ground loop? How would I ground my head unit?

 

[nu2spl 10+ year member]

what is a ground loop? How would I ground my head unit?

alternator wine,that "clicking" noise,its all a ground loop,a ground loop is an unwanted current connecting two points that are supposed to be at the same potential,but is using different potential instead of just one potential.i used one of the screws on the HU just wrapped the bare wire around it and plugged the rca into one of the rca jacks i wasnt using.im only using the rear and sub rca's so i used one of the front jacks to ground the HU