Speakers Clipping at Low Volumes

[Weeksy]

Hi all,

A few months ago I installed a Sony XAV-AX1000 in my 2004 WRX. I purchased the car with the OEM stereo but was missing the wiring harness, and as a result wasn't able to test the speakers. The installation went fine, however once I started trying to turn the volume of the speakers, I noticed that the speakers clip at any volume higher then 16 (to put into perspective, with the engine off 16 is very quiet, once the engine is running and driving I can barley hear the music). I've been putting it off for a few months as I assumed that something was wrong with the speakers, (12 year old Alpine speakers). A couple days ago I installed a pair on Sony speakers, and to my frustration the speakers still distort past volume 16. I am absolutely baffled, I have no idea what could possibly be the issue. I have noted that sometimes when using the speakers, when the bass peaks the car interior lights flicker, so maybe it's something to do with the battery? I have no idea, any help would be appreciated, thanks everyone!

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[Grimmjoww]

Sounds like a dirty ground, or the head unit could be defective. Check the wiring first though, make sure the fuse is rated as well.

 

[Weeksy]

Sounds like a dirty ground, or the head unit could be defective. Check the wiring first though, make sure the fuse is rated as well.

The ground for the head unit?

 

[Grimmjoww]

The ground for the head unit?

Yes, the internal amp in a head unit is just like any other amp. If the ground ***** it will kill the signal.

 

[AnthonyO 10+ year member]

EXTRA BASS Reinforces bass sound in synchronization with the volume level: [OFF], [1], [2].
Make sure this is off

High Pass Filter Selects the cut-off frequency of the front/rear speakers: [OFF], [50Hz], [60Hz], [80Hz], [100Hz], [120Hz].
Is this off?

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

I agree this may be a "low frequency" issue, try to high pass at 50 or 60hz and see if that doesn't let you put a little more power into them. Definitely turn off any "bass boost" or "loudness" settings in your head unit.

 

[1aespinoza 10+ year member]

I have noted that sometimes when using the speakers, when the bass peaks the car interior lights flicker, so maybe it's something to do with the battery? I have no idea, any help would be appreciated, thanks everyone!

Make sure your battery terminals are clean and the ground strap goint to the engine is clean and snug.

 

[Weeksy]

EXTRA BASS Reinforces bass sound in synchronization with the volume level: [OFF], [1], [2].
Make sure this is off

High Pass Filter Selects the cut-off frequency of the front/rear speakers: [OFF], [50Hz], [60Hz], [80Hz], [100Hz], [120Hz].
Is this off?

I agree this may be a "low frequency" issue, try to high pass at 50 or 60hz and see if that doesn't let you put a little more power into them. Definitely turn off any "bass boost" or "loudness" settings in your head unit.

It's definitely not an issue with the EQ or extra bass, as I've said its barley audible at volume 16, any higher it distorts, it's extremely usual. I bought the speakers off a mate with the same head unit and I've been in his car with the speakers working at high volumes. I've tried adjusting the low and high frequency settings. I was playing around with it last night and noticed that the use of any of the in car electronics, like the power windows or mirrors results in increased clipping, so it's almost certainly battery or grounding related. I'm at work at the moment but could anyone give me some troubleshooting steps related to this? Thank you!

 

[spokey9]

Try running a new ground for your headunit would be my suggestion

 

[Weeksy]

Try running a new ground for your headunit would be my suggestion

I'll try this when I get home, should I try ground it to some bare metal in the fire wall? or run something directly from the battery?

 

[spokey9]

I have mine grounded to bare metal by my shifter...it was the shortest route to a clean ground for me

 

[Weeksy]

I have mine grounded to bare metal by my shifter...it was the shortest route to a clean ground for me

Sounds good, were you having issues similar to me?

 

[spokey9]

Mine was a hiss in my tweets that i thought would smoke them...bad grounds can cause all kinds if fun stuff though and it's an easy thing to try

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

I'll try this when I get home, should I try ground it to some bare metal in the fire wall? or run something directly from the battery?

Here in USA any auto parts store will "load test" your battery for no charge, that's a good starting point to be sure that's up to the job, though generally if your battery is so weak your head unit is not performing your car wouldn't be starting in the morning. May as well look and see that the connections up under the hood are tight and free of corrosion at least which is never bad practice in general.

I personally have seen or heard of few factory grounds for head unit having trouble, keep in mind most heads will also try to "find" ground through the antenna as well so even if the black wire into the head is a bit off things sort themselves out when you plug in the antenna.

Also worth looking at is whether speaker wire between the head unit and speakers is shorting out. A failure somewhere in the insulation on that speaker wire could cause all manner of trouble and eventually break your head unit. If you have a known working speaker you could pull the head unit, disconnect the speaker outs that run to your stock locations, and connect one known working speaker to each speaker out from the source unit and see if you can replicate the problem once you've removed the wires going to the stock locations from the equation. At that point if you're still having trouble you may consider just pulling the head unit and powering it up with a car battery and repeating the same test. I've been running Sony head units for some time now and they have been doing me very well so unless something was abused the head unit itself isn't a prime suspect for me.

 

[Weeksy]

Here in USA any auto parts store will "load test" your battery for no charge, that's a good starting point to be sure that's up to the job, though generally if your battery is so weak your head unit is not performing your car wouldn't be starting in the morning. May as well look and see that the connections up under the hood are tight and free of corrosion at least which is never bad practice in general.

I personally have seen or heard of few factory grounds for head unit having trouble, keep in mind most heads will also try to "find" ground through the antenna as well so even if the black wire into the head is a bit off things sort themselves out when you plug in the antenna.

Also worth looking at is whether speaker wire between the head unit and speakers is shorting out. A failure somewhere in the insulation on that speaker wire could cause all manner of trouble and eventually break your head unit. If you have a known working speaker you could pull the head unit, disconnect the speaker outs that run to your stock locations, and connect one known working speaker to each speaker out from the source unit and see if you can replicate the problem once you've removed the wires going to the stock locations from the equation. At that point if you're still having trouble you may consider just pulling the head unit and powering it up with a car battery and repeating the same test. I've been running Sony head units for some time now and they have been doing me very well so unless something was abused the head unit itself isn't a prime suspect for me.

Alright, just got back inside, no luck. Wasn't able to get the speakers working, but made some discoveries which may lead to a solution. Safe to say the wiring done by the previous owner is an absolute **** show, as you can see bellow.

I discovered that each of the factory speakers has the OEM speakers wires, the coloured ones as pictured above. Along with this, two aftermarket speaker wires are connected to the terminal connector (twisted together) to the head unit. I assumed that I this would the the solution to the issue, however, I tried running the speakers with just the OEM wires, just the aftermarket wires and a combination of the two (as it was originally), but still no luck. As hispls mentioned the next thing I'm going to try is isolating the head unit outside the car whether that be my brothers car or otherwise. Probably worth noting as well in the background of the image, you can see two power wires. I suspect that these were wired directly from the battery or otherwise, probably worth giving them a test next time the head unit is out. For now though, does anyone have any ideas? Also I tried grounding the head unit to the chassis, didn't make any difference.