Static/crackling sound from speakers at mid-volume

[bigbang 10+ year member]

He also had a mary of guadalupe' statue glued to his dash, and the word Rodriguez spelled out in fancy lettering across his winshield. Oh yeah, and a viva la mexico sticker on his bumper. LOL, just kidding. I just get fond memories of the job I had that got me into car stereos, also where I met that dude in the van. I worked at a factory which was probably 75% mexican, and everyone was into car stereos. I had been into home theater, but never thought a car could be high fidelety so it took me a while to start to appreciate it. Eventually I got into car stereos, and the great thing besides being able to talk to everyone about them, and everyone trying to out do one another in the parking lot, was all the great deals I got buying stuff from all the guys.

 

[TeddyUnited 10+ year member]

dude, AZBASS told you what to do, do it. he is on point.

 

[79corona 10+ year member]

I will DUDE, I was just explaining my connections. Thanks.

 

[kross 10+ year member]

Well, there was no wiring harness adapter for my car because of its age. So I found some narrow blade-style male crimp connectors that would slide into the factory female harness plug. For the speakers I used standard blade-style male crimp connectors to plug into the factory female harness plug and soldered the other end to the speaker terminals.

This sounds like your problem. Sounds like they aren't making good solid contact in the harness.

 

[mikey7182 10+ year member]

I've had this issue before (long time ago) and it turned out to be a grounding issue. I'd go through and eliminate one possibility at a time. First, change the location of your chassis ground from your deck to your car instead of plugging into the factory ground (if you haven't already). Even if you have, try a new spot and make sure to sand the hell out of it to get bare metal exposed. If that doesn't fix it, try azbass's suggestion. That is more along the lines of what my problem was. A speaker lead had caught on the metal when I ran it through the door and it was grounding out. It sounded fine at low volumes for whatever reason but as soon as I'd crank it, it would short and crackle in and out. Something is grounded somewhere. Trace all your speaker wires back and if you haven't already done so, run fresh wires straight from your deck to your speakers. Don't tap into anything factory. That will eliminate room for error.

Mike

 

[79corona 10+ year member]

Thanks, I'll check it. However, factory wiring is not a bad thing by definition. Thanks.

 

[79corona 10+ year member]

I just spoke with Kenwood, and they think it is a problem with the HU, not speakers or wiring.

 

[mikey7182 10+ year member]

Thanks, I'll check it. However, factory wiring is not a bad thing by definition. Thanks.

I know... you just mentioned you had an older car, and wiring tends to deteriorate over time, so I figured that would rule that out. I tap into my stock wiring harness for power and ground for my deck in every car typically //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 

[79corona 10+ year member]

It's an older car, but not ancient. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif Of course, I had to replace all the cotton insulation and porcelain connectors......

 

[thefunkybunch 10+ year member]

make a better battery to chassis ground. i've also seen spark plug wires cause strange noises. check to make sure your alternator's voltage regulator isn't bad. i've had a customer with a 75 or something ford ranger that the regulator took a dump and the alt was making between 16 and 17 volts and was causing some strrrrraaaaaange issues with the system. once we figured out that the voltage was that high, fixed the problem and it's been perfect ever since. also you could try taking a test piece of wire and grounding the deck directly to the battery (just run it out through the door and clamp it on the battery temporarily).

 

[79corona 10+ year member]

The starter is new, the alternator is new, the battery is grounded through the engine and there are grounding straps to the body from the engine. The ground wire of the unit is attached to the ground in the car's wiring harness and also to the chassis.

 

[thefunkybunch 10+ year member]

so let me see if i'm reading this right... the battery negative cable goes to the engine block, and from the engine there are ground straps going to the chassis? this reads as if there is no direct connection between the battery to chassis... try taking a piece of 4awg (or larger) wire and running it directly from the battery negative terminal to a point on the chassis (strip the paint off well and through bolt it). if i am reading your post correctly, i'd bet this will help considerably, because there's no way you can get a good ground running from the chassis to the engine to get to the battery.

 

[79corona 10+ year member]

Sorry, there is also a smaller wire at the battery post going to the body. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif