My new install was completed about 4 weeks ago. I have an 01 Coupe and kept the factory, added a Rockford 600.4 amp, a JL 10W3 sub in the rear compartment and a pair of JL Audio 3-ways in the front. The factory rears continue to be powered by the Bose. I had the install done by a local shop.

The system sounds awesome most of the time, but last week I began getting a sproadic loud crackling type noise out of the front passenger speakers. It's the sound you'd expect from two wires touching that are not supposed to ever touch (gzzzshsh). It occurs when playing either the CD or the radio and once it starts, it continues at any volume level, even with the sound turned all the way down. I took it back to the stereo shop, but of course it would not make the sound. As I drive off, two miles down the road, there it goes again. I drive back to the stereo shop, it stops. I take off again...you get the picture. It is very sporadic whereby it might not occur for two days, then it occurs immediately once I turn the unit on. The stereo shop did completely re-wire the passenger door speakers/crossover to no avail.

To troubleshoot, I plan the following:

> swith the speaker output wires left to right to see if the sound moves to the driver side. If it does, I assume this would indicate an amp problem.

> Take the passenger door panel off, isolate the sound to a specific speaker (one of the three), by unhooking each speaker until I identify which speaker is the culprit. Replace the corresponding passenger speaker with the driver side speaker to see if that remedies the problem.

> If the above still does not remedy the situation, switch the crossovers from driver to passenger.

> If all that fails, I assume it must be the wiring done at the shop

Does anybody else have ideas as to what it might be or how to better troubleshoot?

Thanks in advance for the help!

 

Rookie,

All of those are excellent trouble shooting ideas. Thats how I learned by trying everything possible to remedy the problem. But, I would suspect that you have a bad amp or possibly a loose ground. Can you hear this through the sub also ? It sounds like your running a 4 channel amp with 2 going to the fronts and the other 2 bridged to the sub. It could also be a bad RCA cable.

Good Luck...

 

Definitely good advice/ troubleshooting routine. Make sure the solder joints on the RCA's are in good condition and that there isn't a cold solder joint or broken lead that is making an intermettant connection.