both front speakers dead?!?

[PaulH]

Hi all,

I was driving along when I hit a pothole... not a huge one, but enough that it gave my car a little jolt. The thing is, both left and right front speakers went dead at the same time (rear speakers are fine)!! I have a stock Gen1 (94 RT10), with a stock headunit, but I changed all 4 speakers with Polk Audio MOMO speakers. At first I assumed my handiwork was faulty (I changed the speakers myself), but i thought it was weird that BOTH left and right speakers went out at the EXACT SAME TIME.... this means that BOTH speakers had to be equally loose or something. So I figured there's probably a single wire/fuse/something else that must be faulty.

I don't know much about the sound system setup, and I don't know how to take out my headunit.

Has this happened to anyone and/or does anyone know what might be going on?

Thanks!!
Paul.

 

[GotAViper]

might have to dig up the connections and check. Did you just replace the speakers and connect them to the original wire that was there?

 

[PaulH]

yeah... i'm hoping there's a simpler answer. although I really don't think it's the connections. To change the speakers, i removed the door panels, took out the side speakers and tweeters, and spliced the crossovers into the factory harness. i can't imagine ALL those wires getting loose at once!

 

[GotAViper]

I would that this as a good opportunity to get a new headunit? Then you can hook everything up fresh again.

 

[PaulH]

i took out the headunit and checked all the connections. they look fine! all the connections and the fuse from the amplifier in the trunk look fine also! I still seriously doubt loose connections in the door speakers themselves would cause all 4 door speakers to go out at once. Can this still be a headunit issue? an amp issue? any other ideas?

 

[Randy]

Did you have anything in the trunk that might have banged into the trunk amplifier - isn't there a circuit breaker reset switch on them or close to them in the trunk? (Right now I can't recall).

 

[GotAViper]

I used to install car stereos at circuit city, but I havent even looked into what my viper has yet.

Are there 2 amps or a 4 channel?

Im assuming there are probably 2 beacuse there are 2 components and 2 woofers in the center and probably require totaly different power.

Are both the speakers in the center console just woofers only?


factory amps are garbage from every car in the world, even factory head units, unless you get a bose upgraded sound system, which even still isnt that good.

I would assume its probably the amp. If i were you, i would just redo it.

Get a new headunit and wire that to the center speakers, and get a small 2 channel amp for the components in the doors. Run new wire while ur at it.

can probably all be done for 400-500$ and will be worth it.

 

[sbkim]

I would have guessed the speaker wires running along the doors are severed but what are the chance that both sides and the back would go out at the same time...

 

[STUGOTS]

the 2 in the hood? lol

 

[PaulH]

randy, there's DEFINITELY a good chance that something banged into the amplifier (i had a car battery booster... pretty heavy thing in the back trunk right by the front speaker-supplying amplifier ... gen1's have 2 amps... it probably hit the amp when i hit that pothole).

i took a look at the amp, and there are a bunch of switches, but it seems like none of them move! i didn't see a circuit breaker switch, but i'm not really sure what to look for.

one thing i DID do was use RCA cable extenders to cross the cables from each side.... both sides of RCA cables work (in other words, if I plug the RCA cables that power the front speakers into the rear amp, the rear speakers go on, suggesting that it's a problem anywhere from the amplifier to the speakers, NOT the headunit).

so i'm convinced it's the amplifier, and I still think it's a simple issue... a switch got hit or something. i just don't know what...

 

[ruckdr]

Check both amps, by powering the rear speakers, with each amp (use RCA extensions as necessary. I did this and determined both amps were OK. Then I switched the RCA cables at the head unit and did the same thing. In other words, run all combinations. I had a pair of RCA cables that were bad, and had to run new ones - not fun, but it sounds like the same thing I had.
Later,

 

[RobHook]

This isn't too uncommon on 94's and probably all GEN I's. Mine did the same thing. There are two common causes but they're both related to the plug that supplies power to the amp. The amps need both supply power (accessory) and a signal from the head unit to tell them to power up (remote). There is a small white plug going to each amp. The connectors in this plug come un-crimped over time due to being pulled and twisted by items in the trunk. I ground down a regular screwdriver and used that to trip the barbs in the plug and remove the wires. Pay attention to which one goes where. I then re-crimped the wires and re-inserted them into the plug. That was 3 years ago and I haven't had any more problems. The plug itself could also just be loose.