Front Speakers Out

[turbojimmy]

Hi all,

This seems like a simple problem but I don't want to tear into it without some advice.

A few weeks ago I got into my GN and had no front speakers. They had worked fine previously. I have a Blaupunkt radio/cd player. It's nothing fancy and has a 'plug-n-play' harness. I checked all the connections and they're fine.

I ASSumed that the amp in the Blaupunkt radio had quit (in retrospect I'd probably have lost left or right, not just the front) so I bought a new Sony unit today. I like the Sony unit better anyway. It was a bottom-of-the-line head unit, but has an input for my MP3 player that the Blaupunkt doesn't have. But I digress...

Plugged in the new Sony unit and......no front speakers.

It's gotta be something simple. The wiring just runs from the speakers directly to the radio wiring, right? There's no ground in between or anything is there? Again, both front ones died simultaneously.

TIA,
Jim

 

[John Larkin]

The dash and door speakers are wired in parallel. Therefore if the doors are working, then the dashes should also. B-D (tan/gray) is left side, A-C (lt grn/dk grn) is right side. Connector "should" be marked. Could use a couple of paperclips in the connector and a AA battery to "bump" the speakers. This would verify both continuity and speaker operation without taking the dash apart.

 

[turbojimmy]

The dash and door speakers are wired in parallel. Therefore if the doors are working, then the dashes should also. B-D (tan/gray) is left side, A-C (lt grn/dk grn) is right side. Connector "should" be marked. Could use a couple of paperclips in the connector and a AA battery to "bump" the speakers. This would verify both continuity and speaker operation without taking the dash apart.

I'll try that. I don't have door speakers which would make troubleshooting that much easier.

I hooked the head up directly to the connector and got nothing. I then hooked the head up to an extra speaker I had laying around and it worked fine. The only logical explanation at this point is that both front speakers blew simultaneously which isn't all that logical.

Jim

 

[garyk1970]

if you have concert sound 2, look closely at the "Y" harness for the door and dash speakers behind radio.........

 

[zr2tim]

When I bought my car, one speaker in the dash and one in the door was out. Dug in deeper to find that the wire clips were off of the plug-in at the speaker.

They rattle and sound bad, so either they fell off, or the old owner disconnected???

But, both of yours at the same time???

Pull your top dash cover off and take a look, not hard to do.

HTH

 

[turbojimmy]

Well I got it figured out. Turns out the right speaker was dead. I don't know how long it's been dead, but it is. It's a Kenwood speaker and as I recall it wasn't cheap either. I don't know what goes wrong with them but it's dead. I hooked the right front channel up to an extra speaker I have and it worked.

The connection had come loose at the left speaker, thus making me think both speakers failed simultaneously (again, I didn't know the right one was out). I hooked the right front channel up to an extra speaker I have and it worked.

I'm going to get another pair of 3.5" speakers today. Wal*Mart has them for $6.47 each but they have to sound crappy at that price. These Kenwoods sounded great (and only one was working!).

Jim

 

[GNBRETT]

Well I got it figured out. Turns out the right speaker was dead. I don't know how long it's been dead, but it is. It's a Kenwood speaker and as I recall it wasn't cheap either. I don't know what goes wrong with them but it's dead. I hooked the right front channel up to an extra speaker I have and it worked.

The connection had come loose at the left speaker, thus making me think both speakers failed simultaneously (again, I didn't know the right one was out). I hooked the right front channel up to an extra speaker I have and it worked.

I'm going to get another pair of 3.5" speakers today. Wal*Mart has them for $6.47 each but they have to sound crappy at that price. These Kenwoods sounded great (and only one was working!).

Jim

Walmart? I would order something from ebay before Walmart. Do you have concert sound II? I'm trying to figure what out what im going to put in my doors considering I don't have the door panel speakers. Probably gonna have to cut holes for both tweeters and mids

 

[turbojimmy]

Walmart? I would order something from ebay before Walmart. Do you have concert sound II? I'm trying to figure what out what im going to put in my doors considering I don't have the door panel speakers. Probably gonna have to cut holes for both tweeters and mids

I went to Wal*Mart out of desperation. None of the big A/V type stores had 3.5" speakers (Circuit City, PC Richard). Wal*Mart was the only place that had them, but at $6.47 each I may as well just leave an empty hole in the dash (they have to sound awful).

I looked up my Kenwoods online. It turns out that they were cheap ($20 a pair, which approaches Wal*Mart quality). I don't need an audiophile-quality system in the car - the stock 4 speaker locations are fine - but it does need to be loud enough to hear over all the vibrations, rattles and Magnaflow mufflers. So I ordered a pair of Boston Acoustics speakers. They were a little more than I wanted to spend, but it's tough to find a 2-way without a tweeter that extends past the top of the speaker thus interfering with the trim that goes over top of them. The Boston Acoustics look like they stick up a little bit but probably not enough to matter (much). Crutchfield's fitment guide said none of their 3.5" speakers would fit, but then again they didn't even show the dashboard as a location.

Jim

 

[8UWITH6]

Powerbass, excellent quality for the price. I have lots of experience with these speakers. Besides Rockford Fosgate, Powerbass is the only other brand I run in my cars............ my new WE4 is ALL Powerbass except the radio and amps.

eBay Express: NEW Powerbass S-352 90W 2-Way 3-1/2" Speakers (89mm) - Description

AND, I have experience with this seller, Bills Electronics, fast shipping, great communication, etc. Good luck, HTH

 

[GNBRETT]

I went to Wal*Mart out of desperation. None of the big A/V type stores had 3.5" speakers (Circuit City, PC Richard). Wal*Mart was the only place that had them, but at $6.47 each I may as well just leave an empty hole in the dash (they have to sound awful).

I looked up my Kenwoods online. It turns out that they were cheap ($20 a pair, which approaches Wal*Mart quality). I don't need an audiophile-quality system in the car - the stock 4 speaker locations are fine - but it does need to be loud enough to hear over all the vibrations, rattles and Magnaflow mufflers. So I ordered a pair of Boston Acoustics speakers. They were a little more than I wanted to spend, but it's tough to find a 2-way without a tweeter that extends past the top of the speaker thus interfering with the trim that goes over top of them. The Boston Acoustics look like they stick up a little bit but probably not enough to matter (much). Crutchfield's fitment guide said none of their 3.5" speakers would fit, but then again they didn't even show the dashboard as a location.

Jim

Yea, im up in the air as to what direction I want to go with my sound system to. Looks like those new lower door panels will be ready soon and a set of 6.5 w/tweeters will fit in there. That should do the trick.

The sky is the limit with sound systems but if the car is a street car I think id rather choose to spend a few extra dollars for some great sound considering I will likely have the car for years to come. Two each his own tho.

The problem with these cars is there is quite a bit of cubic air space to move in the interior and trunk. With a VW GTI one could get away with an average system cause it's tiny inside and the trunk is the interior but when an interior as large as it is with our cars I think one needs to consider that if they want their system to sound good.