Radio/Speaker Issues

[Brindleboxer]

I upgraded my stock radio about two years ago and finally got tired of listening to the ever deteriorating speakers. I replaced the front in January as they were the worst (exception to the pathetic rear sub). I recently picked up a matching pair for the rear doors. I installed them and immediately knew something was wrong. I turned on the truck to test and the radio came on and displayed an amp error and then shut down.

I removed the new rear speakers and replaced with the old one, the radio came back on and worked. I pulled one of the old speakers and plugged in a new one and it worked. I installed both new rears again and same thing, amp error and shut down. I went to pull the new rears and when I removed one and was taking the other from the door the radio came back on. I stuck the rear speaker to the door (not installed) and they both worked. I then put them back in the door and the amp error occurred again. I then put the old ones back in and the radio came back on but I notice now that the volume is lower than normal. I think I popped the amp during this process.

My question is has anyone ever ran into this before? I was baffled for a bit but thought about it over lunch and think I might be grounding the system somehow with the new speakers but I cannot think of why them and not the old ones.

I await the group knowledge on this one.

 

[Rusty Marlin]

it would appear that the new speakers have a direct short to ground through the mounting flange, or the input lead contacts the cutout in the door when assembled.
Time to get the multimeter out and poke at it looking for continuity where there shouldn't be.

 

[Brindleboxer]

it would appear that the new speakers have a direct short to ground through the mounting flange, or the input lead contacts the cutout in the door when assembled.
Time to get the multimeter out and poke at it looking for continuity where there shouldn't be.

Rusty,

It is as we thought, it looks as though the frame on the back of the speaker (where the wires connect) is bigger than my previous ones and when installed are contacting the inner door causing a short. I measured and believe that placing a 1/4" spacer will pull it far enough to clear the interference.

The bad part is that now my radio sounds like crap, I believe I blew a channel on the internal amp. I will have to check and see if it is under warranty or not.

**Edit: Just thought, a spacer is going to pull toward the door causing more interference. I believe my options are 1: Notch the door (not wanting to cut it) 2: internally mount the speaker if the depth isn't an issue or 3: buy a new set of speakers; this is my least desired option since another pair will not match the front (I am anal about that type of thing).

 

[amgraham]

This may be a dumb question but when you installed the aftermarket radio did you unplug the factory amp next to the glovebox? If you leave that plugged in without the factory radio it can cause weird issues and interference.

 

[Brindleboxer]

This may be a dumb question but when you installed the aftermarket radio did you unplug the factory amp next to the glovebox? If you leave that plugged in without the factory radio it can cause weird issues and interference.

I did not do the install, CarToys did it. I do know that I can still hear the factory sub crackling if I turn up the volume. Replacing that was my next audio project. The HU was installed two years ago and no issue till yesterday.

 

[ajax1]

Sounds like your factory amp is still plugged in if you hear the rear sub. You need to use a spacer on the rears it sounds like. Might be worth pulling the head deck out and checking the fuses