I'm having a weird problem with my left side speakers that I'm hoping one of the audio experts around here might be able to help diagnose before taking it to the dealership.

I have the Bose Audio System and I've hooked up a 12"inch MTX subwoofer with an Alpine MRP-T220 amp. I tapped into the rear Driver side 8" speaker with a line out converter. Not sure if this is the correct name for it, but it has the wires to tap into the speaker and then the RCA output on the other end. I twisted the right and left positive ends of the line out converter and the right and left negative ends of it to only have one set of positive and negative wires. I tapped these into the rear left bose speaker. This was back in April and it worked without a problem. Or so I believe, the problem may have been happening and I never noticed.

The problem I'm having is when I am playing CD's. The left speakers in the car play garbled and VERY low. I can have the volume all the way up, and you'll barely hear the left speakers. If I have the radio turned on all the speakers play normal and the volume is equal between the left and right speakers. ONLY HAPPENS WITH CD's!! However, it doesn't happen all the time. Sometimes the CD will play normal in all the speakers and then all of a sudden it will cut out in the left speakers. Sometimes it happens immediately, sometimes it takes a few minutes, sometimes it doesn't happen at all. It NEVER happens when I'm listening to the radio. Sometimes changing the cd (6 disc changer) it will play normal after the change, sometimes it won't. It's completely random!

I've tried cutting the power to the amp and it still does it. I'm not sure if this just started recently, or if it did it from day one, but the first time I heard it was about a month ago. I want to say it's doing it more often now than it was a month ago, but it might be only because I am paying closer attention to it now.

Would tapping into the back bose wire cause behavior like this where the tapped wire side of the car would play SIGNIFICANTLY lower than the other side of the car? And why would it only do it for CD's and not the radio?

I know there is a risk with tapping into the wire of reducing sound quality, but I thought that would be most impacted in the 12" subwoofer (which sounds good). But turning off power to the amp should stop the strain on the Bose speaker tapped into, right?

Knowing the service dept at my dealership, I can see them saying that the subwoofer messed up the system and them not wanting to fix anything. The thing that makes no sense to me is why it will only play garbled with the CD player while the radio plays just fine. And why it would only be garbled some of the time. Seems to be an issue with the CD player.

Has anyone ever seen or heard of these types of symptoms or have any idea of what I could try to help narrow down the problem?


Thanks!

 

the problem is not with your install, i have a factory bose system in my max and the same thing happened to my left speakers. I used to be an audio installer so I knew that the problem was comming from the cd player, i would take out your aftermarket equip. and bring it to the dealer to replace the cd player, they replaced mine with no problem but im sure they would throw u a line of bull if they new u messed wit the speakers. but trust me u did nothing wrong. after the replace it throw your system back in and you'll be good to go cruzin.

 

Thanks for the reply. Yeah, I was hoping the CD player was bad, that way it would make sense to me. This time going around, I'll probably get one of the Pac AOEM-NIS2 adapters just to have a cleaner install. I didn't know about them when I first installed the system.

 

I have the exact same problem. Thanks for the info.

 

scavynger, do you know where i can find the pac adapter online. cause i was think of adding some subs i have from my old car and that would be the only way i would do it. they never sound eight when u tap in to a speaker line

 

You could just yank out the Clarion head unit and the rest of the Bose system and install an aftermarket one. You already seem to be headed that way . . .

And yes, you did void the warrenty on your audio system when you tapped into it. I would remove it and all evidence that it was there before you went into a dealer. Seems like we are hearing more and more about bad Clarion head units.

 

Here's one on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...sPageName=WDVW

 

I had the same problem with the garbled sound from the left speaker when playing CDs. The dealer replaced the CD player and all is well. Only problem is they scratched the hell out of the silver trim but at least I'm getting it replaced for free!

 

i used a cheap line out converter (rf mod) in my old install and it burned out my amp. don't know if you have a good one or not, but that might be something to think about as well on your next go-round with your install.

 

Try this.... the next time it happens while your driving, hit the brakes real hard, to the point the abs kicks in....that should bring your speakers back up. I know it sounds crazy, but it works. I have the same problem sometimes.

 

Well did you try it?

 

I am having the same problem with my stereo in my vehicle. It only happen when I'm using my cd player. To reiterate the previous post, it don't happen all the time. It's like it has a short in the wiring or something, and the high channel(s) cut out. I brought it to the dealer twice. The last time which was today (November 4, 2004), the tech replaced a clip to a wire in my stereo and he believe he fixed the problem.. NOPE!! Still having the problem.. I really believe the cd players are defective . Now I will have to bring my vehicle back to the dealer for the three time.. This time I will demand a new cd player...

 

Funny thing or conspiracy from Bose; Mine is acting weird too! When I play the stereo at a very low volume, the bass sounds good then it start to drop off and then comes back in very deep. It does it intermittently. It maybe the Bose Amp that the line converter is hooked up to for my problem. My line converts have been replaced twice and I still suffer the same problem.

 

To follow up on my issue...

Brought the car to the dealership and they said it was the speakers. I asked him why he thought it was the speakers since the radio works just fine and it only happens with the CD player. He gave me some nonsense about them doing some ohm test on it, etc etc. Then he said that if new speakers don't fix it, I'll be able to replace the CD player so not to worry about it. I guess he thinks I like going out of my way unncessarily to drop off the car over and over. So a few days later the new speakers came in. They only ordered two left speakers. The one for the front door, and the sub in the back. Completely left out the back door speaker. To make it worse, the one they sent for the back, was the wrong size, it was non-bose speaker. So all they did was replace the front speaker. And called me and told me the problem is fixed but they still have to replace the back speaker. Problem fixed with only one speaker replacement??? Why replace the back speaker if problem was fixed??? They make no sense when they speak. They even had the nerve to give me the 'talk' about putting excellent on their survey! As soon as I got in the car, the front speaker which they replaced was still doing the same thing. Went back in and told them and they said they will order the CD player. Call back a week later, and it turns out the CD player was never ordered. So I had to wait another week. It came in today, so we'll see if they get it fixed tomorrow. This dealership I'm goign to is a joke. This wasn't the only problem I've had with their service. I'm going to start going to the other Nissan dealership in town. Oh, yeah, they also initially tried to say that the speakers were messed up because I had added the subwoofer to it. Here's what they wrote on the invoice: "Found evidence on left speaker wire where at some point there has been a scotch lock installed on wires for a large speaker that customer had in trunk. Bose system is not designed to add accessories to-can and probably will cause damage to system". I asked them to explain technically how it will cause harm to the system simply drawing a signal from the speaker to teh amp. They gave some BS...basically they were trying to cover themselves and void out the warranty. But we'll find out what the deal is tomorrow.

 

I had to have my radio replaced. Only when the CD played did the left side become distorted. They had to order a new one, then put it in. All under warranty.

 

Today I was sitting in my 2004 Max, (equipped w. Bose and nav.) and noticed that the sound is defnitely stronger on the right than the left. So I started playing with the equalizer and found that there is maybe like 10% sound coming from the front speakers, (door and tweeter), rear door speaker and rear deck speaker. It seems very odd that the whole left side could be blown. Maybe a bad wire or connection. Any advice? Like usual, I always come to the forums before the dealer. If I do have to replace the speakers, how difficult would it be to find Bose?

Thanks- Law520

 

I remember reading that some other people were having this type of problem. You won't be able to avoid the dealer on this one. Take it in and be sure to demonstrate the problem to them yourself. Otherwise they will most certainly misdiagnose it or not find a problem at all. It is most likely something wrong with the headunit.

Here is an old thread about it: http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=343608

 

usually have to replace the cd player/head unit for this i think

 

I had the smae problem but on the right side it is the factory unit blows i mean bose is good but i guess the ones we got are crappy nissan prob bought them at afactory outlet sale

 

I got a new CD player when the discs were skipping because it was too cold outside. Now I have to get a new CD player because my left speakers cut out?

I'm at 40k miles and that means my warranty is up. I am NOT paying for a CD player from Nissan. I'd rather go aftermarket.

Maxima.org should be accessed at the Nissan service dept. in my town. They could learn a thing or two...

 

I have the same problem with my 04 max bose radio where sound is distorted on the left channel speakers when the CD is played. I took it to the dealer and they gave me plenty of b.s. First they said that the system was not designed to listen to at volume levels higher then 14. (are you kidding me a Bose system!!!) Next they said that they do very little troubleshooting on radios and suggest that I take it directly to a local car audio repair/installation shop. (so basically they didn't even want to fool with it) They said they ran all sorts of test and found no issues, again b.s.
Now the problem is getting worse because at times I have the same problem with the radio plays.

What I would like to know is if any has a good online resource where I can purchase a bose head unit for my 04 max at a good price.

 

Dealerships suck. Hope it works out.

 

ive only noticed my front right make some weird sound when listening to the radio. hope you get it fixed

 

I used to own a car stereo shop and we had a lot of experience with factory bose systems and how they interact with aftermarket or just non-bose electronics. Most of the time it is a ohm rating issue. You gotta remember that cars are DC voltage in which resistance in the system based on wire size, type and length greatly affect the systems performance. Most aftermarket or basic car audio radios operate at 4 ohm. the Bose systems however are different in how they send a sound signal from the radio to the speakers. Some older Bose systems have small ampifiers built into the speaker and these run usually at 3 ohm. Other Bose systems have a radio with separate CD player because they only take a sound signal from those components and send it to a hidden Bose amplifier either under a seat, in the trunk, or behind the dash. this amplifier system also runs at a odd ohm rating. this is why u can't just put any kind of speaker to replace a bose one in your car. subwoofer amplifiers (mono amps) operate at either 2 ohm or 1 ohm stable. the lower the ohm rating the more powerful the sound and the more juice it demands from the battery and frankly robs the rest of your system of much needed power. For those of you with additional euipment such as extra amps either for extra interior speakers (tweets) or sub amp will obviously have to set a line output converter at some point in the system. this added load has never been calculated to work with the whole Bose system equation and will ether reduce or increase the ohm rating somwhere in the system and thus create cutting out of the music or reduced or muffled sound. in short...... dont mess with Bose systems. either keep what you have or replace the whole thing. In most newer Bose systems you can take it to a good car audio place and they can simply replace the factory head unit with a aftermaret one and integrate the RCA preouts or the speaker outputs to power up the factory Bose amp and speakers and then you can add your sub amp and woofer without any glitch. Some may never experience any disfunction with added equipment to factory Bose but it differs form car to car. It also has to do with the line voltage on the signal side of the Bose system. if the Clarion CD player (which again is not a Bose unit and its Nissans fault for adding it) is acting up is because it doesnt have enough juice on the RCA outs to give a consistant sound to each speaker in the car. in the long run it will get worse and eventually more frequent until the CD player or the speakers or the Bose amp goes out. This is due to overheating and distortion because of the reduced signal voltage. Most complex after market systems with mutiple amps will run into this problem as well but they can easily solve it with a line driver to increase the signal voltage. So if you have a factory Bose system and you want to add stuff to it then expect to have problems either emediatley or eventually and the problem will always be hard to pinpoint just because of its complexity.

 

Good info. I will add to all of that:

The drivers side of our Bose system goes bad. Whether its all stock or not. The best fix is to just replace it with a nice aftermarket system.

CD may start to skip in cold weather, same fix. Replace it.

I loved it while it worked but after a while, you just have to replace it.

 

Hey guys im new to this forum and I just recently bought a 04 maxima. I'm having the same problem where my left speaker is cutting out and I was wondering if I could fix it by just installing a new navigation/cd player and not changing the speakers? thanks