Hey guys, I have an entry level pioneer head unit with some entry level pioneer speakers on all four corners (power is running off the head unit with stock wiring harness)...this setup has worked flawlessly for years...until recently the front left speaker barely produces any sound. I would say its 50% or less in sound compared to the other 3 speakers

So I thought it was a speaker problem. I pulled the door panel and checked for any loose wiring. Everything is good. So I thought it was a bad speaker so I swapped it for a working good speaker. Well, it does the same thing with the good speaker. Still runs around 50% loudness.

What do you guys think I should check for next? Head unit wires? Replace head unit? Any advise is appreciated!

 

You can swap the left and right speaker wires at the head unit, and if your lower level speaker becomes the right instead of the left, you've narrowed down your problem. It would be very odd for factory wiring to just go bad all of a sudden.

 

so if i pull the head unit...and swap FL & FR wires...and the low volume speaker moves to the other side, then the head unit is going bad?

and yes I do have factory wires...the only thing aftermarket is the "adapter" to connect factory speaker connector with an aftermarket speaker...other than that, the whole wire harness is factory

 

Yeah, that will work too. FYI, working speakers almost never are the problem in my experience...almost always a power (deck/amp) issue when dealing with a low output channel. Still worth the check though since rare doesn't mean never.

 

thanks for the tip boss

i went ahead and tried out what kpr10is suggested...i swapped FL and FR speaker connections at the head unit....well the FL speaker is still putting very low volume

So basically I have narrowed it to bad wiring....I can't physically see anything wrong with the wiring, at the door panel that is...but it could be somewhere else along the factory harness that the wire went bad...I'm thinking of running a wire directly from the speaker to the back of the head unit, and by passing the whole factory harness....this should solve my FL speaker low volume issue right?

 

It "should"...if I were you, I would take the piece of speaker wire youll be using, connect it but just lay it across the seat directly from radio to speaker, without actually running it under panels and such. It will only take a 2 extra minutes, and prove to you that the wire is the problem before you do the extra work. I've seen stranger things happen.