Background: 2004 Max, BOSE system, Pioneer headunit

Problem: Everything started out fine after the Pioneer HU install. Recently though, the left front lower door speaker only comes on when I turn the volume up pretty high. I can then turn the volume back down and it will stay on. If I hit a bump it will sometimes go off. I can then turn the volume back up and it will come back on. I have taken the speaker out and hooked it up to another connection and it worked fine. I figure there's a short in the wire somewhere, but why does it come on when I crank it up? How am I going to figure out where the problem is?

 

recheck the wiring harness behind the radio. when it goes off when you hit a bump is pretty indicative of a bad connection somewhere. Hell I would just go back and check all your possible connections.

 

I understand the connection between bumps & speaker going out. But how does it come back on when I turn the volume up and go off when I turn the volume down?

 

Further info - I'm using this wire harness: http://www.metraonline.com/part/70-7551
Also, the tweeter on the same side at the top of the door still works with no issues.

 

Polarity is important. Could be reversed. Reversed polarity will still play, but with adverse results...

As far as the bad connection being regained by turning it up, it's possible it's a weak connection, thus the more signal strength, the circuit is completed...

No matter how you slice it, checking and redoing all the connections is your next step. Check poliariy on all speakers BTW, not just this one...

 

Sounds to me like the speaker is about to be toast. Hitting a bump jump starts it.

Ignore the posts above to the newbs like Gordo , and here is why:

If your tweeter works all the time, this isn't a connection issue. The radio's connection is there/working, and factory connectors don't have issues 99% of the time.

Also, if you used the 70-7551 harness, it is impossible to mess up polarity, so chasing down issues there is also impossible. Messing up balance and fade is a possibility with this harness, but not polarity.

When a speaker is on its way to the grave, it can act exactly the way you describe. Of course, there is the 1% chance it's a connection issue, but I would check speakers first.

 

Um, he did check the speaker...

 

Did he test the speaker in a different vehicle but the same scenario as this one? i.e. turn radio off and on, or low volumes to high volumes and vise versa, or hitting a bump and seeing what happens? Or, at the very least, measure its impedance with a meter?

The thing with a speaker being on its way to the grave is its an intermittent problem. Holding the speaker in his hand while performing such a test could replicate hitting a bump in the car, jump starting the speaker.

I'd bet that when the speaker is at rest, it reads open loop on a meter, or a very weird impedance.


Edit: Also, I am a sarcastic person, but it was mainly directed at Gordon, and is nothing personal.
Although Gordon, you did post before the discovery that the tweeters always work perfectly, so i'll give you that.

 

All that other stuff aside, I don't see anyone named Gordon, hence my confusion...

 

I really only checked the speaker at a low volume for a few seconds. I'm not a big electronics person and really only did a basic test that I thought would tell me if the speaker was good or not.

If the speaker is bad, what do I replace it with? Other than the HU the rest of the system is stock. I ask that because I know there is an ohm difference.

 

If it were me, I would bypass the Bose amp, and run new speakers off the radio, or preferably an amp. But even the Rainbow Soundlines from the GD in this thread will do okay off a radio - night and day compared to stock.

The only important part would be finding an installer who is competent enough to keep the Bose sub functioning.

 

The tweeter is not working now. I don't know if it just now stopped working or if it wasn't working before and I just didn't realize it. Probably the latter. If it's not working either, what's that mean for the situation? I put my ear up to it while the radio was on (no sound coming from the door speaker) and could hear something, very low noise, not music but like an open mic sound from a 2-way radio.

 

that was my next suggestion

 

Well I ordered a set of Boston Acoustic speakers from crutchfield.com today so we'll see if that be the case or not.

 

Well, that would obviously change all my replies.
Might have a channel on the Bose amp going bad. Slightly greater chance of it being a connection issue.

I'd still bypass the Bose amp and be done with that part of it.

 

Can I just install an aftermarket amp and leave everything else the same or will I have to change all the speakers too? How many channels is the factory amp? I have an MTX Thunder 400 4 channel amp (that I've been trying to sell), what all would I need to do to install it? Can I use any of the factory wiring? This is becoming a big hassle, stupid Bose!

 

You can absolutely use that MTX amp to run your door speakers. ALL the wiring you would tap into would be at the factory amp, except obviously power and ground.

 

I took the factory amp out today and examined the wire harnesses. On the big one I recognized the speaker wire colors from when I replaced the door speakers yesterday. The problem I'm having is this - which wires would I use as (speaker) inputs to the MTX? The colors I recognized would be the output to the speakers (correct?) but I need signal going into the amp. My MTX has both RCA and speaker wire type inputs. I would prefer to use the latter to avoid running RCA cables front to back.

 

With the 70-7551 harness, you essentially feed RCA level inputs into the factory amp via the factory wiring. So, you can simply splice a couple RCA's to the factory amp's inputs, and run those directly into your MTX.



Make sure you also feed signal to the sub amp.

 

Just what I needed! If I leave the Bose amp in, will it still power the subs and tweeters? Or are the tweeters part of the front door speaker wires?

 

FYI - I replaced the speakers and that did not fix the problem. The next step will be the amp. If that doesn't do it, I guess it's in the wiring. That would suck!

 

So here's the resolution - I bought a Bose amp from a wrecked Maxima to swap for mine to see if it was a bad channel. I installed it and the problem persisted. So I pulled the dash to check the back of the head unit. When I originally installed it I put in 2 PAC SNI-1's. I had them plugged into the HU and the Metra harness plugged into them. Apparently 1 of my SNI-1 was bad causing a "short" in the connection. I removed it and plugged the harness directly into the HU and now everythig is fine! So after spending $200 unnecessarily ($150 for new front and rear door speakers & $50 for the amp) the sound has been restored.

 

Going back to all the original suggestions...check the connections was on top of the list, and the cheapest option obviously...

 

It absolutely was. The solution was nothing that I had said above, however, the tweeter wasn't working when the OP said it was, and nothing about SNI1's was mentioned until after the problem was fixed. Had the facts been accurate, I stand by my troubleshooting steps.

Again, OP, this is not a dig at you or anyone else.

 

No prob. I guess I should have pulled the dash first and checked back there, I just didn't feel that there could have been anything wrong back there. GUESS I WAS WRONG! Oh well, it didn't hurt to replace 7 year old paper cone speakers, even though they still sounded fine.

 

For some reason mine only works at low volumes. If I go over 19 only the audio turns off I have to turn the car completely off and back on for it to work again . I just installed 2 12 with a 1600 hifonics monoblock. I used a converter to have rca input. Please help! Someone!! Idk what to do!!