Sound system guys, help me!!

[shano]

Alright I got a lil problem. I bought my car (98 cavy) and It has an older JVC deck and pioneer speakers in the bank, and some basswork speakers infront, everything is fine except when I put the volume higher or add the bass, the deck shuts off and restarts itself, untill i put it back down. I cant go higher than 35ish with the bass at 0... It's almost like its missing power or something...

[fandl450r]

Possibly some bad connections, bad ground, or possibly that the load that the speakers are putting on the headunit is too much.

[pelphrey]

The speakers could be wired together. IE front left and rear on the left side. right front and rear on the right side. Easiest solustion is to check the rear speakers since they are on that back deck and you can see the bottom of the speaker.

Otherwise instead of pulling the doors off I would pull the radio out. Where the fuse box is on the driver side that entire plastic piece pops off as well as the pass. side. 7mm on each side. I can't remember how many. Drop the glove box there are some 7mm when you look up (3 I think) and then you'll need a 8mm to get the 2 gold screws that are inside the glove box. Hard to see but if you look inside the glove box and up on the top of the box you should see 2 gold screws. Once all these are out simple lift up and pull out. Be easy though because the pass. airbag is right there. Then there are a few more 7mm screws holding the dash on around the radio and the gauges. Take them out and pull off.

Should then be 2 7mm screws holding the radio in. I would disconnect each speaker one at a time and see if the radio still cuts off. If you find that with 3 speakers it works fine then just look at the wire in the dash and it should tell you which speaker it is (the one that isn't hooked to the radio).

You can pull the radio out of the dash if you have JVC keys. But these cavys are hard to put the radios back in because there isn't enough space. So your best bet is to take the dash off. Sounds like a lot but it only takes minutes to do.

Of course you could be just over powering the deck altogether. IN that case you would need to add an amp to those speakers to make them louder. Or get a different head unit. The pioneer radios are really nice.

I don't know how well I explained myself. Kind of in a hurry. I've been in car stereo for almost 6 years now. Trying to get out of it, but this knowledge will be with me forever!

[shano]

Thanks for the info, But the speakers arent wired together I dont think, im the one who put the bassworks in, and everything looked fine on the wiring deparetement, Im thinking the deck might be broken. I'll bring it to the audio store to find out.. Really dont feel like taking the dash off myself lol...

[pelphrey]

Its not as bad as it sounds. Plus it will save you the labor that they will charge to get the radio out. But its your call there.

Id say if you take it anywhere they will do what I was talking about and seeing if any of the speakers are bad.

Then will test the radio to see if it is bad.

[400exrules]

i think its a safety caution in the head unit. the guy that put my head unit said it will cut off if the unit detects a problem, so it wont mess anything up. it might be that....im not really sure.
could be a problem with your speakers causing the safety device to trigger

[pimpin330ex]

Of course you could be just over powering the deck altogether. IN that case you would need to add an amp to those speakers to make them louder. Or get a different head unit. The pioneer radios are really nice.

he is right i think the speakers are over powering the deck so u should probally got a amp.

Originally posted by pimpin330ex
he is right i think the speakers are over powering the deck so u should probally got a amp.

def what he said , and the post above his....
i had this same problem once, and found out i had some wires touching. the head unit did the same thing, safety precaution.
glad too., cause it will def fry that bad boy .

[iwreckedmyquad]

no guys im only 15 and i no what exctly the problem is u have shorted speaker its simple it doesnt wanna blow the out put ic so the deck goes in to protect like an amp would and if that doesnt work go to your local shop if ur in trumbull county Unlimted electronics (my dad owns it ) but then hav them "bench test" it just tell them what wrong with it kk

[pelphrey]

Originally posted by iwreckedmyquad
no guys im only 15 and i no what exctly the problem is u have shorted speaker its simple it doesnt wanna blow the out put ic so the deck goes in to protect like an amp would and if that doesnt work go to your local shop if ur in trumbull county Unlimted electronics (my dad owns it ) but then hav them "bench test" it just tell them what wrong with it kk

Okay how do you know he isn't turning the radio up all the way? It could be a shorted speaker and had you read my post I told him how to check for a shorted speaker. Just because your 15 and your dad owns a shop means nothing. I've installing car stereo for the last 6 years.

Bench testing the radio isn't really going to prove much of anything. Because if it is a shorted speaker 98% of the time its the wiring inside the car. Not the radio itself. Its possible that the output is bad on the radio. But its weird it works until a certain volume.

But to me and they way I read it, it sounds like the radio is being turned up too much. Just because a radio will go up to 46 doesn't mean thats how loud you need to turn it. Sounds like he needs more power and to fully get more power he needs to add an amp to the speakers. Or buy a pioneer head unit, they are the most powerful IMO....

[MAaudioX10]

What it sounds like to me is that your impedence is too high for the deck. Explaining why when the volume is increased everything "resets". Some headunits will actually shut off if they are driven hard at anything lower than a 4 ohm load.

Headunits won't handle low impedences like an amplifier will. Sooner or later your going to fry the MOSFETs in the head unit.

When a headunit is turned up too much, you run a higher risk of the headunit clipping. Which will lead to distortion and eventually, fried speakers.

If you are incapable of diagnosing these problems then you need to head to your nearest shop and have them check it out otherwise, follow pelphrey's instructions and meter your speaker wires behind the headunit. Make sure everything is 4 ohms or higher.

A short will cause the head unit to shut down. However, in my experience when a speaker is shorting out it effects the head unit or amp immediately.

Pelphrey seems to know what he is talking about so, when someone of PROFESSIONAL experience offers up there advice. My suggestion is to listen. I've been professionally installing for a better part of 5 years.

[shano]

Thanks for the help guys, But I just found out why... the deck is only a 40w x 4 lol.. And i Have 120watt speakers.. So theres my problem, sorry for the confusion...

[wilkin250r]

Originally posted by shano
Thanks for the help guys, But I just found out why... the deck is only a 40w x 4 lol.. And i Have 120watt speakers.. So theres my problem, sorry for the confusion...

No, the rating on the speaker is a maximum. You can't push over 120 watts, but you can certainly go less. It's like a 5 gallon gas tank. You can't put 7 gallons inside, but you can certainly put 3 gallons in.

The real test is the impedance of your speakers.

[pelphrey]

Originally posted by wilkin250r
No, the rating on the speaker is a maximum. You can't push over 120 watts, but you can certainly go less. It's like a 5 gallon gas tank. You can't put 7 gallons inside, but you can certainly put 3 gallons in.

The real test is the impedance of your speakers.

Very well put..Thank you!

[MAaudioX10]

Originally posted by shano
Thanks for the help guys, But I just found out why... the deck is only a 40w x 4 lol.. And i Have 120watt speakers.. So theres my problem, sorry for the confusion...

LMAO.....HAHA!

Oh man...I know I shouldn't laugh. We were all newbs at one time.

[shano]

But I was looking at some newer decks and they are mostly rated for 50wx4 or 60w x4? How would that power my speakers, pretty confused..? Someone needs to enlighten me... lol

[pelphrey]

Speakers are rated a few different ways. One way is the maximum amount of power it can handle at any given time IE 125 Watts Max . Another is continuous or RMS Power the amount of power a speaker can hold for a long period of time.

An aftermarket stereo will run factory speakers just fine for a very long period of time. And in your case ANY aftermarket stereo will run your speakers just fine.

All aftermarket speakers (Well I should say MOST) speakers have a pretty high power rating that an aftermarket radio won't have any problems running these speakers and with plenty of power.

I hope that sounds half way decent. Its late and my head hurts.

Don't feel bad, we all wish we were born to know everything. I was once a newbie and still after all these years I don't know everything.

I am just trying to help you out, and possibly get you to do the trouble shooting installing yourself. Yeah I have done this for many years but if you tried you will see really how easy my job is. Practice is all it takes. Good Luck!

If you have any more questions there are a few of us here that are more then happy to help out as much as we can.

[shano]

Thanks, but now I still dont get why my deck is cutting out, Should I just buy a new deck and see what happens?