Audio electrical issue. Please help!

Hi everyone. Sorry for the long post. I have a ‘19 TRD off-road, double cab. I changed out the dash tweeters when I first got the truck in 2019. I recently decided to upgrade the front and rear door speakers. I put Kicker 51KSC69304's in the front doors and 51KSC6504's in the rear doors. The fronts are 3 way and I've heard that too many highs could be a problem. The crossovers that came with the front speakers required crimping onto the adapters. I mistakingly thought it would be a plug and play deal. But it was an easy job. The rears were no issue. Ultimately they sounded fantastic, however I am using the stock head unit and there was little power. I went to a reputable car audio shop near me and they installed an amp. Soon after, I noticed the left dash speaker was very raspy when talking on the phone. Then that dash speaker as well as the driver door speaker began cutting out. This would happen more and more and at one point, those speakers wouldn't work for several days. Eventually they started working again. (driver rear door never cut out) I brought it back and of course the problem wouldn't happen for them. They eventually put another amp in and nothing changed. They told me it had to be something that I did. They were adamant that the problem was the front left dash speaker. Long story short, I replaced the dash tweeters as well and the front speakers with two ways. Still cuts out. Has to be a wiring problem somewhere. I just think it's suspicious that it all started after they put in the first amp. The shop will. not accept responsibility. I am at the end of my rope with this. Any help or advise will be greatly appreciated.

 

can you post some pictures of the setup?

specifically, the wiring behind the head unit, the amp and it's wiring, and both the door speakers wiring, as well as the dash speaker wiring/adapters used.

also, where is the amp installed, and where does it get signal, or put signal out to? does it only amplify the doors, or is it installed behind the radio, and amplifies everything?

what model amp?

what model tweeters? are there other wiring/adapters that you installed for the tweeters?

 

The amp is a Hiphonix Zeus 5 channel mounted under the drivers seat. It powers everything except for the 5th channel which was supposed to be reserved for a future sub.

 

tweeters are the common kicker/subaru model

 

To replicate issues like this you really need to isolate everything... then slowly start adding things back till the issue replicates as you stated... I would assume that you have the JBL system factory? Do you know how they interrupted your signal for the 5 channel... after the factory JBL? Or did they remove the JBL completely? You can try removing each of the RCA connections leaving only say the front right plugged in and do your best to make your issue happen. If it does then you know for sure its part of the signal just on that channel. It could also be what signal processing device they used to send from the factory wiring to the 5 channel. Check all those connections and wires make sure that none of them are loose, non are possible coming in contact with each other and if any kind of butt or crimp connectors have a good connection. Audio diagnosing can be nearly impossible sometimes. Specially when the issue is intermittent. As stated above its a mixture of isolation and testing till you replicate then remove and connect try again till you either find exactly the cause or somehow fix the issues connection.

 

there's really not enough information to make any real assumptions on the trucks gear.

it sounds like it's a non-jbl truck. it also sounds like he's running the stock head unit. that means no rca's, and using the amps high level inputs. it also sounds like adapters to the dash tweeters could be an issue.

but minimal information gets minimal results. it's why i asked for pictures of the different parts of the install, but haven't really responded much since.

the best option for the OP here is probably to find a different audio shop if they're not willing to do the leg work to figure it out.

 

My left wiring leaves the head unit and goes to the small dash speaker and then the wiring goes to the door speaker. So if you are having problems with both, looks at the wiring from the head unit to the dash speaker. And the connection at the head unit.

 

Sorry guys. My work schedule is rough and doesn’t give me to much time to work on my truck. I will take some pictures of the amp connections and behind the head unit (which I haven’t seen yet). I will also show the tweeters. The door takes the longest. Not sure what you’d glean from seeing that. It’s the standard Crutchfield adapter going between the door wiring and the new speaker. No adapters weee used for the dash tweeters. There is a ton of stuff coming off of the amp. I crudely checked those connections with the music on and nothing changed. The head unit is factory and it’s the non-JBL unit.

 

Update: just pulled out the head unit and the left speakers kicked on. Moving it around seems to affect it. Then putting it back in place shut them off. I took a few pics. Also I moved every wire attachment around and that didn’t seem to change anything yet pushing it back into place shut off the left tweeter and front door speaker

 

So the larger gauged wire that is blue with multi colored thin gauged wires, circled and labeled speed wire or signal wire, is the connections output out of your aftermarket amp and being tapped back into the existing speaker wires of the factory wiring. I would double check those connections there how ever they have done it by either soldering, crimp cap, butt connector, or so be it. There is most likely a connection issue there.

The fact you said "pulling the radio out made them work"... means you are moving those connections there and somehow that movement has the connection making contact allowing signal to those speakers that have been giving you trouble... and when you put the radio back in you are either putting pressure on that connection making it fail or just completely disconnect. I would just do a once over of all those connections check them all... in the blue wire is your colors for speakers which are as follows...

+White, -White/Black (front left)
+Grey, -Grey/Black (front right)
+Green, Green/Black (rear left)
+Purple, Purple/Black (rear right)

Before you start removing them or truly playing with them I would zoom in with your camera and record to the best where they are connecting to the factory as those colors there vary by vehicle/trim/year/factory audio system. So just make sure that you know which ones with a video that shows where they connected them and you can then start to explore what they did using the video if anything becomes disconnected and follow back to your video as to how they did it.

 

I really appreciate it. That makes total sense. It’s very frustrating that the shop wouldn’t look into that. I don’t remember them pulling out the radio to check the second time they had my truck in their shop. They actually called me in to show me the amp connections but not the head unit connections. Anyway I will test those wires and see if that’s where the problem is coming from

 

I’m curious as what the green wrapped “protected” harness with the 8 pin and red and yellow wires is in the picture.

 

I can only assume right now that it has to do with the factory amplifier that all those plugs including the 8 pin and "protected" green that go from the tuner/radio to factory amp. I'm not at work to have access to my resources for the wiring to confirm though.