Speakers stopped working-- power/ wiring issue, I think

[BriK]

As some background, I have way too complex of a stereo system that the previous owner installed, so I don't much about it. I know I have an Alpine deck, Eclipse amp, Kicker speakers all around, two additional Kicker tweeters, and I think some Kicker crossovers. The amp and crossovers are bolted to the back of the rear seat in the trunk.

Two days ago I got under a little bit of boost and the speakers cut out. The stereo stayed on, both the CD and radio worked, only the speakers were funky. Nothing happened under hard braking though, only acceleration.

Yesterday, speakers started cutting out on bumps too. Then I went WOT and now the speakers just don't work at all. They came on for literally 1 second this morning when I was on a cloverleaf.

Deck works fine, voltage is normal, and there's no feedback or static in the speakers-- just on or off.

I had the battery disconnected on Friday so something could've been put on a little loose upon reconnecting. But this started 5 days after that, so I don't think that's the issue. I checked the battery and engine bay, and everything seems solidly attached.

I had a cardboard box in the trunk so that could've it slid around and knocked something loose. I nudged all the wires in the trunk and everything seems to be solidly attached there too.

Any other recommendations on what else to check or try? I assume this is a very minor issue, so I don't wanna bring it into a stereo shop and pay them $90 to tighten a screw.

[Halon]

I just went through a similar issue in my Lexus. The guy had installed the rear speakers, and the speaker wire was wedged between the speaker and the speaker hole, to the point it broke through the insulation and the wire was shorting to ground (on just 1 speaker). This caused the entire speaker system to not be off, but it was soo quiet that you could barely even hear it with the stereo cranked up. So might be something to look at. A single speaker being shorted caused all my speakers to basically go down. And it happened to me when I hit a bump. Soon as I started unscrewing that speaker (i was just going to check each speaker 1 by 1 and picked the correct one first luckily) the sound came back. So just a bump could easily make it come in and out.

Just something to try I suppose.

Can you tell if the amp is still working? Like are there any gauges or lights showing it's on and working and attempting to output a signal to the speakers?

[BriK]

^^^ That makes sense. I was checking the connections to the amp, not the integrity of the wires further down the line.

I think the amp is still working, yeah. The deck is working just fine and I assume it's powered by the amp, but since I don't know much stereo stuff and didn't have it installed, I can't be sure.

[Halon]

maybe just disconnect the speaker wires from the amp, then hook them up one at a time and see if they come on one at a time...

[311evo]

It sounds like your amp might be going into protection mode, does it have an indication light on it? Either that or a hairline crack in a fuse which can get worse with the cold/vibrations.

Do you have a multimeter? I would check voltages (car on) at the battery and at the amp to be sure you have the full 13-ish volts.

One easy thing to check is where the ground for the amp is located. It would easily be cutting off any form of power if it's corroded or lose.

And I've seen a few cars before that had these symptoms, and it was caused by loose or bad RCA's behind the deck going to the amp. Again, if you have a multimeter check on the resistance of those (and obviously be sure they are tight). Check all of these and come back and I'll help the best I can.

[BriK]

Checked it out again today. Tore the trunk carpet out, checked wiring and connections, etc. Speaker wires were fine but I didn't see the amp lighting up so I checked power connections-- good there too.

Opened the hood and in seconds I saw the problem-- I can't believe I didn't see it before. The amp's power supply coming off the battery was disconnected from the fuse. It's not secured well at all so it must've been bumped out when the battery was disconnected.

It'd make sense that this happened under acceleration too-- the engine twisted and pulled the wire away from the fuse. Then WOT pulled it completely free. The wire securement sucks so I think I have to get a new one pretty soon.