the_newt

so my stock stereo/cassette/equalizer hasn't worked since i owned my 85 FB and i just got around to taking the stereo out today. i took it apart just now and everything seems fine except for the spider's nest on the top of the radio panel. as for what it does now is that when you turn it on, the speakers kinda pop and when you turn it off, they pop a little louder. so does it sounds like a head unit issue or the speakers or some third issue i haven't thought of?

FearNoPiston

iTrader: (17)

is all of the speakers popping? you may check if a speaker is grounding out....generally if say the right rear speaker pops when you turn on your radio it is that speaker that is grounding out. which if a speaker is grounding out it will cuase all the speakers not to play.

the_newt

they all pop. it took me a while to hear the fronts but they pop as well as the rears.

rx73rotorj

It sounds like the speakers are grounding out and it could also be the head unit i would just get an aftermarket one.

Hate to thread jack but Kind of body kit is on that 7 on your avatar fearnopiston? And where can i see a bigger pic of it?

FearNoPiston

iTrader: (17)

I dont know, I found the pic on my space searching for fd3s and found some guy that had this pic, I will see if I can find a better one for you....but cant at work becuase myspace is blocked so I will later.

dblboinger

iTrader: (3)

A single speaker "grounding out" will not effect the other speakers as the amplifier section of your stereo has a seperate isolated output for each speaker. If all channels are bad then it is most likely a problem with your amplifier or source unit. Does your problem occur on all sources (radio/tape)? If so it's probably the amplifier section. Make sure your power and ground connections are good.

Do you have a DVM (Digital Volt Meter)? If so you can measure the resistance of each channel, both across the speaker and to the chassis. If you measure across the speaker (one speaker wire to the other) you should measure a low resistance (<10 ohms). If you measure the speaker to ground/chassis (either speaker wire to chassis) you should measure high resistance.

Is this a stock system? If so I seem to remember a cable between the seperate units (radio/cassette, equalizer and amplifier). Check these cable too. If the cable between the head unit and the equalizer for example has come disconnected, the equalizer will tell the amplifier to turn on (producing a turn-on surge/pop) but no music will play.

Another, kind of unorthodox way to test the speakers is with a AA battery. If you strike the speaker wires across the battery you should be able to hear the speaker "crackle", but DON"T hold the battery across the speaker. Constant DC voltage across a speaker coil will burn the coil and damage the speaker, but just striking it across the speaker won't. Like I said, it's unorthodox, but it works.

Hope this helps.

FearNoPiston

iTrader: (17)

[QUOTE=dblboinger;7251258]A single speaker "grounding out" will not effect the other speakers as the amplifier section of your stereo has a seperate isolated output for each speaker. If all channels are bad then it is most likely a problem with your amplifier or source unit. Does your problem occur on all sources (radio/tape)? If so it's probably the amplifier section. Make sure your power and ground connections are good.

your an idoit, dont post unless you know what your talking about, I wouldnt pay attention to this idiot

rx73rotorj

+1 for fearnopiston
-8 for boinger for not knowing anything.

Alright if you want to keep the factory head unit because you like it take apart the dash and unplug your radio. Then unplug ALL of your speakers. Plug back in your radio and hook up each speaker individually and find out which one is grounding out or could just be blown. My truck was doing this through my ENTIRE system and i just did what i said above and the back 2 speakers were blown and unhooked them and now only the front 2 work and sounds just fine just not as loud. Plus its my daily driver.

the_newt

rotorj, tried what you said, and it didn't help at all so i scrapped the old system and am just gonna put an aftermarket HU and some 6x9s in the storage bins. i'm lazy.

dblboinger

iTrader: (3)

your an idoit, dont post unless you know what your talking about, I wouldnt pay attention to this idiot [/QUOT


Listen up ***-wipe...I've been working in electronics, and car stereo, for longer than you've been alive and what I said is 100% accurate and will work and if you knew 1/10th of what you think you know you'd see that. Before you go spouting off maybe you should grow some hair on your ***. I'll put my current system up against anything you've got in your car.

rx73rotorj...same to you. And btw, newt said what you recommended didn't work. And who is an idiot? -8 my ***!

rx73rotorj

Look up in the thread and look at my first post. He did what i said get a new head unit. I guess you should read a little first huh.

rx73rotorj

Newt it was probably the wires or the radio was broke inside. I would recommend to run new speaker wires to your 6x9s because, what cant it hurt. And speaker wire is cheap.

dblboinger

iTrader: (3)

Actually he said HE'S GOING TO, which indicates he hasn't done anything yet. And if you read my original post you will see that I said was that it was most likely the source unit or the amplifier. So maybe YOU should learn to read.

rx73rotorj

This isnt worth fighting anymore because its a stereo so ill be the bigger man and let you deal with it.

dblboinger

iTrader: (3)

Bigger man.....yeah, right.

FearNoPiston

iTrader: (17)

lets see some pics of your "current system"

the_newt

my old system is in an extra room now because i'm a pack rat. in my car i have a kick *** mazda black void in the dash complete with dangling wires and no speakers. i do still have the amps because i'm too lazy to tear into the interior to get to them.

the_newt

dblboinger

iTrader: (3)

As requested. The remainder of the system is totally concealed but consists of Focal 6.5" two-ways in the stock locations driven by an Audiobahn A6004 /w 75w per channel. Grilles were painted black for contrast. The sub is a 10" Kicker L7 with 400 watts from the Audiobahn A8002T. The JVC deck plays CD/DVD/SD/iPod/Satellite Radio/Tuner and also has built-in 5.1. I don't use the 5.1 because the center channel speaker is too small to be worth a damn. I also ran 1/0 gauge battery cable from the Tsunami post mounted voltmeter to the Tsunami distribution blocks and 1.0 farad capacitor, which is hidden between the amp rack and the sub-enclosure. ALL of the work was done by me, including resizing the dash opening to fit the smaller display of the JVC head unit. My next project is to recess the iPod connector into the console so I don't have to keep my iPod in the glove box. I'm also considering reinstalling the Focals. I didn't fully enclose them as I should have so my mid-bass is just a tad weak on some songs. That'll probably be another project for this winter.

Been dabbling in car stereo since my high school electronics class in 1978. Worked at a car stereo shop in Stockton CA back in '85 when car stereo was really boomin...literally. Helped install 36 subwoofers in the bed of a Nissan Hardbody the year that vehicle came out. A total of 52 speakers, 5500 watts of Zapco power, 4 batteries and an alternator driven off the drive shaft.

For the last 22 years I've worked in marine electronics on anything from GPS, Radar, Echo Sounders, Autopilots, gyrocompass, data recorders, Satellite Communications, etc., etc. Just about anything electronic on the bridge of a ship.

Now, if you still care to say I'm an idiot and don't know what I'm talking about, I'll consider the source and let it go at that. Bottom line..I've probably forgotten more about electronics than you will know if you live to be 100.

dblboinger

iTrader: (3)

Hey newt...you need any interior parts? I'm parting out a 85 GSL-SE with maroon interior to make room in my garage for my FD. I've got a ton of parts..CHEAP! Let me know if you need anything. What color is your exterior?

Too bad you're not closer, I just threw away a sweet sub-box/amp rack made for 2 - 12" Kickers.

FearNoPiston

iTrader: (17)

well you for sure lost the system battle....were you serious??? jvc??? audiobahn??? your underpowering your sub by the way, **** your not even to the rms of a l5.

mike_merryguy

iTrader: (8)

well i wouldnt' say he lost the system battle, i am sure that pounds, or does what he wants,
jvc is good, i used to only use that, great head units, audiobahn, not so much, i am sure its what you like, but not a good choice for the L7, a dual 4 ohm, that amp doesn't give much flexability for that sub, like i said I am sure it hits but you could get another 200wRMS out of that sub, and that is a big difference, plus 1/0 is a little overkill for a 400wRMS system with one sub, and a 1farad cap isn't going to do a thing for that setup, especially with the hudge wire, i run a 1/0 power but i am running alot more power, 800 rms for my two 12's and that includes a 10farad cap, which may be a little much but it works and it cost the same as ANY 1 farad cap, unless you have a hookup... the setup does look great though especially for doing it yourself, thats cool, i wish i could do that work, mine looks like ****, but it sounds great

oh yea and one speaker grounding out will not cause the system to ground out, in fact if you ground out the neg side of the speaker it will still play, but it will require alot more power to run, ie you have to turn it all the way up just to hear a small amount of volume, now if the pos is grounded out, nothing, not even a pop, you may get a pop one time then it will blow a fuse in your amp, if your speakers are making a pop sound every time, its most likely the head unit, the POP indicates that the speakers are connected and getting power, but the AMP is blown, bet if you get any MP3 player and a set of headphones and cut the headphones off and hook up to speaker wire you will get volume, that is the best way to test the speakers, unless you have an ohm metere, then that is the best way, you should read 4 to 8 ohms for most factory speakers, you can see if a wire is grounded that way too, there should be extreemly high resistance between any wire and ground, that is because none of the speakers should touch ground ever, in fact you may not even get a reading, just like if the leads from the ohmmetere were not touching anything..

dblboinger

iTrader: (3)

You guys are both right about one thing...the Audiobahn equipment. If I had it to do over I would go another route. Performance is okay, but customer service is the worst. I did get an excellent deal though and as far as underpowering the sub, I can tell you I'm not underpowering anything. I have to turn the bass down as it is, with another 200 watts it would be uncontrollable.

I also don't care to run 2 ohms...too much load on the electrical system and it's not needed. This amp does just what it's intended to do and is as flexible as I need it to be. My head unit covers anything the amp doesn't. My total power is 700 watts though, not 400. The subs are getting 400 and the mains are getting 300.

My goal is not to push the speakers to their limits, but to accurately reproduce the type of music I listen to. It does that very well. I'm satisfied, especially considering I've only got about $1200 in the system (list price is probably nearing 3 times that much).

1/0 is a bit larger than most would run for this system, but IMO there is no such thing as too large for power cable. Right now I measure the exact same voltage at my amps as I do at the battery terminal. That is the idea of large power cable and you can't get much more economical than free. When I relocate my battery it will definitely be a plus.

And as you stated Mike, an ohm meter IS the best way to identify a faulty speaker or wiring, just as I said in my original post. Someone claiming I "am an idiot" is how this entire dispute started.

Fearnopiston...let's hear about your system, maybe some pics too. Next time I head down to Portland maybe we can get together and do a little comparing. I'd say that will be in the somewhat near future. We drive the same car, so it would be great to see someone else's approach. I was surprised at your initial response to my post, seeing as how you work in car stereo shop. What's the name of the shop? I'm always open to constructive criticism, but to flame me the way you tried to do...that's uncool...and unappreciated.

Later guys.

FearNoPiston

iTrader: (17)

Your right I shouldnt have went about it the way I did, we were both here just to help out this guy so I apoligize for how I acted it was wrong of me.

My system in my fd is all eclipse brand stuff the cd player is the cd7000, speakers are point source series 6 1/2's in the front and 6x8's in the rear powered by a xa5000 5 channel amp, the sub is a they're 7200 series the 5th channel didnt power the sub as well as I liked so I added a xa1000 for it. my speakers arent the greatest in it becuase the lack of space.

My s10 also has eclipse everything the deck is the cd7100, front speakers are eclipse 3 way components sc8364's, rears are there se series 4x6's and powering those is there xa4000, the sub is there 8200 series powered by a kicker 800 watt rms amp.

Your install looks great! there is no doubt about that. I can get pics of the s10 if you want it actually isnt all the way put together still making the box. The fd is up in seattle right now getting the motor done so I wont be able to get pics of that just let me know

dblboinger

iTrader: (3)

No harm done. At least we’re BOTH getting past it.

I very nearly went with an Eclipse deck. They were the only other ones with an SD slot. I went with the JVC kind of by accident. I misread the ad and thought it had touch screen, which would have been sweet. It doesn’t. I like the SD because I have so many other things that use SD…my camera, mp3 player, laptop, Palm Pilot all have built in SD slots.
I’ve got several 2Gb cards so I just put certain genres of music on them and then when my tastes change a change of music is easily available.

So you went with 6x8’s in the rear huh, how did that work out? I’ve actually thought about it myself. That rear grille looks almost exactly like a 6x8. I really would like to check that out. Next time I’m headed to Portland I’ll give a shout and maybe we can hook up.

Thanks for the compliment on my install. Truth is there are a few things I’m not 100% happy with. I didn’t get the left side of the hole for the deck right. At the time I was too anxious and just covered it with a beauty ring. Now the beauty ring is broken so I’ve got this gap down the left side of the deck. I also didn’t enclose my front/rear speakers and I think my mid-bass is suffering for it. Plus I think my box may be a tad too large. Extreme bass is a little out of control, sounds kind of muddy to me. The guys at Car Toys didn’t agree, but I hear what I hear. No big deal, just gives me a few more things to do this winter after I park it for the year.

I’ve got a pretty good list of upgrades planned too. I’ve already bought a Greddy FMIC, HKS downpipe, HKS filters, Pettit AST, Autometer Boost/Air-Fuel/Oil Temperature gauges, Racing Beat rear wing. I’m looking for an upgrade to the radiator and ECU too. Maybe a set of coilovers if my wallet can handle it. Then there’s a list of mods too, battery relocation, fan mod, relocate the forward fuse box. I think I’ll have a busy winter.