Stereo distortion problems...Help Please!

[jtlichty]

Hey guys my dad has a 94 extended cab and has been having issues with his stereo. Here's the rundown. He bought a Poineer head unit/cd player and and installed it where the old cassette player was and put a cubby hole in the place of the old stereo. He then purchased four speakers (two in dash, two in back pillars) (same size as stock) and has had terrible problems with sound distortion when turned up even somewhat loud. So he went to BestBuy and some guy convinced him that to fix the problem he needed an amp for his speakers (which i think is crap) and it has not changed anything. Now he is highly frustrated. So he put in some 6x9's in the back temporarily to see if that made a difference, notta. My thinking is he just got unlucky and bought a crappy headunit. Not that the model of stereo is bad, but maybe he just got a dud? I don't really know. My only other thought is that the wiring needs replaced. Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[MIKE//Z71]

try to run new speaker wires directly from the head unit..if its only when you turn it up loud it honestly sounds like they are under driven (not enough power) but the amp woulod have fixed that.

 

[MIKE//Z71]

bass setting too high on deck..

 

[95C1500]

bass setting too high on deck..

I have my bass setting up at 6 (highest) and the volume faded tot he front. Get's a little crappy when it's up loud.

 

[jtlichty]

try to run new speaker wires directly from the head unit..if its only when you turn it up loud it honestly sounds like they are under driven (not enough power) but the amp woulod have fixed that.

I was kinda thinking that too, but was thinking it would be easier to try a different head unit first instead of running all new wires and finding out that wasn't the problem. I figured head unit first wires second. IDK

bass setting too high on deck..

I don't think its that becuase he said hes tried all different settings with high mid and low range and it still acts the same.

 

[MIKE//Z71]

Just pull the deck out and and test them with new wire before running the wires. it will only take a few minutes. crank it and see if that helps. If it does then go ahead and run them.

 

[magimerlin]

Plug the old deck back in and see if anything changes.....


Sent from what use to be a great country.

 

[sewlow]

Check the polarity of the wires from the deck (or the amp, whichever way you have it hooked up, now) to the speakers. Make sure you have them '+' to '+'. Having them hooked up wrong will cause distortion.
Once you know that that is correct, solder & shrink tube the connections. Twisted together & taped is not the best way.
Are the wires from the source to the speakers one complete wire? Or are they several pieces with a lot of joins. The more connections, the more the likelihood that there is a bad one somewhere.

 

[Ruger_556]

Tune the head unit sound in... I spent an hour on mine tweaking settings and was quite happy. Just using the preset EQ's won't get it there. Songs with deep bass sound good up to 20-21 volume setting when I started you could only turn it up to 13 before they started cracking. Even good speakers like the Polk I have won't take much when they are 4x6. If that doesn't solve the problem run new speaker wire and check your connections.

 

[jtlichty]

Well my dad bought a new H/U and he claims that the distortion isn't as bad but says he still isnt getting good bass when he turns it up loud and that's even with 6x9's plugged in for testing. I can't wait to get some time off so I can go to his place and hear it for myself and really get to the bottom of whats going on with it.