I just installed a CD/fm radio in my car ( did it myself, so there is a large margin for human error) and when the volume is raised, the sound seems to skip off and on. It does this with both the radio or a cd. Any hints?
-M
Can you describe the skipping? Does it become staticky or drop out during loud parts, like heavy drums or bass?
Without more information, if I had to guess, I’d say check all the connections at the speakers to be sure none of them are loose. It could be the vibration from loud sounds is enough to jiggle the connector to make and break the circuit. It’s also possible your stereo is defective, or it’s got an overload feature that shuts off the output amplifier if too great a load is on it. Make sure your speakers have the same impedance rating as the output of the stereo. Typically 4 or 8 ohms for a car stereo. And you did only wire ONE speaker per output, right?
Hmm…actually, it’s an older BMW and the wiring harness in the console was just front and back negatives and positives, Only two outputs, no front left, front right, etc. so I just combined front and back left together and did it that way. It does however spit into four different outputs in the back. Heh, I didn’t know I could do that. I’ll try fixing that later…once the snow stops. Thanks for the tip!
-M
What you may have inadvertently done here is attempted to bridge an amplifier which does not support that capability. For example, if your head unit has a rated output of 40W x 4 channels, that does not necessarily mean that you can tie two of them together to get 80W x 2 channels. What I suspect is happening is that the amplifier is being overloaded by the lower impedance load when you turn up the volume.
DO NOT do this anymore. If you haven’t already damaged the head unit, you may if you continue to drive it like that. If you only have two channels to drive, you either must connect only two channels, or get a head unit which is bridgeable.
Having done a few stereo installs myself, I suggest that you run all new wiring to the speakers in the car. You never know what condition those harnesses are in.
I’ve only had it on for maybe a few minutes. I had to go to work so hopefully no damage has been done. Behind the original front and back wiring in the console, I can see the front left, front right, back left, etc. so I can wire it through them. I’ll attempt this either tomorrow of Monday when the weather lightens up. Thanks for all the help.
-M