For a lot of drivers, their cars’ stereo system is as important as the engine itself. Being stuck in traffic without the respite of listening to music or their favorite talk radio show is just unimaginable. That’s why car owners take special care of their car’s audio system. There are even enthusiasts who beef it up with different upgrades. The problem is when your car’s audio system just stops working. When you turn it on and you can’t hear anything on the speakers. This is a situation that, for a lot of drivers, require an immediate solution.
If this happens to you, you can troubleshoot your car’s stereo speakers by following these tips:
Look for the problem
Go inside your car and look for possible causes of the problem. Sometimes, it’s not really the speakers that are the source of the problem. Look at the cables that connect the speakers to your amplifier and stereo. Unplug the cable to connects the stereo to your amp. If you can still hear noise from the speakers then the amp may be the cause of the problem. If you don’t hear any noise reattach the cable and then unplug the cable that is connected to the radio. If you hear a noise then the cable may be the culprit. This is an easy problem to fix. All you need to do is to replace the cable.
Look at the speakers’ condition
Inspect the speakers and check if it is blown. There are three ways to do this:
a. You can listen for blown speakers. Usually you will not hear normal or low levels and during high levels you will usually here a buzzing sound. If you use equalizers in your car, set everything to Zero to hear what you are looking for better. If your speaker is only partially blown, you will hear music on your speakers but it is distorted. Either way, a partially blown or totally blown speaker means you have to replace it.
b. Another way of determining a blown speaker is by testing it using an electric meter. Set the meter to ohms. Test your speaker (make sure you’re not playing anything) and put one lead on each of the terminals. A blown speaker will read infinite. A good speaker will have a reading 1.0.
c. Lastly, you can test blown speakers by feel. This type of test can be done on your car’s subwoofer. If you don’t feel any vibration coming from the sub even when the volume is up, then it is probably blown. This is the most unreliable test of the three, but still something you can do.
Check the speaker for grounding
Inspect all of the parts of your car stereo and make sure that it is securely attached to the chassis. A speaker that is grounded makes a thumping sound. This is heard best when you disconnect the speakers from the amp. You can test if the amp is grounded by getting a good speaker and touching it on outputs one at a time. If you can still hear the thumping noise then it’s the amp.
Look at the speaker cables
Inspect the continuity of your speaker cables. Put each end of the cable on each lead of a voltmeter. An interruption in the continuity means the cable is defective.