Dead Speaker Mystery

[AirplaneTim]

I've got an '05 with only one working speaker. Everything is stock, but one by one, the speakers in the back doors died, then the speaker on the driver's door died. I suspected that the clips to the speakers had probably fallen apart or something, but I took my doors apart today and they seem to be just fine. I also took apart the center console and wiggled the wires on the back of the head unit. Nothing. I figured if it was a fault in the head unit, all 4 would have failed. Anyone have any ideas of where I should be looking for the fault? Should I just bite it and get a new head unit?

[mladen99]

to me and two speakers in the rear doors were burned and replaced them with new ones.

[Benhart21]

The passenger side speakers randomly stop working in my car. Speakers and wiring are stock, deck is aftermarket. I'm just going to install an amp and new speakers to avoid having to diagnose wiring issues.

[chefybuck]

BUMP!
My speakers have been mocking me for over a year now. It started with BL going and occasionally coming back in. Then BR went out as well. Now FR is gone and I only have the FL working constantly. Occasionally, any one of my non-working speakers will inexplicably start and stop working again with no rhyme or reason (city driving, highway driving, even just turning the car on can randomly fire up or shut down a speaker or two).

At first I thought it was the head unit, so I replaced it and put in a new one with built-in bluetooth. My speakers still mock me with their random work ethic.

I haven't tried tracing the wiring harness yet, but it is on my punchlist of things to do.

Has anyone had any success yet?

[gone247]

I too am having some troubles with my stock stereo/speakers. The rear speakers are very very quiet, even if I have %100 fade to the rear. Also, the display on my head unit will flicker on and off, showing crazy patterns and garbage. I am was thinking this is probably a poor ground but have yet to track it down.

[KensAudio]

I've got an '03 non-turbo. Got it used in '06.
The left rear speaker never worked. My front left speaker started going (long time ago) and would occasionally come back. But over time it came on less and less frequently. right now I'm depending on the Right front speaker and the two tweeters (The right rear works - last I checked, but it doesn't add much to the experience.)
I purchased 2 pairs of new speakers which are sitting in the garage waiting for me to install them, which I hope to take care of in the next week. As I do, I'll troubleshoot the outgoing speakers, and the lines, and post what I find. For what it's worth, I had put in a new head. That didn't bring the left rear speaker back to life, and it didn't seem to correspond with the left front speaker dying.

I'm also going to add the subwoofer under the passenger seat, and a few other minor tweaks of my own. More later,

- K

[KensAudio]

Today I finally replaced the stock speakers with new. My particular speaker mysteries were solved. It wasn't wiring or anything peculiar like that. Just the speakers themselves.
As soon as I hooked up the new speakers they started making sound which the previous ones weren't. Nothing flaky about the connections. Nothing looked odd about the wiring. The speakers didn't look as though they'd be exposed to undue weather or water. Not sure why they went, and why the other two hadn't. But all 4 now match.

I have no idea why, but the stock speakers were of differing impedance. The front were 4 ohm, the rear were 8 ohm. (or was it the other way around...).

Ah, well. If the good weather continues, I'll install the sub by the weekend. Then I've got some other custom switches of my own... {smirk}.

- K

[Benhart21]

I just resolved mine the other day. Mine had to do with the cable that runs from the glove box where the iPod is to the back of the nav system(Pioneer AVIC-X910BT). I still will be replacing all 4 speakers and installing an amp, which is all currently collecting dust in my closet. Also found out why my radio barely got FM and didn't get AM at all. My friend wired the harness for me while I was working on something else and he neglected to connect the antenna control lead, so that was a quick fix as well.

[Danfzzl]

Same here, over the past 2 years I've lost all my speakers except my front left one. I've noticed that if it gets really warm out as many as 2 will come back! but as soon as the sun goes down they are out again. I've read in several different forums that it's the speakers themselves, not the wiring or the head unit. So maybe I'll ask my GF for some new speakers for my birthday this year.

[AirplaneTim]

I too broke down and bought a new set of 4. Took me all of about an hour to replace the full set. I'm about 90% sure that it's the coil in the speakers was dying. I didn't bother testing it on mine, but if you really want to know for sure, stick a wire into each of the leads in the connector and touch those wires to a AA battery. The speaker will go hard over one direction if it is still good. If the coils are dead, it won't do anything.

[gone247]

It's heartening to hear that replacing just the speakers seems to work. I've ordered a new head unit (Clarion CX501) and will be installing it next week, after I've got that in and tested I'm looking at 4 Polk Audio db651s's as replacements. Hopefully the existing wires are not at fault and it will be just a simple install!

[Nonstop]

New to this site but used it a lot to research purchasing my Baja and first Subaru so im just throwing posts out left and right to help anybody else who is doing what i did in the shadows.

I too have speaker issues. Front worked when I bought the car not sure if the rear did, I didnt check but you live and learn. Driver side speaker goes in and out but usualy only the passanger side speaker works. Sounds like I have the same issue as everyone else but am glad to hear its not just me and that most likely i just need 4 new speakers and dont have to mess with the wiring or replace the head unit.

[Nonstop]

Hey yall just an update, replaced all 4 speakers took about an hour and all is well. Stock speakers were just blown.

[NordikWolf]

My two rear speakers were working fine for months then one day both not working. Opened door panels and tested them, both blown out. Replaced with Sony and back to rockin'