[BruceBanner]

Hey folks,

First off I am not car savy in the slightest, I got my upgraded car audio done at a specialist place which consisted of;

a) a new head unit
b) subwoofer (in rear boot)
c) amp (in rear boot)
d) new front door speakers
e) new tweeter speakers at the side mirrors

It's been fine for a couple of years, today however I lost all audio from the front left side passenger front door speakers (so the door speaker AND the mirror tweeter).
Curiously enough the cut out happened when i was winding down the left (and right) front door windows to let some cool air in, and I think as I was putting the windows back up that's when I lost the sound.

I'm thinking a loose connection somewhere as both the mirror tweeter and door speaker on teh same side dropped out simultaneously.

I did the simplest thing and went to the amp at the back of the boot, wiggled a few wires to see if there was just a loose connection and that it triggered the sound to come back, but it didn't. The fact that both the tweeter and the door speaker cut out when messing with the window suggests to me that perhaps the window winding down dislodged a cable perhaps?

My car is a 2002 subaru outback and I found a video on how to take the door panel off, looks a piece of piss;



My car door is exactly like that so I feel confident enough to remove the panel and inspect. But before I do (it's evening here so I have lost any daylight to really do the job, plus it's cold lol, I'll have a stab at it tomorrow) I wanted to just ask if there was any knowledgeable car audio geeks here whom from what info I have passed on sounds like the fault does lie within the car door?

Now down to the safety part. Obviously I would be taking the door off with the engine off etc. I'm looking for obvious loose connections, but to test I'd want to turn over the engine to get the amp working, and then fire up a track etc.

Am I in any real danger, doing this DIY job myself, I mean I'm not going to touch any disconnected wires, I'm really just wanting to inspect the wires running to the speaker, can the car batter really do me in? lol

Cheers,

Bruce

 

[HiGHFLYiN9]

Hi Bruce,

It's very common for the custom audio places to use clip-ins to plug the speakers into the crossovers and car speaker cables. While it's quick and easy, they can fall out pretty easily. A soldered connection covered with heatshrink is far more reliable and what I like to do as I've had the same thing happen several times to me, but most car audio joints don't or won't do that. I'd suggest following the video and popping off the panel on the door. It's very likely the crossover (a small box that decides which frequencies go to the woofer and the tweeter) is in the door and one of the clips has come undone. You can plug it back in and perhaps wrap it with electrical tape to keep it together, then secure it inside the door-frame. I'd use a couple of those adhesive zip tie clips, you can get a big pack from Home Depot or Lowes for $2-3, or just use electrical tape if you're feeling lazy

The worst that can happen is you break a couple of the plastic clips holding the door panel to the door and need to replace them (they're a couple of bucks on ebay). Remove the panel gingerly so you don't yank any of the power window wires apart.

 

[BruceBanner]

Hi Bruce,

It's very common for the custom audio places to use clip-ins to plug the speakers into the crossovers and car speaker cables. While it's quick and easy, they can fall out pretty easily. A soldered connection covered with heatshrink is far more reliable and what I like to do as I've had the same thing happen several times to me, but most car audio joints don't or won't do that. I'd suggest following the video and popping off the panel on the door. It's very likely the crossover (a small box that decides which frequencies go to the woofer and the tweeter) is in the door and one of the clips has come undone. You can plug it back in and perhaps wrap it with electrical tape to keep it together, then secure it inside the door-frame. I'd use a couple of those adhesive zip tie clips, you can get a big pack from Home Depot or Lowes for $2-3, or just use electrical tape if you're feeling lazy

The worst that can happen is you break a couple of the plastic clips holding the door panel to the door and need to replace them (they're a couple of bucks on ebay). Remove the panel gingerly so you don't yank any of the power window wires apart.

Thank! I'll give that a try