Stereo speakers fading in and out

Pallgor

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I recently noticed that my left side rear speakers in my car have been fading in and out. It’s a Kenwood that has replaced the original stereo Mach460 the speakers are OEM I’m wondering if it’s the speaker it’s self or it’s the unit. Any help would be appreciated. Ty
 

badass98svt

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Is your stereo still using the Mach amps, or were they all bypassed?
 
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Pallgor

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Couldn’t tell ya. I have know idea how this was installed
 

ttocs

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if your using the stock mach speakers your using the stock amps. Not sure what year this is in but no matter if its the last 04 made the speakers are at the end of their life and the stock amps have been known trouble spots for some time. They like to kill batteries and really do not sound all that great anyway. The easiest way to fix it will be to replace the speakers and bypass the amps. You will probably lose some of the low end that the woofers played but that can be fixed with a small sub/amp in the trunk
 
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Pallgor

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if your using the stock mach speakers your using the stock amps. Not sure what year this is in but no matter if its the last 04 made the speakers are at the end of their life and the stock amps have been known trouble spots for some time. They like to kill batteries and really do not sound all that great anyway. The easiest way to fix it will be to replace the speakers and bypass the amps. You will probably lose some of the low end that the woofers played but that can be fixed with a small sub/amp in the trunk
I the amp that black box underneath the package tray between the rear speakers?
 

ttocs

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the black box is the enclosure, the two silver boxes on the ends of it are the amps and then there is one under the radio.
 

Monday

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Stock Amps? Did you check the resistors for your ignition coils? Did you add any sound deadening around the Amps? That's what my issue was.
 

ttocs

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That's not always true at all.
I go by my experience, and in my personal experience of installing car audio for over 20 yrs I never saw or heard of anyone swapping out the stock amps and keeping the stock speakers. I guess I shouldn't say it can't happen but most people think anything that is wrong with the mach system means you have to rip it all out and run new wires for everything. If you know of someone that has swapped the stock amps and left the speakers I would love to know what gear they used and why more importantly. Besides the fact the woofers use a higher impedance than most car audio amps like to drive they also used a 8v RCA input voltage that most amps do not like as it is too high for them.
 

badass98svt

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I go by my experience, and in my personal experience of installing car audio for over 20 yrs I never saw or heard of anyone swapping out the stock amps and keeping the stock speakers. I guess I shouldn't say it can't happen but most people think anything that is wrong with the mach system means you have to rip it all out and run new wires for everything. If you know of someone that has swapped the stock amps and left the speakers I would love to know what gear they used and why more importantly. Besides the fact the woofers use a higher impedance than most car audio amps like to drive they also used a 8v RCA input voltage that most amps do not like as it is too high for them.

You simply bypass the stock amps, and run the Mach speakers off the new headunit. If I remember right it required installing RCA connectors onto speaker wires.
I am well aware of all the issues with doing it, and the impedance of the speakers. I'm just saying it is, and has been, done.
Why? Because some people have a faulty amp or 2 and dont want to spring for new speakers is my guess.
Do a Google search and see for yourself.
 
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ttocs

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You simply bypass the stock amps, and run the Mach speakers off the new headunit. If I remember right it required installing RCA connectors onto speaker wires.
I am well aware of all the issues with doing it, and the impedance of the speakers. I'm just saying it is, and has been, done.
Why? Because some people have a faulty amp or 2 and dont want to spring for new speakers is my guess.
Do a Google search and see for yourself.
Just for my own curiosity I would love to know how you run a set of 4 - 4 ohm tweeters and 4 - 5 x 7, 8 ohm woofers off of a deck. 20 years installing in 4 different bays and I never saw it and I saw a LOT of mustangs in the midwest starting with my 94. But honestly that is not here nor there, he said the speakers are stock.

If it were an aftermarket amp I would just swap the speaker outputs at the amp and see if the problem switches sides(meaning the amp has a problem) or if it stays the same(meaning the speaker is bad). Being this is a stock amp with the harnesses that is not so easy. If you have and know how to use an ohm meter you could disconnect the speakers from the amp and measure the impedance/resistance. To test the amp I would swap rca inputs on an aftermarket amp and again see if the problem moves but that isn't an option here.

The easy button will be to replace the speakers and bypass the amps. It will happen sooner or later.
 

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you put sound damping material on the amps? that will cause a problem
No, I put the amps over the deadening and I guess it was a cheap ground or somtin cuz it faded in and out constantly. I popped the stereo out and all the wires were great. I took the mat out of where the amps are and it was fixed.

I am not good with anything electric... electricity scares the hell out of me :D
 

badass98svt

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do you know if behind the radio they used the rca outputs or the speaker wires?
RCA, and again there is a bunch of write ups on it on Google if you are looking for all the particulars.
 

ttocs

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RCA, and again there is a bunch of write ups on it on Google if you are looking for all the particulars.
I was asking him if his install used the rca's or the speaker wires.

You said you were running the stock speakers straight off the deck, which made me assume you would be using the speaker wires. If your running the stock speakers off of the low level rca outputs with no amps then there is something really strange going on.
 

badass98svt

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You said you were running the stock speakers straight off the deck, which made me assume you would be using the speaker wires. If your running the stock speakers off of the low level rca outputs with no amps then there is something really strange going on.

I'M not doing any of that, nor did I ever say I was. My Mach shit is long gone.
I wont ask you to use Google again. I'm sure you know how to use it.
 

ttocs

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I'M not doing any of that, nor did I ever say I was. My Mach shit is long gone.
I wont ask you to use Google again. I'm sure you know how to use it.
I an not trying to be rude but I am not going to google "how to run the mach460 system off of the rca outputs of an aftermarket radio and no amps" - because there is no way to do this. The rca outputs are low level and can't drive any speaker with out an amp. You mentioned something about soldering rca ends on the speaker outputs made even less sense unless your using the stock amps but that isn't how this was all started. If you did a google search back to probably 15 years ago you will see a write up I did on mustang forums.com telling a few different ways to integrate into the mach system prior to the amps all becoming battery drains. It all went to hell when the pic hosting site changed but every once and a while I find it on accident. My 94gt was the 2nd 2n95 in my little midwest town and I had it in the shop installing an alarm and figuring out the mach system less than 2 weeks later.
 

badass98svt

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Holy shit dude. Give it a rest already.
You're right.
I'm wrong.
I made it all up. No one ever has installed an aftermarket headunit, kept the stock speakers, and bypassed the Mach amps. Everyone that did it on Google made it up too.
 

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