KAO 91

While driving my car yesterday, I noticed that the volume of my driver's side door speaker is lower than the other speakers in the car. To be sure, I faded the volume completely to the front and then adjusted the balance left and right. There was definitely a difference between completely left and completely right. The speaker does not sound like it's blown.

Anyone have any suggestions on how to fix the problem?

Note: I have a convertible with the monsoon system.

Thanks for any replies!

LS1 RULZ

The tweeter is probably blown.

Resilient94LT1

That happened to me when I replaced my factory speakers. I originally ran them through the stock amps that are in the doors, but that problem arose. So, I ended up running completely new wires which was a PITA, but it solved my issue.

CamaroBoy96Z28

That happened with my pass door too. Replaced all speakers, ran new wire, and run them off of a 4-ch amp. Sounds great.

valter

It's either tweeter or Monsoon amp itself. Monsoon is crap and not worth investing money in it IMHO.

todddchi

If you have a damaged speaker (which is most likely because an amp tends to work or not - not weaken) you CAN replace JUST the door speakers with aftermarkets and net a significant sound quality improvement - IF you wire them up correctly.

98+ Vert monsoon systems send an amp signal to both the woofer and tweeter of each door speaker. You need to buy and wire up aftermarket speakers in the same fashion. Alpine makes a cheap coaxial that is well suited to this purpose. So long as you can wire up the woofer and tweeter separately any aftermarket 6.75" coax will work.

The Monsoon amp IS BETTER than any aftermarket integrated deck amp - except for maybe the Panasonics with the digital amp. Most people do not understand how the factory monsoon system works and assume the amp is sheety when in fact they've wired it up or made poor equipment solutions.

Simply doing the front door speakers is the best bang for the buck if you are relatively happy with the function and sound quality of your stock setup. Convertibles are a bitch to get good sound in.

Do not mess with the rear speakers. They are free air and you will never get improved bass response by replacing them. You can pick up treble and midrange but not bass.

In a convertible your front speakers are doing all the work.

KAO 91

Thanks for all the replies!

With the help of a friend, I took off the door panels and took a look at the speakers. The problem was the wire connections had come loose since I installed my aftermarket speakers (alpine). To prevent this from happening again, my friend soldered the connections so they wouldn’t come loose. There was definitely an improvement in sound when we put everything back together.

Unfortunately, since that repair job, I have noticed that my battery will drain if the car is left for more than ~2 weeks without starting. To verify it wasn’t a battery problem, I took it to sears and it checked out fine. Once the battery was recharged, the car started up fine.

Could there be a short that is causing a slow drain on the battery?? Has this happened to anyone else? Is there a way to troubleshoot/identify where the short may be?

Thanks,
Brian

PS: I read about using a test light in another post (see link below). Would this work as a troubleshooting method in my situation? Is there a unique fuse for the front R/L speakers?
http://web.camaross.com/forums/showt...97#post2728297

fredmr39

Do you have an alarm system of some sort or something? If it's 2 weeks between starts....I would just disconnect the battery...

fredmr39

I have come across Elemental Design speakers, and they make the eu700 model which is 6.5", DVC 4 Ohm, and can be used with IB mounting. Wire the coils in parallel for 2 Ohm impedance, and now it will work well with the factory amp.

http://www.edesignaudio.com/edv2/index.php

From what I've heard from one guy I told them about, it turned out well. This will be an improvement in quality over stock, but not as much volume as opposed to amping them separately which you can always do later if not satisfied (just buy the correct amp).

I personally have not used ANY of Elemental Designs product, but I have a very knowledgeable friend that is a big fan of their products and their service. I've heard his setups as well - and they can't be beat. His username is PenataVolvo - I'm sure if you search the posts by him including the word "elemental" you will find more info.

KAO 91

I have the stock alarm and as such, there is a small red light that flashes when the car is off. Would this prevent me from being able to use the test light check described in my previous post?

I've done this temporarily, but I would like to solve the problem.

fredmr39

The current draw from that light is very low...~0 Amps. A test light might be useful...but I'd check current at the battery (if you don't have a multimeter...buy one! <$20)with the car off (NOT across the terminals) - should be pretty close to, or at 0A. If it seems high, just start pulling fuses and check the current near the batt again, or better yet check the current across the fuse. Also check to be sure the proper fuses are being used...2 weeks isn't really a fast drain, but it isn't THAT slow either.... New batteries typically last 3-6 months roughly sitting in our cars I think.

How old is your battery? If everything seems to check out...your battery may be on it's way to a better place... regardless of Sears' opinion.

KAO 91

The battery is only 9 months old. When using the multi-meter, exactly where should I put the leads? Should I remove the connector going to the negative battery terminal and put the multimeter in-line (between negative terminal and negative cable)?

Thanks!

fredmr39

Yes

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Simply pull fuses, replace fuse with multimeter (unfused...don't start car) to measure Amps

OR

Connect between the battery and one of the cables (e.x. negative battery terminal and negative cable disconnected -- must be disconnected for all current to go through the multimeter). What does it read? ~Zero (don't forget the clock/pcm memory and alarm system will require some current, but it will be small - not near 1A...)? 1A? If it seems large, just start pulling fuses and look to see if the current value being read drops. If you find a fuse takes away any large amount of current, I would first look at ANYTHING you have touched EVER in that circuit (either literally just "touched" or anything you have installed). If that fails, start guessing. If Everything fails forever - sell the car (not really). They can be hard to track down sometimes...hopefully you get lucky. Good luck!