speaker wiring

[lncoop]

Okay everyone, bear with me please. I put a Clarion head unit in my pontoon boat and simply wired it to the two existing speakers, nothing fancy. The other day I noticed there was no sound coming out of the right (on the right side looking from the helm) speaker when there previously had been. I adjusted the balance all the way to the right and the volume on the LEFT speaker increased. I turned it all the way to the left and got nothing. This afternoon I tested the speakers on different connections. The only way I got sound from both speakers (two speaker setup) was to connect the front right wires to one speaker and the rear right wires to the other. I can now use the fader but not the balance to isolate the sound to one speaker or the other. So, I draw two conclusions. First, the boat's speaker wires were labeled incorrectly (no big surprise) and as a result I initially hooked them up backwards. I originally had sound on both sides because the balance was of course centered from the factory. Second, the left side of the unit is blown because I only get sound by using front and rear right. My question to you guys is, are these conclusions reasonable? Also, if so, could the described left/right reversal have caused the issue I'm having now? And finally, will it hurt anything to run it the way I currently have it rigged? It's just a pontoon boat so I'm fine with it the way it is as long as it won't further screw up the head unit. I'd be grateful to anyone who can either confirm my suspicions or straighten me out. Sorry for the long post, but...............

 

[adamsnez2]

Re: speaker wiring

i'm in a rush at home here so not going in depth, but do you mean on the left it was wire up
HU to LeftSpeaker +/- and -/+ instead of ++ -- ?? If so that's not the issue, your speaker will just be 180* out of phase, wouldn't hurt it.

 

[Howard Sterndrive]

Re: speaker wiring

Second, the left side of the unit is blown because I only get sound by using front and rear right.

sounds like that is the issue. shorted output within the left channel amp.

could the described left/right reversal have caused the issue I'm having now?

doubt it

And finally, will it hurt anything to run it the way I currently have it rigged?

probably not, the whole unit probably has a fuse less than 5A so you aren't going to have a fire or anything

 

[RickJ6956]

Re: speaker wiring

When did you install this? If it's under warranty, take it back.

 

[lncoop]

Re: speaker wiring

No, I had pos to pos and neg to neg, but I had the left channel wired to the right speaker and vice versa because apparently whoever put in the last stereo labelled the speaker wires incorrectly. Now only the right side of the head unit works. Incidentally, if I have the left side hooked up I can put my ear against the speaker and barely hear the music. Forgot to mention that. Thanks everyone.

 

[adamsnez2]

Re: speaker wiring

crossing wires will NOT matter. the only thing you'll hear is a 180* panned version of how it was recorded (ie: a song in stereo with guitar recorded in left channel, and drums in right.. the way you it hooked up, guitar now plays through right side speaker in boat, and drums through left.

switch the two speakers, the one that barely has sound, swap with working one. Does the "broken" speaker work or not. This will tell you if it's a HU problem or speaker issue.

 

[lncoop]

Re: speaker wiring

Okay everyone, thanks for the input. I appreciate your time. Here's an update. The speakers are fine. For whatever reason the left side of the unit is no longer working. I bought the HU on Amazon in February. I spoke with a very helpful gentleman at Clarion's nearest authorized repair center and he told me that Clarion would most likely not honor the man. warranty because the seller was not an authorized retailer and they would consider the unit to be a gray market item. I'm talking with the retailer now but I don't hold out much hope of getting any satisfaction from them. He also said that today's low end car stereos are treated with the same conformal coating found on marine units. So, assuming I don't get a refund from the retailer I'll just keep using the front and rear right channels up front until the thing stops working completely, then I'll go to a big box store and buy a cheap car stereo to replace it. Our needs for tunes on the water are simple and life is short, so I ain't gonna sweat the small stuff. I would love to hear theories regarding what might have caused this though.

 

[stylesabu]

Re: speaker wiring

you have 2 aMPS in the head,one of the channels is blown,thats why you can faintly hear the one side. the pre amp is working. you could add a small amp to the one side

 

[lncoop]

Re: speaker wiring

I agree, symptoms indicate blown channel. What's strange is no funny sounds or smells, just fired it up the other day and had no sound on left channel. It's pretty sad when you have a name brand HU that's toast after being turned on a grand total of three times and no one's willing to do anything about it.

 

[Audio Greg]

Re: speaker wiring

Is it possible you forgot to re-center the balance? Not trying to be funny, I've done it myself. Your initial post said you turned balance all the way to the left and got nothing before you changed connections.

Did it make a difference if you were listening to CD vs Radio vs iPod? If you didn't try more than one music source, it's hard to know what happened/ is happening.

I am pretty sure there is only one amplifier chip inside these things. It is very unusual to have only one side L/R fail on the radio's built in power.

 

[lncoop]

Re: speaker wiring

Actually that is funny and definitely something I'd do LOL, but yes, I did run the balance back to center. I only tested in aux mode (with XM receiver plugged into it), but I methodically tested the front left and rear left wires from the HU and got no sound from either (except for the very faint music I could hear if I put my ear to the speaker).

 

[pentavolvo]

Re: speaker wiring

IMO try with cd player

ur xm unit, wire for it, or the aux input could be the problem

 

[lncoop]

Re: speaker wiring

I'll give it a shot tonight and report tomorrow. Thanks everyone. I appreciate all your input.

 

[lncoop]

Re: speaker wiring

Okay, Audio Greg and pentavolvo nailed it. I put the speaker wires back to the correct configuration and tried it with the FM tuner and I had sound from both sides. It also sounded a lot better than the XM through the AUX input. So, I tried my mp3 player and it sounded like a million bucks too. Then I tried the XM receiver again and guess what? Mystery solved. My apologies to Clarion and my thanks to the helpful folks on the iboats forum! Now I get to talk to someone in India about my XM receiver. Oh bother.