I just bought a KDC-319 Kenwood Head Unit... 50x4, 2 RCAs.. the instruction manual is outside, but the RMS is like 20-22..

I've got some old "Legacy" dash speakers, they say 120W on them, and I had to run new spearker wire for my rears. I'm using some cheap 6 1/2's just to get set up, they're 150W each.. no obviously the total on those 4 speakers is 540W, which far exceeds the 200W (50x4) the head unit is rated at-

So is that why, when I take the volume to like 24 (it goes up to 35), it will suddenly cut out all sound, and I have to take the face off, and put it back on (with a lower volume). Is my headunit making a decision to cut power based on its limited input? That doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me..wouldn't it just put out as much as it possibly could and then not get any louder? Do I have a faulty head unit?

I should also mention that with only the front dash speakers hooked up, it will go loud enough to blow the fronts... it wasn't until after I ran wire and hooked up the boxed 6 1/2s that I encountered this problem.

Thanks,

James

 

let me say on first glance i would have the deck checked out. but let me allso tell you that once you go above 3/4 volume on a deck you will start to get distortion that will kill your speakers. 100 watts at 0% distortion your speakers will handle. 10 watts with 5%distortion will blow your speakers. so if 3/4 volume isn't loud enough it's time to think about an amp.

 

First you want to check your wiring, do you have one speaker for one channel (make sure), then I would suspect you rear speakers as the problem, maybe coil rubbing at higher volumes

 

Didn't know that about the distortion, RKN... interesting thought...

I unplugged the speakers from the wires, but left the wires attached to the headunit and got high output that way... So I'm guessing that it's the speakers. I'm going to try some sony 6x9s tomorrow from my other car, just for comparison...

Matthew, What exactly is "coil rubbing"?

James

 

there is a coil of magnet wire wrapped around a former, you speakers wires attach to each end of this coil, when ac current is applied it generates amagnetic field which pushes/pulls against the speaker magnets field. This wire has extremely thin insulation, if it is burnt or the former damaged the wire may short against the magnet and cause you stereo to clip(distort) or go into protetion mode (since you have to turn it off to reset)

 

Don,

your "protection" mode sounds very familiar.... I'm almost 100% it's the speakers at this point, I'm going to try those 6x9s like I said, I'll let you know when I'm sure you were right

There's lotsa other people online that need good help... keep on the look out

James