Speakers out of balance

Technical Area Electrics & ICE
2

OK.
So I have new speakers in my Mk3 and the left one is very quiet.
This problem existed with the OEM speakers before I fitted the new JVC ones.

I used to think that speakers out of balance/phrase was caused by the wiring on one speaker being the wrong way round. BUT nowadays it seems that it is all plug and pray/play as the connectors cannot (usually) be connected the wrong way round either because of the size of the spade connectors or the orientation of the plug/connecting bits.

I have also fitted a new Pioneer AVH 200BVT head unit and so I can fiddle with the fader so the balance is set to produce sound out of the left speaker but it is not as loud or as clear or as bassy.
Any, polite, thoughts please?

Would it make sense to reinstall the original head unit to check that it isnā€™t caused by my new Pioneer unit being faulty?

3

Ā Before upgrade of the head unit, did you have Bose?

If so could be an amp problem.

You could getting some cheap speaker wire and directly connecting the head unit to the speakers. That would prove if itā€™s a wiring issue.

Ā 

4

itā€™s a vanilla 2007 model (non-BOSE).

I will have a look later today as it is raining now.

The left original speaker sounded muted before I fitted the new ones. So, I am thinking it may be a wiring problem?

Iā€™ll possibly start with changing back to the original head unit as that is easier than taking the door trim off just to confirm that it is not the new double din Pioneer unit.

If needed I can take the door trim off the left side and would have both of the 2 old speakers to test.

None of the info I found on the internet mentioned the glued on weather shielding and the fun it can be to separate it from the speaker or that the door locking and opening cables can easily slip out if you let the door card drop suddenly.

The oem Mazda speaker connector may be the problem - I am now wondering if some moisture (or Dinnitrol) may have got into the oem connector???

Having said that, the one on the drivers side was the messiest externally having more Dinitrol on it that the left one.

The new connector from the oem one to the speakers fly lead can only be fitted together one way and the positive and negative spade connectors on hte speaker itself are different sizes and so cannot be mixed up.

5

You can probably discount damp or dinitrol on the speaker wiring causing a problem. It would have to be a very low resistance between the wires to cause a loss of volume. A disconnection would cause total loss.

I would suggest the most likely cause would be a short to earth on one of the speaker wires. Likely places for this would be where the cables run from the body to the door where they get bent or even more likely behind the head unit. Iā€™m assuming there will be an adapter from the Mazda wiring to the new head unit. Lots of connectors and wiring crammed into a small case makes it a prime spot for a short circuit.

If you pull out the head unit check the wiring out with a multimeter. Should be around 8 ohms across each pair of speaker wires and no connection to earth.

6

Nothing to do with the speakers, definitely the head unit. I had this problem on my new head unit after about 2 months and lots of loud Genesis ā€œIn the Cageā€Ā Ā I too replaced speakers, same result. The head unit appears to have individual amps, Iā€˜m not a Techy on this, and one of them had blown. The eBay supplier replaced without demur.

Ā 

Ā 

Cheers!

Ā 

Russ

7

Thanks, Russ and others. Am off on family Christmas duties and so wont be able to look at it for a week. Frustrating but family comes first.

8

OK. So Christmas family holiday time is - almost - over.

I am now reunited with our MX5!

Ā 

We have refitted 2 different original MK3 non-=Bose head units.

Both worked fine with original cables and the same speakers in that the sound with the original head units is balanced and fine out of both sides.

Allā€™s well there. Both new speakers are working identically and so I conclude that it is not an earth/wiring problem with the speakers or the OEM wiring as the left speaker is fully functional.

Ā 

BUT that the new Pioneer unit still gives a poor sound level and quality out of the left side although the right side is fine.

So, is the Pioneer unit faulty (the seller states that there cannot be a problem with it despite being an ex-display model as the amp would either work or not work at all) we are now wondering if this could this be linked to the connects2 kit affecting the wiring in the left channel?

Ā 

Any more thoughts would be appreciated.

I have emailed the seller and the Connects2 kit people but donā€™t expect a response as they are probably on holiday leave.



9

Youā€™ve probably done this but I would be examining every cable connection/joint for a firm connection.

I mocked up a dash cam hardwire kit before installing it properly in the car but I couldnā€™t get it to fire up the dash cam when connected. After a good deal of faffing I found my ground connection just wasnā€™t good enough, it needed to be firmly secured to bare metal, it wasnā€™t.

Just saying check every pin connection or joint is firmly contacting.

10

Check the wiring of your connector against the picture here -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/T1-Audio-T1-10-Onwards-stereo/dp/B001T2IZQ4/ref=pd_sbs_23_t_2/257-4168891-3728523?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B001T2IZQ4&pd_rd_r=b63a639b-a088-47f8-8dfc-49fae0483b19&pd_rd_w=blRpG&pd_rd_wg=NSaGo&pf_rd_p=e44592b5-e56d-44c2-a4f9-dbdc09b29395&pf_rd_r=VC82DYRBES6DZHB543GB&psc=1&refRID=VC82DYRBES6DZHB543GB

Ā 

11

Iā€™ll check next year, nay - next decade, as its cold and dark outside.

I have the Connects2 CTKMZ02 kit

12

You could check you have the non Bose kit, that kit shown above checks out as for a Bose equipped car???

13

Are you getting ANY sound out of the ā€œdudā€ speaker when wired to the new head unit? If you have ANY sound coming out of it then the wiring is fine, and itā€™s definitely the head unit thatā€™s the issue. My head unit was brand new out of the box and failed inside two months of installation.

Ā 

Cheers!

Ā 

Ā 

Russ

14

Hi Russ et al.
There is minimal sound out of the left speaker - it is a lot quieter and muddy compared to the right speaker.
All is well with the original head unit.

I cant contact the connects2 technical support page to put in a ticket as it keeps rejecting me!

Russ - did yours fail totally or just out of one side/set of speakers output?

15

Thanks for your input folks and sorry for the delay in sorting things out (and reporting back) but supporting elderly parents and work have taken a priority of late.

I can now confirm that my install, speakers, connectors and internal car wiring are OK.
I even purchased another Connect2 set to see if that was the problem.

Pioneer themselves were confused but suggested a re-set. That made no difference.

So, I purchased a 2nd hand basic Pioneer unit for Ā£10 in order to test everything again.

It works perfectly and the sound out of the left speakers is commensurate with the quality and volume coming out of the right speakers.
This is also true of the OEM (original) head unit.

When I replace the old Ā£10 Pioneer unit or the OEM one with the new A200VBT one then the same problems still exist in the poor sound coming out of the left speaker.

I concluded - and proved to me - that the new Pioneer unit is faulty and so I have contacted the e8ay retailer who has sent me a return label and will check my findings.
Hopefully they will agree and exchange or refund asap.

16

So . . . . .
Pioneer MVH-A200VBT returned to reputable e8ay firm
they checked it and advised that all was well but sent me a replacement advising that this too was tested and also working properly
it arrived
we installed it
both channels work correctly.
donā€™t know why, but they do
we are relieved

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