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crackling / popping speakers (JBL) on very specific bass frequencies

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Audio and Electronics' started by prius_newb66, Apr 4, 2023.

  1. prius_newb66

    prius_newb66 Junior Member

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    Like the title says: on very specific bass frequencies speakers will crackle. 99% of songs are fine but here and there I’ll get one (some from The Marias do this) where it’s crackle city.

    Sounds like if you were playing music on a speaker and loosening/jiggling the speaker wires.

    Any thoughts?
     
  2. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    I was a car stereo installer in my early years and recording studio engineer in recent decades.

    I can assure you someone turned up the volume too loud on the wrong song and those speakers are ruined... Main reason speakers fail is too much signal to noise ratio combined with not enough amplification. Put in a big amp and even those dead speakers will sound better.

    Good news is just about any super cheap replacement speakers are better than OEM. Also if you add a decent underseat amp you can way better quality sound and way less likely to have this problem again.

    But don't fall for all the overpriced garbage the car stereo industry sells... The quality of the expensive stuff is not measurably different from the cheap stuff.
     
    #2 PriusCamper, Apr 5, 2023
    Last edited: Apr 5, 2023
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  3. pasadena_commut

    pasadena_commut Senior Member

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    All speakers? I suppose it is possible to blow them all up at the same time, but that is a pretty specific failure mode for them to have, so maybe the fault is outside the speakers? How many speakers are there in this car anyway, 4, 6, or 8? Any cracked solder joint or other loose electrical connection which moves in resonance with the "bad" frequency would cause that symptom, and that could be anywhere from inside the radio, to the wiring, to inside the speakers. If the OP can find a speaker to test with, like from an old boombox, or stereo speaker, or even a computer speaker (the kind that plugged into the audio out jack on a sound card - not a USB or Wifi unless disassembled), then try unplugging one speaker and plug the test one in to replace it. Run the test music. If the car speaker which was replaced is bad then the test speaker will not crackle. If it crackles too, then it isn't the speakers. Well, I guess it could be if the problem is that one speaker intermittently shorts to ground, as that would likely make a sound in the other ones too.
     
  4. Chris Duncan

    Chris Duncan Junior Member

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    I have read time and time again that aftermarket speakers are not good in the Prius do to differences in Ohms etc (way past my knowledge). Do you have a better explanation or what we should look for in a speaker so as not to ruin sound quality.
     
  5. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    Yeah, if it was all speakers that'd be different, but confirming it's all speakers requires your ear right up against each speaker... Seems like if OP found a song that makes the popping sound and put it on repeat they could do more diagnosis.
     
  6. prius_newb66

    prius_newb66 Junior Member

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    It seems to be from all speakers. And this is the JBL system that has a weird (digital?) amp, I think I need a specific type of speaker for the system.

    I like the idea of a specific frequency jiggling a loose solder joint but since it’s not just one speaker then I guess it would have to be a joint in the head unit or in the amp under the seat.

    That’s gonna suck to find lol
     
  7. pasadena_commut

    pasadena_commut Senior Member

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    Start with the amp under the seat. I'm not familiar with that particular setup but most amps have a pre-amp level input, on the order of a volt. If you can get a splitter in there, with luck, a splitter with RCA jacks as those are easy to obtain, and run the new side to a different amp (like a laptop with an audio in or microphone jack) you can listen for the crackling on the output of that side of the fork. If it is crackling there too, then it is upstream from that point. If it is not crackling on the new side of the split then unhook all the speakers but one, test one at a time. This is just to rule out the possibility that one of them is shorting to ground and that signal is getting back into the amp and from there to all other speakers. That is not a very likely scenario, but it could happen. Probably you will find that it does it no matter which combination of speakers is attached.

    My guess is that the problem is in the head unit or the wiring between it and the amp. So, unfortunately, I foresee you pulling the audio unit out of the dash in the not too distant future.

    If you have a boombox or laptop with external speakers try recording a tone sweep (look around the internet for some) and play that back loudly in the car while the car is playing something that does not normally crackle. If you can trigger the crackle externally and reliably it might help you narrow down where the problem spot is. It would also show that the sound you are hearing isn't just some amplifier output stage truncating the waveform at certain frequencies, which might sound like crackling to some people.
     
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  8. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    To an untrained ear, a good sounding speaker has more to do with the design of the shape that surrounds the back of the speaker... Even the cheapest headphones can have a really thumping bass if the plastic enclosure on the back of the speakers is well designed.
     
  9. Rocinante

    Rocinante Junior Member

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    Did you take off the door panels and look at the speakers? Both of mine in the front were blown, even though only one sounded bad at certain bass frequencies.