Rich Wales
March 4th 08, 06:28 PM
I *may* finally have managed to pinpoint the cause of the intermittent
static in the front left tweeter of my 2004 VW Golf (with aftermarket
Kenwood receiver and stock Monsoon amplifier and speakers).
Over the weekend, I put a few layers of electrical tape on either side
of the big plug that (I believe) is what carries audio signals to and
from the amplifier -- and then I pushed the plug in firmly, all the
way, so it's held in place not only by the clips on the long sides
(where I naturally didn't put electrical tape), but also by the extra
bulk of the (slightly squishy) tape.
The static problem appears to have basically disappeared. There may
have been a couple spurts of brief static, which went away on their
own, but for the most part, I'm hearing great sound now (including
clean highs out of that tweeter).
So it looks (or, shall I say, sounds?) like the main cause of the
static problem was an intermittently bad contact in the connection to
the amplifier. Presumably, the vibrations of driving would cause the
plug to jiggle slightly, resulting in a bad connection (most likely in
the wiring going to the front left tweeter, since no other speaker was
ever affected). Sometimes, more vibration would make the connection
become "good" again -- making the issue that much harder to track down.
The plug was snapped "properly" into place, as far as I can tell, so
the bad contact must presumably be something very subtle.
Two questions.
First, does this sound reasonable? Does this sort of thing happen in
real life? :-}
And second, is there a more "proper" way to fix a problem like this,
or is padding the plug with electrical tape for a tight fit as good
a solution as anything else?
Rich Wales === Palo Alto, CA, USA ===
http://www.richw.org === http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Richwales
static in the front left tweeter of my 2004 VW Golf (with aftermarket
Kenwood receiver and stock Monsoon amplifier and speakers).
Over the weekend, I put a few layers of electrical tape on either side
of the big plug that (I believe) is what carries audio signals to and
from the amplifier -- and then I pushed the plug in firmly, all the
way, so it's held in place not only by the clips on the long sides
(where I naturally didn't put electrical tape), but also by the extra
bulk of the (slightly squishy) tape.
The static problem appears to have basically disappeared. There may
have been a couple spurts of brief static, which went away on their
own, but for the most part, I'm hearing great sound now (including
clean highs out of that tweeter).
So it looks (or, shall I say, sounds?) like the main cause of the
static problem was an intermittently bad contact in the connection to
the amplifier. Presumably, the vibrations of driving would cause the
plug to jiggle slightly, resulting in a bad connection (most likely in
the wiring going to the front left tweeter, since no other speaker was
ever affected). Sometimes, more vibration would make the connection
become "good" again -- making the issue that much harder to track down.
The plug was snapped "properly" into place, as far as I can tell, so
the bad contact must presumably be something very subtle.
Two questions.
First, does this sound reasonable? Does this sort of thing happen in
real life? :-}
And second, is there a more "proper" way to fix a problem like this,
or is padding the plug with electrical tape for a tight fit as good
a solution as anything else?
Rich Wales === Palo Alto, CA, USA ===
http://www.richw.org === http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Richwales