defect on a '99 corsa?

[mat]

Hi everybody!

I own a '99 Opel Corsa, sold also with Vauxhall and Chevrolet brands. I got
the manufacturer's standard audio system: no radio, but 6 speakers, 4 in the
front and 2 in the rear of the car.

The first radio I put on the car was an old sony brought from the previous
car. It wasn't working that fine, but one thing I noticed was, that the
front left speakers hadn't the output the others had.

Now I bought a new radio from clarion, and the low output from the front
left 2 speakers, that I thought was because of the old and poor (22Wx2)
radio, is now even lower. The whole system works fine, for a standard
equipment, but I don't know how to fix the low output. Playing with fader
and balance brings no much relief, and so I make my question:

Has anybody yet dealed with the same problem? Is there a (simple) way to fix
it?

Thanks to anybody will answer!

[[email protected]]

Well first problem I see is running 6 speakers off of a head unit. Not
good. Only designed to handle 4 ohm loads per speaker. Since you have
6, I assume that either the front or rear speakers are presenting a 2
ohm or 8 ohm load on the head unit, presuming the OEM speakers area all
4 ohm.

I would get an amp, or disconnect two of the speakers.

[MOSFET]

Ephedra, he might be counting a coaxial speaker as two. Just a hunch.

MOSFET

> wrote in message
oups.com...
> Well first problem I see is running 6 speakers off of a head unit. Not
> good. Only designed to handle 4 ohm loads per speaker. Since you have
> 6, I assume that either the front or rear speakers are presenting a 2
> ohm or 8 ohm load on the head unit, presuming the OEM speakers area all
> 4 ohm.
>
> I would get an amp, or disconnect two of the speakers.
>

[mat]

Thanks for the answer
The system came this way from the factory. In the front there are two
tweeters and two woofers, and I think
there are also two crossovers. The right speakers work fine, at the level of
the rear 2 speakers.
I don't know the impedance of each speaker.
I thought that this is a probelm that other corsas have, because the system
has worked this way since the
radio has been put in the car.
I am not thinking to buy an amp, I just want to fix the system. If anyone
has an idea...

[Bruce Chang]

> wrote in message
oups.com...
> Well first problem I see is running 6 speakers off of a head unit. Not
> good. Only designed to handle 4 ohm loads per speaker. Since you have
> 6, I assume that either the front or rear speakers are presenting a 2
> ohm or 8 ohm load on the head unit, presuming the OEM speakers area all
> 4 ohm.
>
> I would get an amp, or disconnect two of the speakers.
>

An 8 ohm load on an amp that is designed for 4 ohms wouldn't necessarily be
bad. It's bad in the sense that it's not operating with speakers that it
was designed for. It's when you go to an amp that isn't built for low
impedance, then the amp starts having trouble and heating up, right?

Well, it doesn't much matter as the OP said that the the speakers are
components through a crossover.

-Bruce

[MZ]

He probably means components, which would be ok because a 4 ohm woofer and
4 ohm tweeter still makes a 4 ohm total load.

On Thu, 3 Mar 2005 wrote:

> Well first problem I see is running 6 speakers off of a head unit. Not
> good. Only designed to handle 4 ohm loads per speaker. Since you have
> 6, I assume that either the front or rear speakers are presenting a 2
> ohm or 8 ohm load on the head unit, presuming the OEM speakers area all
> 4 ohm.
>
> I would get an amp, or disconnect two of the speakers.
>
>

[MZ]

It's not uncommon for stock speakers to sound better with the stock head
unit than with the aftermarket head unit, despite claims of higher power
in the aftermarket one. For instance, they may be 10 or 16 ohmm speakers,
which the stock head unit may be better equipped to drive. I think
replacing the speakers would solve your problem.

On Thu, 3 Mar 2005, mat wrote:

> Hi everybody!
>
> I own a '99 Opel Corsa, sold also with Vauxhall and Chevrolet brands. I got
> the manufacturer's standard audio system: no radio, but 6 speakers, 4 in the
> front and 2 in the rear of the car.
>
> The first radio I put on the car was an old sony brought from the previous
> car. It wasn't working that fine, but one thing I noticed was, that the
> front left speakers hadn't the output the others had.
>
> Now I bought a new radio from clarion, and the low output from the front
> left 2 speakers, that I thought was because of the old and poor (22Wx2)
> radio, is now even lower. The whole system works fine, for a standard
> equipment, but I don't know how to fix the low output. Playing with fader
> and balance brings no much relief, and so I make my question:
>
> Has anybody yet dealed with the same problem? Is there a (simple) way to fix
> it?
>
> Thanks to anybody will answer!
>
>
>

[[email protected]]

I would test the ohms on the speakers and go from there. Also, the
components tend to be less sensitive(don't get started!!! :) ) than a
simple no tweeter paper speaker.

[mat]

Everybody is talking about my car!

I'd like to repeat: I never had a stock HU, only two aftermarket radios and
with both I have the same problem.
Why the same system (I think is the same, I hope so) of 1woofer, 1 tweeter
and 1 crossover sounds differently
from the left door as from the right door?
I think: the problem should be in the wirings? And whhere the problem should
be?

I'm not requesting help, but just hope to find if anyone had to deal with
the same problem, and if anyone fixed it.

Thanks for the interestment!

mat

[[email protected]]

Again, get a multi meter and test the ohms on the front left and right.
Also, its possible the left speaker shorting out somehow, or part of
the crossover is damaged, etc. Can you pull the panels off and give the
components a visual inspection?

[MOSFET]

"mat" > wrote in message
...
> Everybody is talking about my car!
> Why the same system (I think is the same, I hope so) of 1woofer, 1 tweeter
> and 1 crossover sounds differently
> from the left door as from the right door?
>
> I'm not requesting help, but just hope to find if anyone had to deal with
> the same problem, and if anyone fixed it.
>
Here are two things I would check. You say the front-left speaker does not
sound as loud as the rest and that (you think) there are outboard x-overs
attached to those front speakers. Check those x-overs to see if there are
any switches and that they are set the same for the left and right. Most
outboard x-overs have some kind of tweeter attenuation switch to lower and
raise the volume of the tweeter (some have other types of controls). It's
possible that the front two x-overs are not set the same.

Also, it's a long-shot, but maybe someone attached an additional in-line
x-over or L-pad to the front left speaker. This might look like simply a
small capactitor or resistor attached somewhere along the left speaker wire.
I have no idea why someone would do this to only one side, so like I said
it's a long shot, but you might want to check the wires leading to the
left-front component set.

Good luck.

MOSFET

[MOSFET]

I have another idea....

Disconnect both tweeters from the x-overs and see if just the midrange
volumes are different. Then do the same for the tweeters (disconnect the
midranges). Of course, do this after checking to see that any switches on
the x-overs are set the same.

This will help narrow down the problem because let's say both the left
tweeter AND the left midrange are not as loud as the right. This will tell
you the problem is MOST LIKELY not the speakers (it is extremely unlikely
that both tweeter and midrange would break in exactly the same way). In
this way, it would be unnecessary to measure impedences as Ephedra suggested
(as long as both left and right speakers are EXACTLY the same models and
working properly, they should be the same volume, no matter what the
impedence is).

If, however, the tweeters seem to match or the midranges seems to match, you
then can narrow it down to either a bad speaker, or something wrong with
your x-over. At that point, I would try switching x-overs (use the left one
for the right and right one for the left). If the SAME problem is still
exhibited you can safely conclude you have a bad speaker. If the problem
switches sides, you have a bad x-over. You would also try switching x-overs
in the example in the above paragraph where BOTH tweeter and midrange are
not as loud as the right side.

Of course, you can also try switching speakers as well. There are MANY
tests that can be performed here and by carefully noting the results, you
should be able to get at the root of the problem.

There you go. Good luck.

MOSFET