Expert: Cleggsan - 2/23/2009

Question
hey I have a 99 mustang with all aftermarket speakers and 2 jbl amps in the
back. I was cranking the system a little more than usual and all of a sudden all
of the speakers on the left side went out. If i play only the left speakers and turn
the volume up high you can hear them still work but very soft but clear. Do you
think I blew a channel or an amp? Or maybe a wire loose?

Answer
Could be most anything.  Loose wire, blown fuse, bad amp, crispy fried voice coils and so on.

If the amps are wired with left side from one amp and right side from the other amp then you could have this problem.

But, if the amps are wired conventionally it means one amp drives front l/r and the other drives back l/r.  So, in this case, if the left side is going out it is likely not the amps but the head unit which has lost the left channel (or the cable has fallen out; or at least some thing which is preventing the left audio channel from getting through to the amplifier).

Therefore, you must check the audio feeds to the amps.  Here is a quick and easy test: Just reverse the audio cables at the input to the two jbl amps; if the left speakers come to life and the right side goes out then you know the problem is up ahead of the amplifiers, most likely the head unit.

Hope this helps you get it resolved.

C