Hello,
1. Into:
First off, I’m sorry this is so long and for any typos. I am writing all of this from my phone because this website is not playing nice with my computer and I am trying to provide as much info as possible from the start.
I am having several problems with my speakers that could be caused by one or several different factors and at this point any help from the community would be much appreciated. At the end of the day, I had a random crunchy blown speaker noise from a speaker and upon further investigation that speaker and a different size speaker on the other side of my truck are making no noise (the larger speaker in my front passenger door and the small speaker [if I remember correctly it’s a 3.5”] on my front driver’s side door have no audio).
I would take this to the dealer but it's out of warranty and even when in warranty, they had no idea how to troubleshoot anything electronic except by just replacing big expensive things and crossing their fingers (they once replaced my entire U-connect computer system because they didn't know how to troubleshoot an issue that could just needed a software update). I could also take it to a stereo shop but the shops around here don't like to play nice with stock systems in general and they really don't like messing with the u-connect systems with amps and ANC. I'm not a stereo/electronics expert but I have built many systems, competed in car stereo events, and done all sorts of other electronic wiring upgrades and customization to my own and other peoples vehicles over the course of 40+ years. I only mention all of this to demonstrate that I have basic understanding of stereo systems and electronics.
2. Background:
I have a 2019 Ram Laramie with the “luxury” HK stereo system. I bought the truck certified used from a RAM dealership with around 10k miles in 2019. Shortly after purchasing the truck I upgraded the dash and all the door speakers (3 dash, 2 in each front door, and one in each rear door) and I did not change any speakers in the headliner. I am not having any issues with any rear speakers (the rear door speakers I replaced nor headliner speakers I didn’t touch). All the problems I discuss happen regardless of input (CarPlay, Bluetooth, or radio). The first issue I have had for a while, and over the course of the last four months I started noticing the other speaker issues.
** Remember this paragraph because I will keep referencing it ** I would like to think I checked everything after the speaker upgrade or that I would have noticed any problems over the course of the last couple years, but I am always seated in the driver’s seat (not the optimal place to hear and compare differences in speaker sounds) and I wear a hearing aid.
3. Issues and Troubleshooting:
a. I did the speaker upgrade so soon after purchasing so I don’t know if this existed prior to the upgrade, but as far back as I can remember, phone calls sounded a little crunchy like a blown speaker from the front passenger door area. I never looked into it anymore because I always assumed it was just the wireless connection between my phone and cell towers since I didn’t hear the noise when I played music.
b. About four months ago I noticed that that same sound would randomly occur while playing music.**
i. I ruled out that it was related to frequency because it would happen randomly (the same song would randomly replay when driving and it wouldn’t happen and I couldn’t purposefully reproduce the issue with the same song
ii. Next, I thought it was related to a short. I was able to pull over while it was happening, I traced the crackling sound to the larger front passenger side door speaker. Assuming it was a short, I later pulled the door panel, checked the connections and even bypassed the aftermarket/OEM speaker wire harness with jumpers. All was good for about a month and then I noticed it again day before yesterday. I have further doubts that it is a short because I find it unlikely that the issues in para. b and c would coincidentally happen at the exact same time.
iii. Yesterday when it happened I stopped everything I had planned and pulled into a parking lot (I wanted to catch it while it was going on). I reset the U-Connect to factory settings to default. When that failed I left the truck off for about an hour (some people said their speaker issues were resolved by leaving the truck off for about an hour for the computer to “reset” itself) and I wasted an hour+ of my life walking around the shopping center where I had parked. Of course that also did not help because had it worked I wouldn’t be writing this essay.
iv. While still in the parking lot, I started doing more troubleshooting/research. I read that some people were having a similar issue to my random blown speaker noise that was fixed with a software update for the amp, but I have somewhat ruled that out as well. It appears that the notice about that problem/update didn’t include my truck. Moreover, I discovered the following other issues that I couldn’t find anyone attributing to the amp software issue. Don’t’ get me wrong, it could still be an amp hardware or software issue but the different RAM forums have an active community and I didn’t find.
b. While still in the parking lot, I decided to recheck the audio in more detail using some different tests. I moved out of the driver’s seat to the front jump seat (I have a level 2 package Laramie with a jump seat instead of the arm rest). I started playing frequency tests from YouTube while simultaneously changing the EQ to just high, or mids, or base, and then only playing on specific speakers, e.g., just front left or front right. Things didn’t sound right and I eventually found that I couldn’t detect (I say “detect” because ** so it’s possible but unlikely that it was playing something really softly) any sound from the front passenger speaker (I already knew it randomly sounded like a blown speaker but I had thought between those episodes it was playing sound correctly). It makes me wonder if the speaker usually makes no noise and the only time sound comes out is the random crispy/blown speaker sound.
c. Even more puzzling is that I also discovered that the small speaker(I think it’s a 3.5) in the driver’s side door also had no detectable audio. This was a little puzzling because if I had a found the issue with two speakers I would assume they would be the same speakers on both sides of the truck or both speakers in the same door.
4. Summary and other ideas:
At this point I don’t know if the issues started after the speaker upgrade or when. I find it hard to imagine that nobody that has rode in my truck or myself would have notices that two speakers in the truck are dead, but I can also make the case that people that are not into stereo’s wouldn’t care enough to even think about the subject and in my case **.
I have read about people with speaker issues caused by incorrect phasing, the ANC system, or the aftermarket wire harness used to connect aftermarket speakers to the OEM wire harness. I am fairly confident those can be ruled out for several reasons.
a. As to phasing and ANC. I can’t detect any audio from the two speakers and if I understand correctly, if there was a phase or ANC issue, the audio would be distorted not completely missing. I have further doubt that it is a phase or ANC issue because I recall checking the phasing during the speaker upgrade by checking each line with a multimeter. And if it was an ANC issue it would resolve itself when the window or door is open (because that turns off the ANC system and it’s a common way for people to troubleshoot an ANC issue) and it didn’t resolve my issue.
b. I have only read of one person having the wire harness issue and that person resolved problem by removing the ware harness and soldering the wires. I have essentially already done that when I thought it was a short (sec. 3, para. b, sub-head ii). On one hand I can make the argument that it’s even more unlikely to happen twice on the same vehicle but I guess I could make the opposing argument that there is an increased likeliness of two defective parts being packaged together because they might be near each other because they were manufactured at the same time (although I don’t think that is how manufacturing works because in the 80’s Sesame Street showed us several manufacturing plants and all the items were mixed up with 1000’s and 1000’s of like items on conveyor belts, buckets, and bins so the likeliness that two items made at the same time would even end up near one another is unlikely… but you see how my brain works…).
Anyway, if you are now reading this than thank you for taking the time to read everything. I know it’s hard but please refrain from stupid unhelpful comments such as be happy you have a radio at all because we didn’t have them when I first started driving, real trucks only have ham radios, have you turned the radio on, have you tried AM stations, what is Bluetooth, what is CarPlay, can you use CarPlay on an Android phone, what is a cell phone, what is a cell phone tower, iPhones suck you should get an Android phone, does Apple Inc. make Apples to eat, what shape is the earth??? I hope that my sarcasm tickled your soul (that line is extra sarcastic and almost goes into vomit dad joke territory) but I really do appreciate any input you may have on this matter. Thanks for reading.
1. Into:
First off, I’m sorry this is so long and for any typos. I am writing all of this from my phone because this website is not playing nice with my computer and I am trying to provide as much info as possible from the start.
I am having several problems with my speakers that could be caused by one or several different factors and at this point any help from the community would be much appreciated. At the end of the day, I had a random crunchy blown speaker noise from a speaker and upon further investigation that speaker and a different size speaker on the other side of my truck are making no noise (the larger speaker in my front passenger door and the small speaker [if I remember correctly it’s a 3.5”] on my front driver’s side door have no audio).
I would take this to the dealer but it's out of warranty and even when in warranty, they had no idea how to troubleshoot anything electronic except by just replacing big expensive things and crossing their fingers (they once replaced my entire U-connect computer system because they didn't know how to troubleshoot an issue that could just needed a software update). I could also take it to a stereo shop but the shops around here don't like to play nice with stock systems in general and they really don't like messing with the u-connect systems with amps and ANC. I'm not a stereo/electronics expert but I have built many systems, competed in car stereo events, and done all sorts of other electronic wiring upgrades and customization to my own and other peoples vehicles over the course of 40+ years. I only mention all of this to demonstrate that I have basic understanding of stereo systems and electronics.
2. Background:
I have a 2019 Ram Laramie with the “luxury” HK stereo system. I bought the truck certified used from a RAM dealership with around 10k miles in 2019. Shortly after purchasing the truck I upgraded the dash and all the door speakers (3 dash, 2 in each front door, and one in each rear door) and I did not change any speakers in the headliner. I am not having any issues with any rear speakers (the rear door speakers I replaced nor headliner speakers I didn’t touch). All the problems I discuss happen regardless of input (CarPlay, Bluetooth, or radio). The first issue I have had for a while, and over the course of the last four months I started noticing the other speaker issues.
** Remember this paragraph because I will keep referencing it ** I would like to think I checked everything after the speaker upgrade or that I would have noticed any problems over the course of the last couple years, but I am always seated in the driver’s seat (not the optimal place to hear and compare differences in speaker sounds) and I wear a hearing aid.
3. Issues and Troubleshooting:
a. I did the speaker upgrade so soon after purchasing so I don’t know if this existed prior to the upgrade, but as far back as I can remember, phone calls sounded a little crunchy like a blown speaker from the front passenger door area. I never looked into it anymore because I always assumed it was just the wireless connection between my phone and cell towers since I didn’t hear the noise when I played music.
b. About four months ago I noticed that that same sound would randomly occur while playing music.**
i. I ruled out that it was related to frequency because it would happen randomly (the same song would randomly replay when driving and it wouldn’t happen and I couldn’t purposefully reproduce the issue with the same song
ii. Next, I thought it was related to a short. I was able to pull over while it was happening, I traced the crackling sound to the larger front passenger side door speaker. Assuming it was a short, I later pulled the door panel, checked the connections and even bypassed the aftermarket/OEM speaker wire harness with jumpers. All was good for about a month and then I noticed it again day before yesterday. I have further doubts that it is a short because I find it unlikely that the issues in para. b and c would coincidentally happen at the exact same time.
iii. Yesterday when it happened I stopped everything I had planned and pulled into a parking lot (I wanted to catch it while it was going on). I reset the U-Connect to factory settings to default. When that failed I left the truck off for about an hour (some people said their speaker issues were resolved by leaving the truck off for about an hour for the computer to “reset” itself) and I wasted an hour+ of my life walking around the shopping center where I had parked. Of course that also did not help because had it worked I wouldn’t be writing this essay.
iv. While still in the parking lot, I started doing more troubleshooting/research. I read that some people were having a similar issue to my random blown speaker noise that was fixed with a software update for the amp, but I have somewhat ruled that out as well. It appears that the notice about that problem/update didn’t include my truck. Moreover, I discovered the following other issues that I couldn’t find anyone attributing to the amp software issue. Don’t’ get me wrong, it could still be an amp hardware or software issue but the different RAM forums have an active community and I didn’t find.
b. While still in the parking lot, I decided to recheck the audio in more detail using some different tests. I moved out of the driver’s seat to the front jump seat (I have a level 2 package Laramie with a jump seat instead of the arm rest). I started playing frequency tests from YouTube while simultaneously changing the EQ to just high, or mids, or base, and then only playing on specific speakers, e.g., just front left or front right. Things didn’t sound right and I eventually found that I couldn’t detect (I say “detect” because ** so it’s possible but unlikely that it was playing something really softly) any sound from the front passenger speaker (I already knew it randomly sounded like a blown speaker but I had thought between those episodes it was playing sound correctly). It makes me wonder if the speaker usually makes no noise and the only time sound comes out is the random crispy/blown speaker sound.
c. Even more puzzling is that I also discovered that the small speaker(I think it’s a 3.5) in the driver’s side door also had no detectable audio. This was a little puzzling because if I had a found the issue with two speakers I would assume they would be the same speakers on both sides of the truck or both speakers in the same door.
4. Summary and other ideas:
At this point I don’t know if the issues started after the speaker upgrade or when. I find it hard to imagine that nobody that has rode in my truck or myself would have notices that two speakers in the truck are dead, but I can also make the case that people that are not into stereo’s wouldn’t care enough to even think about the subject and in my case **.
I have read about people with speaker issues caused by incorrect phasing, the ANC system, or the aftermarket wire harness used to connect aftermarket speakers to the OEM wire harness. I am fairly confident those can be ruled out for several reasons.
a. As to phasing and ANC. I can’t detect any audio from the two speakers and if I understand correctly, if there was a phase or ANC issue, the audio would be distorted not completely missing. I have further doubt that it is a phase or ANC issue because I recall checking the phasing during the speaker upgrade by checking each line with a multimeter. And if it was an ANC issue it would resolve itself when the window or door is open (because that turns off the ANC system and it’s a common way for people to troubleshoot an ANC issue) and it didn’t resolve my issue.
b. I have only read of one person having the wire harness issue and that person resolved problem by removing the ware harness and soldering the wires. I have essentially already done that when I thought it was a short (sec. 3, para. b, sub-head ii). On one hand I can make the argument that it’s even more unlikely to happen twice on the same vehicle but I guess I could make the opposing argument that there is an increased likeliness of two defective parts being packaged together because they might be near each other because they were manufactured at the same time (although I don’t think that is how manufacturing works because in the 80’s Sesame Street showed us several manufacturing plants and all the items were mixed up with 1000’s and 1000’s of like items on conveyor belts, buckets, and bins so the likeliness that two items made at the same time would even end up near one another is unlikely… but you see how my brain works…).
Anyway, if you are now reading this than thank you for taking the time to read everything. I know it’s hard but please refrain from stupid unhelpful comments such as be happy you have a radio at all because we didn’t have them when I first started driving, real trucks only have ham radios, have you turned the radio on, have you tried AM stations, what is Bluetooth, what is CarPlay, can you use CarPlay on an Android phone, what is a cell phone, what is a cell phone tower, iPhones suck you should get an Android phone, does Apple Inc. make Apples to eat, what shape is the earth??? I hope that my sarcasm tickled your soul (that line is extra sarcastic and almost goes into vomit dad joke territory) but I really do appreciate any input you may have on this matter. Thanks for reading.
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