they're very very crazy right now. my buddy and i spent the better part of 7 hours today (luckily it was almost 60 in the afternoon) installing my CDT CL-61a components and CL6x speakers in my E. I knew nothing and he new how to wire everything. He cut out circular brackets out of wood for the rear doors so we could screw the rear speakers in (we didnt want to cut any plastic around the edges, we just cut in the hole in the back).

for the components we rigged up the tweeters w/ tin strips and they worked great. For the front doors we just put the speakers in and screwed into the plastic. The grill on the door speakers fit almost perfectly (the passenger side sticks out just a wee bit).

After we spent these grueling hours on this job we finally went to check all the speakers to see if they worked, and after about 4 notches on the stereo....EVERYTHING cut out! all we could hear was a low frequency bass like sound that sounded like it was coming from up in the engine somewhere, not even from where the sub is!

We cut the car off and checked the wiring and fuses and then cut it back on and found that if we turn it up to a certain degree or if a song gets too loud, it cuts out and does this. With too much frustration i told him we would check it out later and that i thought i had read on one of the boards that this happened to someone else, i just cant find the thread now. Can anyone help?

- Mike

Sounds like you have a short somewhere. Need more system info like what are these speakers wired up to - the factory amp or an aftermarket amp? Do you have an aftermarket head unit, etc.

EMass - they're hooked up to the factory amp and factory head unit. Nothing was changed except for the 4 door speakers and tweeters.

Tweeters had huge crossovers, which we mounted under the dash. My friend knew all the wiring and we tested the speakers...all worked at a little less efficiency. But at about 5 Volume notches....everything goes quiet.....except the sound of really really low frequency bass that seems to be coming from somewhere.....somewhere far forward of the sub.

We had to cut the plastic backings from the door speaker holes to allow room for the CDT speakers and did not install any sort of "foam baffle" or anything, just straight screwed into the plastic on the front and into a wood cutout ring for a homemade mounting plate in the rear doors. is there any chance of something messing up the "polarity" w/ the metal in the door? i thought i read something about this in another post...but again i know nothing about car audio so i could be way off.

another post i read EMass- you responded to a radio cutting in and out by saying to wrap the connectors in electrical tape and it would fix the problem. Well mine doesnt cut back in after it goes out. It's like the volume or loudness gets to much, some kind of safety feature kicks in and shuts them all off and i have to turn the car off to get them to come back to normal at a low volume.

any ideas?

- M.

I have the same speakers and the crossovers do have a safety cutoff as stated on the instruction sheet. It will reduce signal to tweeter by 50% when tripped and will reset itself after system is turned off for a few secs. Since what you are describing is afflicting the entire system I would guess that this is not your problem.

I am going to have to ask for your system specs again. Your description so far doesn't really tells us how you wired everything together. What headunit are you using? Are using wire harnesses for the headunit / speakers? Did you splice into factory wiring for sub? Are you using a line level convertor?

I think eMass is prolly right in his diagnosis of a short? If you are using a line level convertor I would also guess that it could be an improperly set level. Also the CL-61 speaker terminals can rub against the metal cross braces in the front door which could cause a short. It could also be your headunit circuit protection trpping. Check your manual and see what kind of circuit protection it has and what can cause it trip.

My suggestions:

1. Disconnect all speakers and reconnect one at a time starting from rear. This way you can try to isolate problem starting with speakers without crossovers.

2. Recheck all your wiring including ground.

This is all I can think of without more input. Good luck!

*addendum: after reading Brendan's post I realized I misread the portion regarding your factory headunit. Sorry!

I'd go through a standard "figure out what components are broken" test by disconnecting all the speakers and adding them one at a time, tweaking the volume up and down.

The rumble noise sounds like what happened when I wired up my sub channel incorrectly, but you state you haven't messed with the head unit/amp/sub connections at all.

So...perhaps your cross-overs or speakers are grounding the amp incorrectly somehow: are the crossovers or wires touching anything?

-brendan

I know what the problem is. Mine did the same thing. When I put in my apline speakers I did not notice that they were deeper but they are and with the aftermarket connecters what was happening is that were the little tab on the speakers for + and - was actually hitting the metal door frame. Simple fix I used duct tape and put that on the metal inside the speaker hole. With speaker removed look at the opening in it is a cut out in the back were the wire comes thru and at the bottom it is part of the door ALL METAL my wires kept touching it and shorting.

Hope this helps

sounds like all good suggestions...but i wanted to point out a few things...

first: my friend wired the tweeters AND the CL-61a door speakers to my crossovers. I told him that he did not need to that i hadnt read that any of you did that, but he said it would sound better and more proper. Could this be affecting it?

When we had just the rear door speakers in and we turned it up to check them i believe it was pretty high and there was no problem, so i think its something to do w/ the crossovers. Btw, they are mounted to the metal braces under the dash on both sides w/ cable ties. they are just kind of hanging freely, not really mounted flush up against anything, but not so loose that they'll fly around if my car hits a bump.

second: i'm not sure my speakers are "shorting out" because of the wires hitting the metal frames of the inside of the door. reason being, my speakers specifically cut out when i raise the volume past certain levels...it doesnt happen randomly, it happens because i make it happen. But the volume is not THAT loud so its not like my crossovers should be screaming for mercy :)

third: as far as my specs just to clarify, i have only changed the 6 speakers w/ CDT CL-61a and CL-6x speakers. components and integrated. no change of sub or amp or head unit, and no wires cut from them. I did buy honda speaker harnesses from circuit city but my dumbass only bought 2....so while my friend was working on the components i did the easy job and installed the rear door CL-6x speakers and used the harnesses. He cut the wires and put on the connectors we bought from Advance. (although note: there were no big and small connectors for positive/negative female ends so we bought a pack of just large ones and he crimped them down to fit the smaller, negative male end....don't know if that makes a difference).

thanks again for all your help and suggestions guys, i hope we can find a solution fast or someone will recognize my problem. my buddy works until late every day this week so i dont see him helping me out to fix it anytime soon.

i know * someone posted at some point about this exact problem and him hearing the bass and low frequencies and all his speakers cut out....but i can't find it, i've searched and searched. can the real slim shady please stand up! :)

-M.

Both your tweeters and woofers are suppose to be connected to the crossovers. A crossover simply sends highs to the tweeters and mids/lows to the woofers. Maybe you are confusing crossovers with filters which are only connect to one speaker. For simple definitions like this Crutchfield has a decent glossary. For more in depth info. go to http://www.eatel.net/~amptech/elecdisc/installationprimer.htm

I also have my crossovers mount in that location with zip ties. I would hazard a guess that most of us mounted crossovers in the same location.

From your second and third point, I would check the cut/wiring job in the front. It sounds like you have no problems with the rears so that leaves the front. The front speakers is also the only location where you cut into factory wiring. Finally your lack of confidence in identifying positive/negative terminals reinforces my front wiring suspicions.

The logic in your second point is somewhat incomplete. You fail to take into account vibrations a speaker produces as volume increases. Maybe the wires/terminals were very close to begin with and the vibrations pass volume level 4 was enough to create contact.

I believe this is the thread you are looking for but there is no fix listed at the end. (FYI: search terms: speaker and problem) http://www.elementownersclub.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=4210&highlight=speaker+problem

Start by doing this:

Take the door speakers out of the doors and set them on crates but leave them connected. If you still have the same issue it's probably not a short but try connecting each speaker one at a time. See what happens. report back.

BTW, a short doesn't necessarily happen ALWAYS - sometimes a short will only occur at higher voltage levels - example - when increasing volme.

As you can see from posts above speakers shorting on the metal door frame is a fairly common issue on the Element.

My money still says you have a a short at the speaker terminals.

[quote:9b59c7e316=" "]second: i'm not sure my speakers are "shorting out" because of the wires hitting the metal frames of the inside of the door. reason being, my speakers specifically cut out when i raise the volume past certain levels...it doesnt happen randomly, it happens because i make it happen. But the volume is not THAT loud so its not like my crossovers should be screaming for mercy :)[/quote:9b59c7e316]

Just remember that the amp is current-limiting the output based on the volume level. It's quite possible there's a short or near-short (low impedance) that triggers the overcurrent protection only when you hit a certain volume level. Oops, looks like eMass already covered this.

-brendan

so i should find some time, disconnect each speaker 1 by 1 and crank it up and see which one is doing this? once i figure that out check the wiring or re-do it and should i be putting electrical tape around the wires this time? should i be doing anything to protect the metal connectors from the door metal?

- M.

For the speaker terminals, you can use spade clips which have a plastic sleeve on it. For splices or any kind of exposed wiring I would use heat shrink tubing. I find that it stays in place better than electrical tape.