Bad radio reception, speakers cut out, bad head unit?

[fuzzybabybunny]

I have a really cheap Boss head unit that I think I got from Best Buy years ago. Installed it myself in my Honda Fit.

The radio reception sucks and only gets like two stations. One time the entire front left speakers cut out, but the speakers themselves are fine because there are two separate speakers on the front left and they both cut out at once.

Sound quality is also pretty horrible compared to the factory head unit.

So I'm thinking that the head unit itself must be pretty crap?

 

[mindless1]

No Yes Maybe?

Did it pick up more stations when you first installed it? If not, why did you keep it if this is a problem? Radio reception that degrades later could be an antenna/mast/cable/connector issue.

Maybe the radio has a problem on the left channel, or maybe the wiring is bad, depending on how independent those two left speakers are.

Sound quality, again back to was this how it was when installed and why keep it if so? Generally yeah, any "really cheap" stereo will sound like crap if the volume is above a minimal level, but based on only quality, jjust about anything should sound decent at a modest output, say a couple watts, until it develops a problem.

Cheap units can develop problems sooner, so "years ago" could mean it just wore out due to a design not meant to last past the warranty.

Ultimately yes if you check the wiring and antenna connections and find no faults there, then it looks like another "get what you pay for" choice on what it replace it with, but if it was installed by some questionable skill level Best Buy/etc employee, it could as easily just be a half-arsed wiring fault... twisting bare wires and taping them, is a short term solution.