Car receiver: Audio cuts out over a certain volume

[z1ggy]

For a long time (Even made a thread about it) I thought my phone was wacked out and wasn't able to stream blue tooth properly. After enough trial and error, I realized that the problem (audio cuts in and out) only happens over a certain volume. To me this means something with the receiver is likely going on, as I feel like if it were the speakers, audio wouldn't work at all, only be from one side, or would randomly cut out. Happens on radio mode, too.. It's not just streaming. It also happens with my gf/s phone, so that eliminates my phone being the issue.

Before I go buy a new receiver, could the problem be anything else?

 

[mdram]

could be a simple wiring issue, or internal issue

can you pull it and check connections?

is it just sound or does it turn off and on?

 

[z1ggy]

Just sound. However when I listen very closely... It's actually the volume going down way way low, not 100% off. It's like, it goes from a level 15, down to a level 2. So it works fine if I play it on level 14 or below... But once I reach some kind of threshold, audio cuts out and goes extremely low, basically inaudible.

I can pull the unit out to check all the connections, but I feel like with bad or loose connections, connectivity issues are random. This is 100% repeatable.

 

[mdram]

then i would wager something internal in the head unit

 

[z1ggy]

Wonder if a set of Op Amps or something is blown. Unit is about 9 months old... Maybe I can get it replaced my Kenwood for free. I have $600 speakers in my car so I'm not going to put up with some junkie not working receiver.

 

[JeffMD]

not blown, but I bet you are running out of power. The power demands your head unit is putting on your power systems is too much and the amp just shuts down. I believe in these cases you install a large capacitor to buffer your power needs.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

Probably the amp not the head deck

 

[mdram]

built in amp should draw that much power
now a separate amp, yeah that could

what model head unit is it?