Car Stereos: radio problem, radio problem, speaker outputs

Question
ok so i bought door speakers and 2 ten in subs i originally hooked the new door speakers up to the deck i bought but the speakers keep cuting out when i turned u the vol so i figured they need an amp so i ran a wire from the door speaker to the amp and i just got bass and not voice thur it so i hooked both the wires from the amp to the speakers and the speaker wire that was hooked up to the factory speaker and it work for a sec then nothing at all my deck still powers on and everything works on it but i cant get any sound to come thu the speakers i looked at the cars fuse and the one in back of the deck both were good and the amp has power to it but wont power up now. any suggestions? could my deck be bad even tho it powers up?

Answer
Hi Marcus,

It's certainly possible for the deck's amplifier to be damaged, even if the deck still turns on.  If you at some point had the deck's speaker outputs and the amp's speaker outputs connected to the same speaker, the result could be damage to either component or both.

At this point, I'd suggest going back to basics.  Disconnect the amplifier, wire the speakers directly to the head unit.  Keep the wiring as simple as possible; make sure you don't have any pinched or shorted speaker wires, and just connect one speaker to each output channel.  If you're still not getting sound, disconnect all the speakers except one.  If it works with one speaker, keep connecting others until either they're all working, or you identify the speaker connection that's making the sound drop out.  If it doesn't work with a single speaker, disconnect it and try a different speaker; if that doesn't work, your head unit is probably damaged.

If your amplifier's not turning on, it might be related to the remote turn-on wire from the head unit.  Try disconnecting the remote wire from the amp, and temporarily jump a wire between the remote terminal and the main power terminal.  If the amp still isn't turning on, check the built-in fuses; if they're good, then the amp may be damaged.  If the amp turns on with the jumper wire, check the length of the remote wire for pinched or shorted spots.  It's also possible that the deck's remote output voltage has failed.

Hope this helps!

Brian