Audio Systems: car speakers, xplode speakers, left speaker

Question
About two months ago the left speaker in my car went out. To make sure it was the problem with the left speaker, i took the right speaker, which was still running good then , and installed it on the left side. The speaker played fine and i was pretty sure the problem was with my left speaker.
I put the good speaker back on the right side and had the connections of the left speaker hanging without a speaker. Recently my right speaker went out too so i went ahead and got a new set of Sonny Xplode speakers. I had no prblem when i installed the speaker on the right side, however, i smoked the left speaker when i put in it. I measured the DC voltage and the right side, which is the good side, and it gave me 0.024VDC. The left side (defective) gave me a reading of 11.5VDC. What could be the problem? Could it be that the left side speaker connections which i had left hanging for months came in contact and shorted? What can i do to remedy the problem? DO i have to buy a new head unit? Thank you.  

Answer
Mac,
On a high powered stereo if operating correctly you should measure about 5-6 volts DC on each speaker to ground. If you left wires hanging and one or both shorted to the chassis of the car, you caused damaged to the audio output amp IC/s in the stereo. If you can use a soldering iron then you should be able to replace the amps yourself. You can order new amp IC's from most electronic parts dealers. Take the stereo apart to see what the number on the IC's are and order that number.

TOM,
T&D ELECTRONICS
tdeser@zoominternet.net