Audio Systems: pioneer car stereo, pioneer car stereo, hyunda

Question
i drive a 2003 hyunda accent. i recently tried to install a cd stereo. i bought the proper harness adapter, when i hooked it up it played great. but when i turned up the volume or just played a cd the back of the stereo got so hot it would burn your finger. i tried different ways to ground the stereo from on the harness to a body ground. whe i unhooked the black ground wire it played anyways until i pulled out the antena wire. can you figure out why its overheating? should it still work with no ground hooked.with only the antenawire hooked?

Answer
Jerry,
While a CD player can work without being hooked up to a ground wire, it is never recommended. There is only one case that I know of where you wouldn't ground the deck (but this isn't it). As for the back of the CD player getting hot, that happens. You have to remember that there is a lot of electronics in a very compact area, and it's going to get wicked hot. The back of the CD player isn't an area where your fingers should be when the player is on. If you're really concerned about the heat level you can try to install a very small fan (1" or so) behind the deck to keep it cool. Chances are that this deck has a very small built-in amplifier which increases the heat output of the player. If the CD player would overheat so badly that it warped CDs or the player turned itself off, then I would say that the player is defective. But since there is no indication of that (from what you've told me), the deck's heat level is normal. I hope this helps.

Best Of Luck,
Alan