Stereo Interference

[mr2mk1g]

Hi there, new to the boards.

Long time owner of a Mk1 I recently bought a great black Mk2 t-bar. It had a Sony head unit installed which was making odd crackling sounds so I whipped it out the first day I had the car and replaced it with my newer Sony MDX head unit and CD changer. The rest of the system is stock.

I still get the crackling but it only happens for the first half hour or so. It’s a kind of intermittent crackle that sounds a lot like a CD skipping (but not as it happens with the radio too. It appears to be linked to the amount of power I’m putting through the stereo system because if I turn the volume up or put the base on it happens more and more. When it’s quite it doesn’t happen and after a while I can have the stereo as loud as I like with no problems.

All of the Speakers are in good condition and the car came with a factory amp and sub behind the passenger seat. When warmed up the stereo performs flawlessly and gives a great sound. Its just ***** annoying for those short distance commutes.

On odd thing I noticed was that the garage that installed the stereo for the previous owner (I have the receipts) for some reason butchered the wires inside the dash and hooked the Speakers directly to the individual outputs on the stereo. It’s all professionally done with phono cables and all, but it’s different to how I’ve always done it. On my previous two Toyota’s (Mr2Mk1 and a Supra) I’ve used this same head unit with a Toyota wiring loom. This has the Speakers attached into the single block output on the head unit and leaves the pre-outs empty…

Could this be the problem? Could I have a problem with my amp? Is this the dreaded cold stereo problem I’ve heard of? Ideas? Anyone?

cheers

[Debz]

I had a similar issue.

I had terrible interference, but I got a new head unit last week. when it was fitted, the guy said what a mess the wiring was and that the base box, and all that were not even wired in.

After the new head unit was fitted and everything is wired up it has cleared :D