i have the stock 160 watt pioneer 1 CD/sirius/AM-FM head unit w/ iPod jack in the armrest. when i have the stereo turned up at full blast for more than a couple of minutes, the entire system shuts off. no sound comes from the speakers, whatsoever...but if the CD function is active, you can see the seconds ticking off on the CD playback. its not like the head unit turns off or anything, or goes dark, the audio simply just does not come through the speakers.

i had originally thought that it might be a problem with the aftermarket subwoofer i had installed in my trunk, via a high to low converter to obtain the bass signal. but this past week there was a problem with the power wire that ran to the high to low converter/sub amp and the "bass system" was inoperable. yet the stereo, at high volumes still continued to cut out at random intervals. once this happens, if you turn the stereo off for about five minutes, and then try again to play music, if youre lucky, itll start playing again.



someone please help me...i had originally blamed it on either faulty installation or parts re: aftermarket sub and high to low converter, but now im thinking that my head unit is faulty and that it cuts out due to high output.

has anyone else experienced this particular problem, whether or not they have an aftermarket sub and amp?

AND if i try and bring my car to Scion to have the hed unit replaced, are they gonna give me poop and say that the sub caused it to happen, thus voiding my warranty, and necessitating me to purchase a new head unit on an 07 with 2500 miles on it?

ANY INFO WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED!!!

 

Does the issue only happen under that condition?

 

i believe so...not necessarily turned up to 100 percent volume, but when its cranked.

and im thinking now that its unrelated to the high to low converter, since the whole kicker and amp was disabled due to a blown fuse for a couple of days...in the meantime, when i was cranking the stereo, the audio would quit for a while as well, even without the bass amp hooked up.


at lesser volumes, i have yet to experience a problem. but who the hell wants to drive around at lesser volumes? haha

 

ive noticed that when i come to a stop, (using the brake lights) that the entire sound system will get noticeably quieter. then when i accelerate again, the sound level returns to the louder original volume.

is that normal or does anyone think my HU is defective?

 

your radio has a feature that makes it louder while driving to block out road noises, that much is normal.

 

just restore it back to stock, see the problem persists, if it does, take it back to the dealership and hopefully they won't notice that you had a sub hooked up to it.

 

Yeah it's called ASL and if you push the volume **** and cycle through the options, you can turn it off. With the sub, I have mine turned off. As far as the other issue, I have no idea.

 

thanks i was wondering what the hell that ASL meant.


lol back in the day on AOL . ASL? meant age/sex/location hahaha

 

I would think it is the deck. Sounds like whatever it is using to power the speakers is overheating. Just like when an amp overheats, it cuts off but the radio still continues going.

 

^ That's what I was thinking. His HU's chip amp may be overheating, then coming back on once it cools down.

Patient: "Doctor, it hurts when I do this"
Doctor: "Don't do that. Problem solved"

The stock HU distorts when cranked up that high, and since that's the only time this problem occurs, the solution is to not turn it up so high. If you want it that loud, then get an aftermarket amp to power your mids & highs, don't use the HU power. With the gains set correctly you then wouldn't need to turn the volume up so high on the HU, and with no load on it's internal amp, I'd bet the issue would go away.

My front speakers are running off a small 25wpc amp, and it's both louder and cleaner with the HU at 30, then it was with the HU at 40 when I was using it's internal amp.