I have an issue with my speakers, when I turn the system up to a certain level they start crackling and distorting. This has happened all of a sudden, speakers and whole system has been working fine for a year, I have checked earth and most other connections I can get to without pulling the head deck out. I'm running four 6" splits off a head deck, not sure if this is advisable or whether it could be the problem, but the thing is it was all working fine before. Let me know if you have some tips. Cheers.

chances... uve blown the speakers...

All of them at the exact same time?

I doubt that the speakers have gone and unless you've moved wiring lately, I also doubt it is a grounding issue however check in the following order (unless your amps are easy to get to, then check connections/grounds first)... Firstly, check the bitrate of the songs you're playing? Does it only do it on certain songs/cd's etc? If bitrate is all 192kbps minimum then that isn't the issue. Secondly, are you able to isolate the crackling to one particular speaker? If you're able to determine where the noise is coming from and it's not due to a poor bitrate then have a close listen to your tweeter of the pinpointed component since the tweeter is generally the first to go... Lastly, if the above doesn't help then you will need to check all earth points, all amp connections etc... Between all this you should be able to fix your problem!

Thanks for that WNTDVQ... Happens with all songs, so that's checked off. Although it seems to happen at a lower volume if there's more bass in the song. But I'm pretty sure the bitrate is fine. It's happening with all four speakers, but not with the subs. If I use the fader each speaker can independently reach much higher volume without distorting, but as a whole unit as soon as it hits a certain volume then the crackling/distortion starts. I will have a look at all the connections, I rewired the amp and subs the other day and they're working fine so I'll turn my attention to the head deck loom... I'll let you know if it works... thanks again

No problems. In that case, your HU is clipping (in short, the speakers are drawing too much from the HU) and you should look into getting another power supply (amp) for the speakers. What are the specifications of your speakers and HU?

hmmm i am having the same sort of problem with my setup.....when i bought my vl it already had a sound system and it sounded good just the head deck was crap and the sub was really old so i decided to change the head deck and sub.. after i put it all in i have now found that when i turn my volume past 20 all of the speakers are crackily and whenever the sub goes off all of the speakers go really distorted and muffled.....i cant work it out as the speakers and sub are running off different amps!!! this weekend i am going to redo all of the wiring int he car and try to find out what is going on....if i have any luck i will let you know..

Yeah that's exactly what I would suggest, I just cut and reconnected all the speaker/amp remote wires from the back of the HU and problem solved. So I'm not 100% sure what the deal was but something there was creating issues. Thanks heaps for the help mate, as for the HU it's 4x50 and I'm not sure about the ratings for the speakers but they aren't high end speakers or anything. The two on the back shelf are like cheapo Sony ones that were in the car when I got it, and the ones in the front are AVO's that I got for sale bout a year back which aren't great either. Haha not very impressive but hey I'm not trying to win any sound competitions, they do the job fine for me. Thanks again.