Distortion at higher volume

[o4aveohb]

I have a Dual headunit and pioneer speakers all around, and recently at about 30 and higher the music gets really distorted, almost to the point of it being static, 46 is the highest on my headunit so 30 is somewhat loud. I used to play my unit at 40+ occasionally and it would play perfect but this is a recent problem, any guesses to what it could be? I may try to check and see if any wires are touching each other tomorrow but they shouldnt be, I wrapped all of them, the speakers never had a burning smell or anything and the speakers are 4 years old, the head unit is about 2 years old, I hope its not time for new speakers...

[Aveo07z]

Check your RMS on your speakers... if you are distorting chances are (oddly enough) that you are pushing more than what your speakers can handle. My suggestion is to replace your speakers with something higher end...maybe one of the audio guys can confirm this.

[mikedudley17]

turn the bass down?

[genefitz]

Check your speaker wires. Most likely a short.

[o4aveohb]

It never happened before so I doubt it deals with RMS, and the bass is down fairly low, I don't listen to anything that needs a lot of bass. I'm checking the wires in the morning, I guess behind the head unit and at the actual speakers. If everything else fails I guess this gives me a reason to get some alpines or infinity's.

[ruby]

check what ohms your speakers are at, then see what your head unit says about what ohms speakers to use with that unit.

[genefitz]

Okie,

If the speakers have been used with the stereo before, there are only a couple possible answers. Speaker wires are fouled (shorted), you have connected the speaker wires backwards (cross phased), the speakers are crapped out, or the head unit is fouled.
What you need to check:
If you have a multimeter, or have access to one, check the continuity between the speaker cables. (+) - (+), (-) - (-), (+) - (-), and all to ground. This will check your speaker wires.
Do a resistance check of your speakers. Should be 3.5 - 4.5 ohms (speaker resistance is never perfectly 4 ohms).
If your wires check out, and your speakers check out, make sure your wires at the back of the radio are in correctly and that you don't have the polarity crossed on one of them (+) or (-). If just one of your speakers is reverse phased, it throws the internal amp for a loop and you get horribly distorted sound.
Try fading the stereo forward to aft, at high volume, then left to right. If it starts clearing up when you do that, then a speaker is out of phase.
If everything is well, no issues in any of these parts, then it is time to get your radio checked or replaced.

DO NOT replace anything until you have checked everything.

Work smart, not hard, and keep what money you can.

Hope this helps.