No Stereo For Years

[Bigshankhank]

Probably 4 years ago my factory (non-JBL) stereo stopped putting out sound. It still powers on, all the buttons work, just no sound. I stuck a Bluetooth speaker in there and just listen to podcasts and internet radio anyway so no huge sacrifice. However I find myself carrying more passengers lately and I suppose my solo speaker act will have to go and get the OEM system working again.
I recall reading back when this first happened that if a speaker goes bad, the factory amp shuts down to protect itself thereby killing the sound. Ok, interesting if true. Is this BS or is the straight truth?
IF the above is true, how do I diagnose the bad speaker? Working on cars is my jam, I’ve pulled door panels and cards for speaker upgrades before but not being a genuine wiring technician my experience was always unplug the old/plug in the new and move on. Is there a simple way to do this without opening up every body panel one at a time to check the speaker? If that’s the way, so be it, but if it can be avoided I’d prefer to.
If the above is not true, despite having been written on the internet, what’s the best way to diagnose this? I’m not an audiophile so I don’t need to be measuring stuff in ohms, although I would like to replace the head unit with something Bluetooth compatible. But again if I can get away with a cheap fix that’s all I’m shooting for.
Thanks for the insight.

 

[Seymore Butts]

I have no idea if what you read is correct, but you can test the bad speaker theory by unplugging them one at a time to see if the rest start working again.

 

[Bigshankhank]

Does this require removing the door cards, or the head unit?

 

[Seymore Butts]

You have to remove each door panel to reach the speaker in it.

 

[Bigshankhank]

You have to remove each door panel to reach the speaker in it.

That’s what I was afraid of, doing it the hard way.
I appreciate the help.

 

[Ripper238]

That amp is tucked away in the back passenger side.

I tried to keep my stock head unit but the amount of work needed to get things right i just replaced the whole audio system.

 

[Bigshankhank]

Doing a little more research apparently there is something about how the speakers in the doors are wired in series with the tweeters and if a speaker goes bad it shuts down all the speakers (there is no amp in the base model SR5 stereo).

 

[TLar25]

This is interesting, my 2004 GX470 has been without audio for about a year and a half now. Same symptoms, power works, everything appears to function as it should be with the head unit, but no sound. I assumed maybe the amp went out, but I do recall hearing a popping noise right when the audio quit working. So maybe it was a speaker blowing?

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[Cthesandman]

Hi everyone,. I've had a similar issue ever since I replaced the alternator and add a new battery(was due for a new battery anyways). I also had a crackly from speaker previous. Not a huge music/bass guy, so was never much of a concern for me. 2003 SR5 V8, seems to have sport options and the JBL synthesis system.

Had replaced the head unit about 3 years ago with a Kenwood ddx9904, and harnesses all the way including what was needed to make the steering wheel controls work.

Haven't had sound now for about 2 months. Also figured it was the amp, but there doesn't seem to be any way to really test it (other than maybe take it to a car audio shop). I pulled it and opened it up and can't see anything burnt. There should be power to it as I checked the blue/blue-white wires to it and they had 12.8V. (someone else had an issue where they got fused somehow.) Someone suggested to try pulling one speaker at at time, and then do the 9V battery check on each one? Tried that on both front doors and they seemed fine. Otherwise I'd assume it's a dead amp unless I pull the head unit and find a loose/defective plug.

Anyone else have any experience. Yes I know the tweeters/speakers in the front doors are component, but seems odd that the whole system would have no sound if just one leg died.

Pulling the head today to see if there's an issue there. Thx

Cheers
Chris in Canada.

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