AUDIO: No sound from Tweets, Doors and Rear

T

tomrdy

Member
 Sydney, Australia
I'm not an audiophile by any measure of the stick so it took me a while to notice that only the kicker panel speakers L/R work in the entire car.

I believe I have the 10 speaker set up.

I have checked the looms on both end (headunit and amp) and they look fine seated no problem.

Observations:

- Setting to Aux and turning the volume to max, I can hear soft static from the non-functioning speakers
- Setting the fade to the back stops all sound (as the kickers are the only ones working).
- Headunit works 100% fine. CD changer works 100%.
- I played a ranged audio clip from Youtube and heard nothing from the said, non-functioning speakers.
- Fuse in Amp looks fine

I am suspecting that the amp is damaged as a while back I spilled some (a lot actually) of water into my boot from an open bottle and it all pooled into the battery/amp well. However, I don't remember if they were working before that or not as I never took notice.

Questions:

- Besides finding a new amp and just plugging it in, is there any other way I can diagnose this a bit more accurately? Would it be worth opening up the amp and see if there are any fried bits?

Thanks!
 
Almost certainly will be the amp. Yes, open it up by all means. Plenty of them have been water damaged in the past. I’m an electronics engineer so may be able to repair for you.
 
Thanks mate I'll venture to have a looksie inside then!

I'd love the help fixing it if it turns out to be the amp but I think you may be a tad too far away :(

First steps first though, cracking it open :evil:
 
ph001 said:
Yeh, pop some pics up when you get into it.
Click to expand...

Thanks mate appreciate if you can take a digital look :thumbsup:

Took the amp out and checked RealOEM - now I know why the bracket never fit properly... they're mismatched!

Jp1avp7.jpg

FFxiJRN.jpg

The amp I have appears to be the DSP version, but my bracket is from the non-DSP.

SLq4Th3.jpg

Logic suggests to me that the AMP may be mismatched to the car as its most likely that the amp died, and the previous owner sourced a used one from a yard. Could this be the cause of the speakers not working since the Head unit may be mismatched? As mentioned before, I actually never noticed whether the speakers were working or not in the last couple of years (I know don't judge me!) :headbang: .

From what I can tell with my limited knowledge, there doesn't appear to be any shorted bits (burnt marks/corrosion etc)... but I'm not quite sure beyond that what I would look for.

Pics:

H3BI8ne.jpg

Auj5hmJ.jpg

Let me know if you want any close ups of any components!
 
Mismatch seems a bit weird! From memory the top dsp system sends line level audio to the amp optically whereas the lower systems don’t so you may be into something there. That would only make sense if the kick panel speakers were driven direct from the head unit though. Do the front speakers still work with the amp removed? Certainly doesn’t look like any obvious water damage in those pics.
 
ph001 said:
That would only make sense if the kick panel speakers were driven direct from the head unit though. Do the front speakers still work with the amp removed?
Click to expand...

Unfortunately (for diagnosis) the kick panels do not work with the amp removed so that may kill the theory that the amp is mismatched.

Also from what I looked up yesterday, there are 3 audio set ups in the Z - Standard, HiFi and Top HiFi. Standard is 6 speaker and the other 2 are both 10 with DSP. Based on the fact I have 10 speakers, perhaps the amp is the original and the bracket was the bit that was "replaced" though that seems super odd but not the strangest thing I've found on my car!

A friend of mine had a look over the board as well and the only potential sign of damage he could deduce are these bubbly bits on some of the chips:

5HEufkR.jpg

Certainly not sure but could be shorting/overheating causing some surface de-lamination?

I also found later that the 2 x thermal paste/tape pieces on the back of the board were damp to touch.
 
The coating on those chips is called conformal cost... a bit like a lacquer to give protection from moisture. Nothing untoward there.
 
ph001 said:
a bit like a lacquer to give protection from moisture.
Click to expand...

Well if they did their job we wouldn't be in this situation!! :rofl:

Do you still think the most likely culprit - even without obvious signs of damage - would be the amp ?
 
I think the amp is the most likely yes, but it doesn’t look water damaged from those images. If you want to post it to my company I can have a poke around some of the key components for free if you like. PM me.
 
ph001 said:
....oh, I just noticed you’re in Australia!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the offer though! Had I not been I'd definitely have taken you up on that.

I've put the amp back in for the time being. Lucky for me the kicker panels are supposedly capable of full range so at least I can still listen to something - hell I've probably been listening this way for the last 4 years :rofl:
 
Put you vin though an online decoder to get the spec of your car. At least then you’ll know if you have the correct amp. I think more likely wrong amp than wrong bracket.
 
srhutch said:
Put you vin though an online decoder to get the spec of your car. At least then you’ll know if you have the correct amp. I think more likely wrong amp than wrong bracket.
Click to expand...

Good idea! Just checked it and my car is fitted with:

"S676A HiFi speaker system"

Based on RealOEM if I'm reading this correctly (both Amps are labelled as no.1... but I googled the PNs), my amp may really be mismatched!

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showparts?id=BT53-USA-04-2004-E85-BMW-Z4_30i&diagId=65_1209

it would definitely be the most likely scenario!
 
i have not. Ever since i removed the heat shield and had no success, Ive just been putting up with the sound. I dont hear it too often since i usually have music playing.
 
UPDATE:

All 10 speakers working now :D

Grabbed an amp from an E46 as suggested by some other threads. For future info, this amp worked for my 10 speaker system (NOT the DSP version/Top HiFi).

ehRCf6J.jpg

Owner at the BMW part-out shop has an E85 with a swapped in S54. Second time I've met a fellow Z4 owner and his name was also Tom :o
 
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