I recently replaced an aftermarket head unit in my 87 300TD with another aftermarket unit and have encountered an odd (to me) problem. The sound from the original speakers is quite good, however when the volume is turned up a bit (medium high or above) the sound stutters. If a CD is playing the stutter will sometimes cause the unit to restart as if its just being turned on. The problem happens mostly with CD's, but will occassionally happen when the radio is playing. Also, it seems the problem coincides with strong drum beats or thumping bass. It does not happen with all music types or talk radio, just songs with stronger percussion.

At first I thought the head unit was faulty, but now I'm thinking it could be a problem with the head unit driving the speakers. For what it's worth, I recently acquired this vehicle so I don't know if this problem existed with the old head unit.

Any thoughts?

I think the speakers are distorting? Meaning it cant produce those frequencies properly due to their tiny size and the stock mountings for them dont allow the lower frequency percussions to be heard due to no enclosures.

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99 C43
98 S420
99 C230K
01 C240

Thanks for the reply. Are you suggesting the lower frequencies would be inaudible or that all sound would be interrupted? In my case the sound (all sound) actually skips as if the power is temporarily interrupted. At times it has caused the readout on the display to restart as if the unit is being powered up initially. When I lower the volume all sound comes through fine but as I increase it there is a tipping point where the sound, and display, begins to flicker. This occurs at a lower volume for CD's than the radio.

What year and what model...If you are going thru a factory fader you may need to bypass it...

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83 300CDTurbo 307,000
2005 Honda Element 266,000
56 Nash Ambassador Country Club Special 34,000(under restoration presently)

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/car-audio-multimedia/125099-123-install-extreme-dynamat.html

It's a 1987 300TD. Can I check to see if the fader is still connected by simply rolling the wheel and determining if the sound changes? If the fader is connected can I cut the wires that lead to the speakers from the fader and connect to them at the fader location or do I need to direct wire from the head unit to the speakers?