Help troubleshooting car stereo speaker problem

[Luke]

Maybe the surrounds rotted on the rears? On my 99 Neon that I had, both front speakers rotted from dampness getting in the doors. They were like that when I bought the car. On my 00 Beetle, both rears rotted out for some unknown reason too.

I was thinking the same. Wet or dry rot can happen in only a few years if your car isn't always in a garage. Mother nature hates speakers with a vicious passion.

If I was having the same issue, here is exactly what I would do:

Drive to an audio shop or even a Best Buy and mention you are interested in rear speakers for your car, but would like to hear them in your car first because you are a bit finicky. I'd say something close to "I don't want you to waste your time by fully installing them, but I would like you to at least hook up the rear speakers so I can hear what to expect".

In my experience, the guys in the audio shop enjoy this kind of stuff as it only takes a minute or two and they LOVE to troubleshoot. They share your common interest of being an audiophile and are usually more than happy to help.

Best of luck Ziggers.

[Ziggy]

Well yeah, the speakers are as old as the car, which is a 99. And this is NY, so cold winters and hot humid summers. But they visibly look fine, the cones aren't warped or torn or anything. And even with cone damage, they'd likely still put out sound, even if a garbled mess, as oppose to being dead silent. So I just find it weird.



But I've already tested it out, I attached a spare speaker and it worked fine. So I know the deck and wiring is all OK, it's just that the speakers are dead.



I've already decided: I'm definitely replacing all four speakers. I'm just debating if I wanna install an amp or not. I keep going back and fourth from "Just install the speakers and see how they are first without the amp, you may be fine with it" to "Fuck it, you know they'll always sound better with the amp. Just get the amp and be done."

I mean, I know it's easy to say install the new speakers first and see how they sound. If you feel you want more, THEN add an amp. Sounds smart. But then I think, if I decide down the road to get an amp then I'll have to pull the car apart again to install it. If I install the amp with the speakers, I'll be able to do it all in one shot.