Distorted or missing speakers on Alpine stereo. Known Issue!
Discussion
Today I have finally managed to resolve a very long standing issue with the Alpine Premium Stereo in our V8V.
It used to distort on nuggety roads above say 50mph and has done it since new in Sept 2006.
Since then the car has been looked at numerous times by Lancaster Sevenoaks, Works Service and last year at DMS. I dare not think how many £1000s of warranty work have been lavished on trying to resolve it.
Just before DMS went pop, Rick suggested I spoke with James (ex Paralight, now Trackaphone) who is something of a guru.
Within about 5 minutes of chatting with James he said "it sounds just like a known issue with the Bluetooth switching module". This has a relay in a metal box that apparently
James kindly sent me a bypass harness which I finally got round to putting in today. It has transformed the sound.
If you have a Vantage with a Bluetooth kit in it there is a very good chance that you are getting the same issue, which to my ears was deplorable.
I've included some photos of the strip down and location of the switching module.
Photo showing location of cover plate in passenger footwell.
Photo showing cover plate removed and footwell fuse box. The switching module is very bottom of the apperture
Better photo of the switcher module
Photo down onto switcher module showing connector (which is actually to the LHS in the car)
Photo showing the connector removed from the switcher module
and plugged into the bypass harness
To get the module out there are 2 x 10mm AF nuts at the top edge, 1 x 10mm AF nut onto the transmission tunnel, 2 Torx screws on the left hand side onto the door pillar and 3 torx screws into the floor.
With some jiggling about you can pull the cover out of the way.
Which reveals the box. This is removed with a 10mm AF socket and an 8mm AF socket for the deeper one.
The offending box
I've dis-assembled the box. The relay is definately faulty. It has a contact resistance of about 0.3 ohms, unless you tap it when it goes up to 5 or 10 ohms. Piece of crap.
James has designed a new improved box that he builds and supplies Aston with. That is not susceptible to the same issue.
As another alternative the relay in the existing unit should be interchangeable with a Finder relay. Best part number looks like 55.14.9.012.5.0.0.1 which has gold contacts and is "wash proof" so should be less prone to damp issues.
I've road tested the car with the bypass harness in place and the stereo is a revelation. The new box is not prone to condensation and not being hard-mounted to the car by screws I expect will exhibit less jangling of the relay contacts.
I cannot recommend James enough.
What amazes me is that even with the inclusion of Gaydons specialist on the stereo, who collected the car from me for one of its many visits to Works Service to have this looked at, this issue was not picked up.
They have replaced at considerable cost the head unit, the amplifier, checked over the supply wiring numerous times and yet have failed to pick up on a known issue.
I'm staggered! But very happy that the issue finally looks like it will be resolved.
Seriously if you have a vantage with a Bluetooth kit and the sound is less than perfect get the switching box changed out. It's not expensive and transforms things.
It used to distort on nuggety roads above say 50mph and has done it since new in Sept 2006.
Since then the car has been looked at numerous times by Lancaster Sevenoaks, Works Service and last year at DMS. I dare not think how many £1000s of warranty work have been lavished on trying to resolve it.
Just before DMS went pop, Rick suggested I spoke with James (ex Paralight, now Trackaphone) who is something of a guru.
Within about 5 minutes of chatting with James he said "it sounds just like a known issue with the Bluetooth switching module". This has a relay in a metal box that apparently
James kindly sent me a bypass harness which I finally got round to putting in today. It has transformed the sound.
If you have a Vantage with a Bluetooth kit in it there is a very good chance that you are getting the same issue, which to my ears was deplorable.
I've included some photos of the strip down and location of the switching module.
Photo showing location of cover plate in passenger footwell.
Photo showing cover plate removed and footwell fuse box. The switching module is very bottom of the apperture
Better photo of the switcher module
Photo down onto switcher module showing connector (which is actually to the LHS in the car)
Photo showing the connector removed from the switcher module
and plugged into the bypass harness
To get the module out there are 2 x 10mm AF nuts at the top edge, 1 x 10mm AF nut onto the transmission tunnel, 2 Torx screws on the left hand side onto the door pillar and 3 torx screws into the floor.
With some jiggling about you can pull the cover out of the way.
Which reveals the box. This is removed with a 10mm AF socket and an 8mm AF socket for the deeper one.
The offending box
I've dis-assembled the box. The relay is definately faulty. It has a contact resistance of about 0.3 ohms, unless you tap it when it goes up to 5 or 10 ohms. Piece of crap.
James has designed a new improved box that he builds and supplies Aston with. That is not susceptible to the same issue.
As another alternative the relay in the existing unit should be interchangeable with a Finder relay. Best part number looks like 55.14.9.012.5.0.0.1 which has gold contacts and is "wash proof" so should be less prone to damp issues.
I've road tested the car with the bypass harness in place and the stereo is a revelation. The new box is not prone to condensation and not being hard-mounted to the car by screws I expect will exhibit less jangling of the relay contacts.
I cannot recommend James enough.
What amazes me is that even with the inclusion of Gaydons specialist on the stereo, who collected the car from me for one of its many visits to Works Service to have this looked at, this issue was not picked up.
They have replaced at considerable cost the head unit, the amplifier, checked over the supply wiring numerous times and yet have failed to pick up on a known issue.
I'm staggered! But very happy that the issue finally looks like it will be resolved.
Seriously if you have a vantage with a Bluetooth kit and the sound is less than perfect get the switching box changed out. It's not expensive and transforms things.
Edited by peterr96 on Saturday 10th March 20:18
Edited by peterr96 on Monday 12th March 08:03
I raised a query on the forum some months ago.
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
I should add that the situation had become even worse than I described with left and right speakers periodically reducing in volume or disappearing altogether.
Given that Rick was unaware of this issue I assume that this never became the subject of a bulletin. Could someone establish that?
As already stated James has designed a replacement changeover box for AM which is a valid retrofit for any pro MY07 and earlier cars. Any replacement from AM will have been supplied by him and will not look like the green box in my photo.
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
I should add that the situation had become even worse than I described with left and right speakers periodically reducing in volume or disappearing altogether.
Given that Rick was unaware of this issue I assume that this never became the subject of a bulletin. Could someone establish that?
As already stated James has designed a replacement changeover box for AM which is a valid retrofit for any pro MY07 and earlier cars. Any replacement from AM will have been supplied by him and will not look like the green box in my photo.
I seem to be having a similar problem, although mine affects the rear speakers. Because of this, I'm not convinced that your solution would work for me. However, depending on the cost, it may be a good idea to try replacing the bluetooth module first. The alternative is replacing the amplifier at a cost of $1200 installed. What is the cost of the replacement module, and how does one go about ordering one?
brumma said:
I seem to be having a similar problem, although mine affects the rear speakers. Because of this, I'm not convinced that your solution would work for me. However, depending on the cost, it may be a good idea to try replacing the bluetooth module first. The alternative is replacing the amplifier at a cost of $1200 installed. What is the cost of the replacement module, and how does one go about ordering one?
I don't believe the rear speaker feeds pass through the switcher module. Sorry I don't think that was the answer you were looking for!brumma said:
I seem to be having a similar problem, although mine affects the rear speakers. Because of this, I'm not convinced that your solution would work for me. However, depending on the cost, it may be a good idea to try replacing the bluetooth module first. The alternative is replacing the amplifier at a cost of $1200 installed. What is the cost of the replacement module, and how does one go about ordering one?
Just a thought but do you have the Dolby Surround turned on? If so the processed signal sent to the rears may not sound great when listened to without the fronts so it's worth testing it with surround switched off to check.I think surround is enabled separately per source so that could also explain why the issue is not always present?
Does any one know if this also relates to the standard radio, as mine in addition to poor reception over 50 has now started dropping sound form one of the front speakers?
Or if anyone knows where I can get hold of a harness to by pass the faulty part noted at the start of the thread?
Or if anyone knows where I can get hold of a harness to by pass the faulty part noted at the start of the thread?
Edited by dig123 on Sunday 21st June 18:49
Edited by dig123 on Sunday 21st June 18:49
dig123 said:
Does any one know if this also relates to the standard radio, as mine in addition to poor reception over 50 has now started dropping sound form one of the front speakers?
Or if anyone knows where I can get hold of a harness to by pass the faulty part noted at the start of the thread?
Hello Dig,Or if anyone knows where I can get hold of a harness to by pass the faulty part noted at the start of the thread?
Edited by dig123 on Sunday 21st June 18:49
Edited by dig123 on Sunday 21st June 18:49
How many would you like??
Best regards,
James
Hi James
Only one. I have been pondering the sound problem and first noticed when driving over 50 the sound quality was poor. Then as I hardly ever use the Bluetooth, no one calls me in the car poor mic and got fed up with the nices lady telling me "Phone one ready" so switched Bluetooth off on phone and that was when I noticed the the passenger speaker was not working. So I was going to see what happens if I put the bluetooth on the phone back on and see if the passenger speaker worked ok. Was looking to see if there was a way of switching of the Bluetooth on the car I guess possibly removing the fuse. But I had also seen a thread re tracker causing interference.
I see from various threads that the radio is not brilliant but should be better than it is.
So the isolation of the Bluetooth may be an easy starting point if you know where I can get hold of a harness.
Thanks
Only one. I have been pondering the sound problem and first noticed when driving over 50 the sound quality was poor. Then as I hardly ever use the Bluetooth, no one calls me in the car poor mic and got fed up with the nices lady telling me "Phone one ready" so switched Bluetooth off on phone and that was when I noticed the the passenger speaker was not working. So I was going to see what happens if I put the bluetooth on the phone back on and see if the passenger speaker worked ok. Was looking to see if there was a way of switching of the Bluetooth on the car I guess possibly removing the fuse. But I had also seen a thread re tracker causing interference.
I see from various threads that the radio is not brilliant but should be better than it is.
So the isolation of the Bluetooth may be an easy starting point if you know where I can get hold of a harness.
Thanks
Edited by dig123 on Thursday 25th June 14:54
If it has the whip antenna on the back of the roof, then the radio should be pretty good.
One quick way of testing the speaker switch relay is to get the radio playing then sit in the passenger seat and stamp sharply on the floor. If it is the relay then the errant speaker should come back to life. If the relay needs replacing then I can build one for you as I did for Peter a while ago.
If you need decent bluetooth, I can replace it and keep use of the steering wheel controls, if you wish. Far better audio quality as well.
PM me with your address and I can send the loop if you would still like it.
Best regards,
James
One quick way of testing the speaker switch relay is to get the radio playing then sit in the passenger seat and stamp sharply on the floor. If it is the relay then the errant speaker should come back to life. If the relay needs replacing then I can build one for you as I did for Peter a while ago.
If you need decent bluetooth, I can replace it and keep use of the steering wheel controls, if you wish. Far better audio quality as well.
PM me with your address and I can send the loop if you would still like it.
Best regards,
James
Un paired my phone which improved the speakers when over 50, re paired the phone problem came back loss of passenger speaker over 50 and poor sound ok at low speeds. Un paired the phone speaker problem remains, switched the car off and left it for a bit si if this clears the problem. alos tested this with the CD and radio same problem wiht both so I guess not poor reception.
Need to try banging on the floor to se if that impacts on the speakers.
James sent you a PM re harness.
Need to try banging on the floor to se if that impacts on the speakers.
James sent you a PM re harness.
Edited by dig123 on Thursday 25th June 15:10
Well all working again.Thanks to everybody for the great pics and James for advice.Thought I'd see if the unit was repairable easily.After removal of the footwall plates I deconstructed the unit and replaced the relay with a finders one.(I must admit that having a step son in r&d electronics was helpful in desoldering and resoldering!) Tried it without reassembly of the footwall first.Ye hah.Perfect.Now to put it back together when the rain stops.A new switch unit was over £130 from Aston.1 relay 2transistors a couple of diodes & 5resistors.I don't like being ripped of.This would have cost a couple of dollars to make in China where it came from.I have been informed that to design & manufacture from scratch including all time this could be done for about£ 120.A disgraceful mark up from AM.
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