Did i just blow my stereo?

[Shuvi McTupya]

I am not sure if i have screwed up, today i was updating the crappy old (original) sound system in an old Peugeot 206.
I put a new (cheap Sony) head unit in and new front speakers the other day but the rear speakers only arrived today.
As i was installing the rear speakers (just as i cut the wires to the old ones) , The stereo made a beeping sound ..I had figured that as it was turned off and the key was not in the ignition I didn't need to worry about it.
So, i finished installing the speakers and then turned everything on and had lost the radio presets which suggested to me i might have made the Sony st itself somehow.
I Then took the car out for a spin and the stereo works but it just doesn't sound very good at volume which is a bit disappointing so i thought i would take it out and put the original head unit back in and test that with the new speakers.

The original Head unit (Clarion) sounds better than the new Sony Head unit, and the Sony unit was REALLY hot when i took it out!
The Sony stereo is bottom of the line unit (Sony DSX-A200UI) and is reported to be 55w x 4 but at high volume the sound just falls apart. (and it gets hotter than the sun)

So for now at least, I guess I am sticking with the original Clarion Head Unit and might keep my eye out for something a bit better than the cheap Sony unit (that i may have blown something in!)

I would appreciate your thoughts on whether you agree that i may have blown something in the Sony, or whether the clarion is actually better equipment and needs less wattage to produce a nice sound, or both

[Shuvi McTupya]

I now suspect that as you say, cheap Sony head unit is cheap.

To be honest the replacement speakers are not the greatest either , I was trying not to spend real money and the rear speakers are only 10cm so there is practically no bass at all Coming from them.
The front speakers are 6.5 inch and I am wondering if I should just look for some bass woofers to go in the front doors and get all the high and mid range from the rear speakers..

I was pretty careful about getting the phase correct and they all seem to be working and he original head unit has no trouble remembering presets so I think if I blew something it was inside the Sony.

What I was really amazed by though was the heat of the thing when I removed it, I literally dropped it it like a hot potato. Then again I have never removed a stereo shortly after running it at volume for twenty minutes so maybe they all do that..

[Shuvi McTupya]

Spanglepants said:

Probably no help to you but does the Sony wire up exactly as the old Clarion did?
I remember my old Alpine units had the red and yellow wire the opposite way round to the previous units?

As you say, I had to swap the red and yellow wired in order to get the stereo to remember stuff when I installed it, but after the beeping it for hot everything again. I assume I activated a protection circuit or something by snipping the 'live' speaker wires.

[Shuvi McTupya]

Thanks very much for that!

The car is a 2006 and I did get exactly the symptoms you describe after switching the red and yellow wires to get the new head unit to retain its station memory.

I have now gone back to the original head unit as it sounds as good as the new one plus it means my control stalk still works but I might try another head unit at some point and will refer back to your post if I do.