[ksVolt2017]

This is hard to explain. I was driving to get groceries and I heard something that sounded like static or white noise. I couldn’t identify it. I shut off the radio and it sounds like when I hit bumps there is random noise coming from the passenger side speakers. I can’t tell if it’s front or rear. Has anyone had anything remotely like this happen and if so, any solutions?

 

[Steverino]

Something dragging under the car?

 

[ksVolt2017]

Something dragging under the car?

Nope. It’s definitely coming from the speakers.

 

[voltreg]

Do you also hear it when the unit is in aux input mode? It could be one of the speaker amps going intermittent. No simple fix for that.

 

[ksVolt2017]

Do you also hear it when the unit is in aux input mode? It could be one of the speaker amps going intermittent. No simple fix for that.

I haven’t tried input or Bluetooth or anything else yet. Good idea. I do think it’s a speaker that has gone bad. So basically just replacing the speaker right?

 

[voltreg]

It is not likely a speaker. Speakers buzz like angry hornets when the voice coil drags the magnet gap. Power must be applied before one would hear that. The problem is more likely in the infotainment unit as it is reported to make noise when no audio is applied to the speakers. Likely a bad connection on a circuit board or a failing capacitor.

 

[ksVolt2017]

It is not likely a speaker. Speakers buzz like angry hornets when the voice coil drags the magnet gap. Power must be applied before one would hear that. The problem is more likely in the infotainment unit as it is reported to make noise when no audio is applied to the speakers. Likely a bad connection on a circuit board or a failing capacitor.

Then why only going to one speaker?

 

[voltreg]

The infotainment unit either has separate internal amplifiers (except sub woofer) or you you could be right if the speaker has an attached amplifier on each speaker. I've never dug into the infotainment system configuration on the Volt. I'm going on past car audio experience. Someone else who has pulled a speaker could offer more insight.

If the speaker does have an attached amp the signal trace would be to see if the noise is present coming from the head unit into the attached speaker amp. If the noise is not there...the problem would be the attached speaker amp and not the head unit.

 

[wmtunate]

Each speaker is driven from a separate amplifier channel. That's the only way you'd be able to accomplish balance and fade correctly. Something intermittent on that particular amp channel could be causing the problem.

 

[Gray17LT]

Not to hijack the thread, but this begs the question, when these components start to fail, what's the best bet for someone with experience to rebuild them? Looks like pretty much nothing can be swapped with aftermarket.