I have a general stereo question. The right front speaker crackles when I start my 2016 RDX and then the speaker doesn't work (all other speakers work fine). Is this an indication of a bad speaker, or an issue with the head unit? I replaced my speakers (with Infiniti's) when I bought the vehicle and have another set but wanted to check here to see if the head unit may be the issue. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

crackling and no sound may indicate it is a blown speaker...pull it and replace it...if the replacement works, you now know it's a bad speaker

 

Or lose/poor connections. I do hope you used wiring adapters. They plug into the factory connector and then have flat stake ons for the speaker.
Dirt cheap. Like $8.00-$12.00 depending on where you get them. way cheaper than having a short fry the electronics.
Metra lists the 72-7800 as compatible. But is does kind of depend on the model.
(this should always be disclosed)
The RDX has separate boxes for noise reduction, amps etc. there are threads on here showing locations.

 

Thank you both for the response. I did some further checking and both my front speakers are out. The front center channel still works fine, as do the rear channels. Also, my head unit used to beep with an audible tone when I switched radio channels and changed pre-sets and now there is no tone (I checked the setting and it shows that tones are turned on). I can swap the front speakers out, but I'm not sure this will fix the issue. This seems more serious than a speaker issue, can you help with your thoughts? Thanks again, I really appreciate the input.

 

the only way to figure it out is to tear into it....

you said you replaced the speakers before, maybe egads is onto something...perhaps the wiring came loose.

if the amp were bad or head unit were bad, then I would think the rear speakers and center channel wouldnt work either...
but again, you would have to dive in to test.

 

Thank you all for the feedback. I dug into the issue prepared to swap out the speakers and found that on of the speaker cables was pinched to hard between the speaker bracket and the door. Once I move things around the sound came back from both front speakers. I got lucky and found the issue fairly quickly once I started troubleshooting the issue. Thanks again for the help!

 

glad you took it apart to find the crimp in the wiring!!

 

CDW - Glad it was an easy fix. How hard was it to replace the front passenger speaker? I get the classic "bass rattle" in my 2017 Tech even though the bass level is only at +1. Only happens with songs that have a heavy bass but I'm sure at some point I will get annoyed with it.

Thanks

 

difficulty is based off experience, ie; if one has removed door panels/speakers before then it will be relatively easy.
if one has never messed with door panels, then it may prove quite challenging.

as all cars are put together the same way for many decades.

 

@dtownfb sorry for the delay in response. As mentioned by Justnspace, it all depends on your comfort level. There are plenty of videos on taking off door panels on YouTube and it's pretty straight forward. Replacing component speakers are a little more tricky that simply the base cone, but I didn't have too much trouble. I was fairly new at this process and it turned out to be easier than I thought. If you have concerns about doing it, check some examples on YouTube first. If still uneasy, Best Buy or a car stereo store can do it pretty quickly. Good luck!