I've got a 2006 1500 QC with the7-speaker system(single CD with Sirius). At certainpoints during songs - radio, CD, oriPod -a "popping" sound can be heard from the speakers. It's like a pop or a crackle;that's the best way I can describe it. Yes, I know the factory setup is craptastic, and I plan on replacing the speakers soon, but I'm thinking the amp is crapping out and might need to be taken inunder warranty.

Here's my justification: first off, as arrogant as it sounds, I have a degree in audio engineering and have two decades of experience fine-tuning my ears to know what sounds good and what doesn't. I think I know what a distorting speaker sounds like, and this isn't the same kind of thing. I can find a spot in a particular song and repeat it over and over and get the same type of pop. A slight decrease in volume, or sometimes an INCREASE in volume will make the pops go away; but go back to the original vlome level and they come back.

I can isolate things to one zone with the fader and balance controls, and the pops cease at the given volume level. If I make the fader even again with the front and back at full volume, the pops return. It's almost like a certain load pulling on the amp channel at a certain time will cause this. It is very distracting when it occurs. Anyone else "hear" (ha-ha) of this happening, maybe with a similar model of truck?

 

It could be something as simple as a bad connection in the wiring. But it could also be in the radio. If you're really concerned about sound, just put in a new head unig, amp and speakers.

 

I think bad wiring would manifest itself all of the time and not just under certain conditions. I think she's going into the shop one day soon. The problem is, service departments all think that they are the last word on everything and the rest of us are pinheads. I guess I am going to have to prepare a CD to show the service advisor precise examples of what's happening.

 

"I have a degree in audio engineering" ....me too.I am a Studio owner (3 studios) for over 15 years now.I think it is a conection in the harness. Is this sound above volume 17 or 18?? I know this depends on your input levels but I have not heard what you are describing and my max listening volume is around 17-19. It also can be a bad ground wire.
Just one note.... Have you heard how compressed sat radio sounds compaired to a cd or fm radio. Does this bother you as much as it does me?

 

I am going to go with your amp isn't powerful enough. I am not all that sure of the physics behind it, but if an amp is too small for the system, it does something with the wave lengths of the music or whatever, cutting them short and allowing the sound waves to kind of mud ontop of eachother. Like I said, I don't know the physics, but the bottom line is, cheap low power amp = cheap low performance music. And if you are anaudiophile like you said, then you are going to want to do the upgrades with the head unit, 4 channel amp and components for the the doors (which is basically that Infinity System), a mono or dual amp and a sub or two for base.

 

Audiophile? Yes. Audio snob? No. I agree that my truck needs new speakers at the very least, but I can adjust until then. One of the reasons that I bought the truck was that I liked the stock system better than the comparable F-150 that I drove, so I figured it was passable until upgrade time. I'm not going to upgrade to an aftermarket amp any time soon, so I want the stock amp to work correctly until then - and if I have to take it in for warranty work, I want the stock speakers in there so the service people have nothing to argue with me about.

Mystro: yes, the "pops" do occur sometimes around volume 18 (bass 5, mid -2, treble 9), but I don't think this is too loud. Even 20 or 21 should not be too loud on the highway. Yesterday Iobserved that the "pops" may also be considered "drop-outs" in the sound. It's definitely not a subtle type of thing. Thestock systemcan't hang at all withmy Wolfmother CD.

The sat radio - to me - sounds less compressed. I know that FM radio is always compressed more than the source recordings (just compare it to the same track on one of your CDs). As long asmy iPod tracks through the aux input are not compressed, they sound similar to CDs to me. The sat radio sometimes gets a crappy sound due to, I think, Sirius using a lower sampling rate, maybe to save bandwidth or something. Thesongs on sat radioaren't compressed in the normal sense, as they sound more like a CD (i.e. more dynamics), but the quality is much worse. THAT is the biggest difference to me in sat and FM radio. It reminds me of the old days of Napster when you might download a crappy version of some song that someone had out there at 96 or 64 instead of 128.

...and your 3 studios beats my 1.

 

i have an 02 with the infinity sound and it makes popping sounds. its not all the time but enough to be annoying. and it doesnt matter how high or low the volume, the popping sounds dont change. if the volume is all the way down til it says mute, it will still pop just as loud. so either my stereo is off or loud enough so i dont hear pops every minute or two. it does not sound like a loose ground or wire harness to me, but what do i know.

you are not alone on this one and if you search a little you will find other people with the same problem. but i have not heard of anyone fixing this issue other than replacing their whole system. if the dealer fixes this for you, please let me know what they did.

 

Anyone muse if the power supply on the amp is crap? And does this ahppen with all sources equally or more with one? ie, does a CD pop in our out more than FM or AUX?

 

Well, I just did some more experimenting. Here's what I found - guaranteed to "pop" every time:

CD: Wolfmother, track 2 "White Unicorn"
Time: 4:51
Dodge stereo:volume 18, bass 5, mid -2, treble 9, bal 0, fad 0

I also have this song on my iPod. Set iPod EQ to "flat" with the iPod volume almost all of the way up. Dodge stereo volume set to 20, same EQ settings as above. At 4:51, heard the same "pop". Seems to occur more whenpanned to the right side vs. the left side, regardless of CD or iPod. When panned to the right, and faded completely front or completely back, no "pop" was heard. When the fader was set to 0 and the front and backwere equal, the "pop" was there. I can go louder on the stereo volume and the "pop" will go away - even though the speakers sound like they are starting to break up at that point.

The amp is craptastic, I'm telling ya! [:@]

 

More than likely you're correct about the amp. Not knowing the song, at that particular point is there an increased drain on the electronics of the system by a spike in the sound in the song? I was leaning toward not enough power in the system to "blow through" the spike in the song levels but, it seems it would do this all the time on any song that spikes. You might upgrade the wiring of the system to carry more current or install a capacitor. To be honest I have never checked how the "top notch" system is wired. I know most of the time the "engineers" try to play with ohm levels and such to get a middle-of-the-road sound that is pleaseing to the general public and less than appealing to people with an ear for the fine tuning (Bose is a perfect example).
This is why I never buy upgraded systems in new cars and just build my own. My sister just spent and extra $600 on an upgrade in her Nissan Versa. It included a 6 CD in dash changer, two pillar tweeters and a wussy little 6" bass speaker. The sticker says "Rockford Fosgte upgrade". I would guess RF has gone downhill a lot.....

I also have a recording studio and have been in the biz for awhile but I am more attuned to setting up live sound and live recordings.