'01 Oldsmobile Intrigue Front speakers not working

[MarkRight]

My 2001 Oldsmobile Intrigue's front speaker are not working at all. That includes the door speakers and the tweeters above the dash. The rear speakers work fine and I'm just looking for possible causes and solutions to get these speakers working again. I'm not sure if it is something electrical or if all 4 speakers are just blown. btw my car has 221,000 miles on it.

[LittleHoov]

I suppose the easiest thing to do would to get ahold of a test light, pop off a door panel, and see if power is even getting to the speakers.

It is odd that they both stopped working at the same time, Id double check the settings on your radio to make sure someone hasnt messed with your fade settings.

But there is no real easy way to troubleshoot it without getting to the wiring. Door panel removal isnt terribly hard. heres a link:
http://members.localnet.com/~jester8...01FSpk.php.htm

Do you still have the factory radio? It could be a problem with that. Either way, youre gonna have to get in there and get your hands dirty!

[MarkRight]

Well I'm not sure if they went out at the same time or not. I just bought the car and they weren't working when I bought the car. The factory stereo is still in the car. I'll check the wiring in the door to see if it is that. Is there a way to test if it's the stereo's fault. It isn't the fade, that's the first thing I thought of and when it's faded all the way to the front nothing comes out of the speakers. I'll try to take off one of the door panels and see what I can find.

[MarkRight]

Okay so I took off one of my side panels and after testing the speaker it appear to be getting power. Not sure how to check if the audio signal is getting there though. Suggestions would be helpful, thanks!

[LittleHoov]

I think you may have to remove the speaker to get to the connector actually, its been a while since I replaced mine so I cant recall exactly. But you want to check that you are getting power/signal from the wiring going to the speaker. Easiest way is to use a 12v test light, an invaluable tool for many things if you dont already have one. In theory if youre getting power to the wires but dont have any sound, it would be a bad speaker.

How did you determine the speaker was getting power?

[Tobey]

How are you testing this? Audio signals are AC and only a few millivolts, it's not something you can throw a test light on. If they were getting a signal (power), you'd be hearing something.

I'd say the fact that both front channels went out means it's probably not a wiring or speaker fault. Sounds more like a circuit in your head unit has failed, which is something you're likely not going to be able to fix. You can get a used head unit on ebay pretty cheap, or you can use this as an excuse to upgrade to a nice aftermarket unit, but it will be more work to install.

[MarkRight]

I used a little 12 volt test light and just touched a few exposed wires around the inside of the speaker, and it lit up. Also the back of the speaker was magnitized so I would think that is a sign of power. So if the speakers are getting power, and they aren't working, then it's the dash unit?

[Tobey]

Speakers work by using permanent magnets, so they'll always be magnetized. The fact your light lit up is scary, there should never be 12VDC present in an audio circuit. There's something seriously wrong with your head unit if this is indeed the case.

[LittleHoov]

Dont 12v test lights simply read voltage thats at or below 12v? So I would think it just means that his head unit is sending the signal all the way to the speakers, but they just arent working. I know my test light stated that it would read 3v and 6v as well as 12 and probably anything in between. I guess there is a possibility that your head unit is sending too much voltage down the line.

Better yet, if you have a multimeter, you can check the resistance of the speaker. Or at least supposedly. Heres the link:
http://akamaipix.crutchfield.com/ca/.../000MULTI2.pdf

Its from Crutchfield and they usually know their stuff. I have an old speaker from my Intrigue that I think works, Ill grab my multimeter and see what happens.

Ok I ran a continuity test on the speaker and it passed that. The I checked the resistance. Took a little while for me to find the right setting on my meter, finally got the results using just the "200" setting on the resistance area, not 200k or m or anything like that. Sorry if I cant speak the lingo, I dont really know how to use my multimeter all that well, and therefore dont always know what all the little things mean. But at any rate I was getting a resistance reading of about 3.7-3.9 on my meter which is the very number pictured in their example. So I can conclude my speaker should work. Also I could hear the speaker crackling every once in a while, as the multimeter does actually pass voltage through it, therefore it makes noise. I think theres a similar test that uses a 9v battery, you might google for it.

EDIT again: I just realized Im an idiot and thought Id share with the world. I was looking at the speaker and its boldy stamped on the back "4 OHM" had I read that, I might not have had to search so long to find the proper resistance settings. Also makes sense why it was getting readings that are very close to 4. In my defense I just woke up not too long ago