Intermittent left speaker issues

[scottolds]

Hi Everyone,

After doing some searching for similar problems on the forum, I am leaning toward a possible amp issue, but I will post it here to see if the collective agrees and to give others something to search if they are unlucky enough to have the same symptoms.

I don't use the radio much since I have bluetooth in my helmet and typically just stream from my phone. However, when my wife rides with me I will play the radio.

About a month ago my wife was with me and listening to the radio. When we first started riding, the sound was fine. I noticed on our way home from the trip, I had to turn it up more to hear and still could not really hear that well at speed. The next day when I went out, the radio was still on and I noticed that there was very little volume coming from the left speaker.

When I rode to Vegas in April, I took off the rear speakers to give me more space on the rear rack so I don't know if those are working or not at this point.

Anyway, I was planning on replacing the speakers anyway since the sound even when both were on wasn't the best and figured replacing a 22 year old speaker isn't a bad idea anyway. Got 4 pioneer speakers on Amazon and installed the two in the front.

Happily, the new speaker seemed to solve my problem. However, the next time I turned the radio on, it was again mostly silent on the left side. I ignored it for about a month since I didn't go anywhere with my wife and my bluetooth worked fine.

Then the other day my phone was acting up so I turned the radio on and both speakers were working fine again. Rode to work and back no problems.

Next day, speaker mostly quiet again.

I am thinking it is probably time to have the amp checked. I have some scheduled work I want to do anyway that I have been putting off for a couple months (carbs, plugs, wires, spark plug caps, water pump seal, coolant o-rings) so I will pull the radio and amp while the bike is laid up for that maintenance.

Any other things to suspect?

I will probably plug in the rear speakers just to see if the issue is truly the entire left channel and not only the front speaker.

Thanks

Scott

[Tonyvdb]

there are a couple of things to check. First, when you adjust the fader control does that cause the sound to change back (a dirty pot in the fader can cause this). Second, when you removed the rear speakers did you make sure the connectors for the speakers were kept dry (if water gets in them that can cause issues) also check the headset connectors for water.

[Mr Jensee]

Also besides the fader, it might be a good idea to remove the right faring or maybe both and trace the wires from the speakers back. Could be just a loose connection or a wire that was pinched or rubbed against something enough to partially break. Watch the youtube video on Voyager XII faring removal if the idea scares you. It really isn't all that hard and like me you might decide to clean away some of the dirt that accumulates under there.

[scottolds]

I will plug in the rear speakers and see if it is truly the left side or just the left front.

It is possible some moisture could have gotten in the rear plugs during my Vegas trip.

Anyway, I will be tearing it all down soon enough to do the other maintenance and then all will be exposed to troubleshoot further.

Thanks

Scott