Diagnosing Tower Speaker Issue

[BlknYlwT22]

Late Monday night I realized the tower speakers did not have any sound coming from them. We just picked up the boat last week and won't have it to the dealer for another week and a half (200 mile trip) so I figure I could check a few things myself.

Anyways, it took me all week to realize they were not working because during break in I faded the music to the front so the tower speakers wouldn't blast the whole lake for no reason. I put the fade to the rear on Monday and the only thing hitting was the sub. I texted the dealer and he said it could either be the fade or lack of power to the amp. I know its not the fade because I played with it after realizing there was an issue. Any ideas on what to check to that may lead to the issue? If there is no power to the amp, then what do I need to look in to?

Edit - Forgot to mention this is a Wetsounds system with a Sony head unit.

Edited May 29, 2014 by BlknYlwT22

[jb 156]

Things to Check:

1. Amps : Is it in protect mode?, Is the amp Getting Power? Is the remote wire hooked up and getting power?

If the amp isn't getting power check the ground and the hot wire with a multimeter. Also check the remote wire (small wire)

2. Set the fade to neutral are the speakers getting power?

3. A loose speaker wire? I had one pull loose before it went into the tower this season from a connector, it looked like someone at the factory miss crimped the connection.

That's all I have.

[tn_rider]

Check your inputs as well. If your inboats are working couldn't he just take the input from the amp that powers the inboats and plug it to the tower amp?? To make sure the RCA's aren't bad?

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[BlknYlwT22]

How would I know if the amp is in protect mode?

[IXFE]

How would I know if the amp is in protect mode?

Several years ago I had a WS amp that went into protect mode. I seem to recall that there was a red light that illuminated or flashed.

[BlknYlwT22]

Several years ago I had a WS amp that went into protect mode. I seem to recall that there was a red light that illuminated or flashed.

If it's in protect mode, how do you get it out?

[David]

Bl,

A multimeter can make very quick work of finding the issue. The following steps are based on you not having a multimeter.

First, get on line and find the amplifier owners manual on the Wetsounds site. Look for the status LED (power, protect, types of protection).

Second, label or document everything before you begin any tests. Don't lift or unplug anything without doing this first. And always make sure the system is shut down before disconnecting or re-connecting anything.

Third, Begin isolating all the potential causes one at a time.

Let's assume that the tower speakers are driven by a dedicated amplifier since everything else is functional. This does not have to be the case so you do want to confirm this. Typically when an amplifier goes into the protect mode for one issue or one channel it shuts down all channels.

We'll break the amplifier down into A) Power terminals, B) RCA input signal, and C) Speaker outputs.

A) To turn an amplifier 'On' it needs to have 1) a primary positive voltage supply, 2) a primary ground, 3) an 'On/Off' trigger voltage. Per the manual, you will find all three power wires on the same amplifier barrier strip. If the tower speaker amplifier turns 'On' and 'Off' along with the other amplifier then this will be confirmed by an LED status indicator. If you do not get a status 'On' indication then the problem is likely with one of the three wires on the power terminal (12V supply, ground or 12V trigger). If the amplifier does power up but you get no audio then check the LED indicator protection modes per the manual instructions.

B) The amplifier needs to have an RCA input signal. You must confirm there is a signal. It's unlikely a bad RCA would impact both channels. So an amplifier input configuration switch could be a problem. Go over the settings per the manual. Temporarily switch the Sony HU front and rear RCAs and then fade to test. If the front and rear RCAs are going to different amplifiers then switching the RCAs at the rear of the HU may be easier. Or you can take an RCA barrel connector with a short RCA jumper cable.

Get on line and find the owners manual for your particular Sony HU. The unit could have a default setting when power is lost that could impact the rear RCA outputs.

C) It's unlikely that both left and right tower speakers have a common problem. So if the amplifier is in the 'protection' mode then disconnect the L & R speaker leads one channel at a time to isolate which side has a problem.

Also, power the tower speaker amplifier down completely. Then after 10 minutes add the supply ground first and supply voltage second as a hard reset....just to be thorough. You want to give the protection circuit every opportunity to correct itself after the problem has been fixed or temporarily disconnected.

That's a start. One of these steps will reveal a problematic area and then we can narrow down the focus.

[Farrington]

I have a 2018 23 LSV and one of the tower speakers is not working.  Any suggestions on how to trouble shoot?

[ahopkins22LSV]

1 hour ago, Farrington said:

I have a 2018 23 LSV and one of the tower speakers is not working.  Any suggestions on how to trouble shoot?

Is the amp flashing red around the Malibu Logo? There are different patterns it could be flashing that will determine the code.

[Farrington]

I'll take a look and let you know what I see.  Thanks

 

[Farrington]

Okay, I turned on the sound system and no amp flashing red around the Malibu logo.  The light around the logo is a constant blue.  The sound systems works and all the speakers work except the starboard side tower speaker.  I can hear static from the speaker but no music.  Any suggestions on the problem or how to troubleshoot?

[Texan32]

im not sure how Malibu does it, but Axis runs the tower speakers in parallel.  Meaning, the two left side speakers are wired together and the two right side speakers are wired together.  They only use 2 channels on an amp.  If Malibu did the same thing, i would suspect you have a bad speaker.  If the speaker wire for that speaker had chaffed and was grounding out, it would affect both speakers on that side.

Now, if Malibu has each speaker going to a dedicated amp channel, you could simply flip flop two of the amp outputs (one good channel and the suspected bad).  This would tell you if its an amp channel or speaker/wire.

[Luck]

Hi, i have a Axis 2014 A22, when i start the engine all my speakers working, inboard and tower but when i move with the boat 30 seconde later my 4 tower speaker stop.

And if i shot down the power and restart the boat they are working untill another 30 seconde of riding. 

Anyone help me ? Missing power to the amp when riding ????

[granddaddy55]

check the lights on amps when this happens, they will change colors and often flash a consistent flashing signal you can look up in pdf for amp.  bet you have older week batteries that charge but no longer take load