Front left speaker sounds very different from front right speaker (1 Viewer)

[Dave Bennett]

I've got a JVC LH-2000 Headunit, Polk 6.5" EX365 coaxials up front, and Pioneer 4" in the rears as well as a small powered sub in my 2004 Subaru Outback Sport. I just noticed that when I put the balance on the front left speaker, it sounds quite different than the front right speaker when I balance it by itself. It sounds more muffled, the highs aren't as clear. I'm not sure if it's 1)the fact that I'm in the drivers seat and the position of my ears is different relative to the two speakers 2)that the songs I'm listening to have a very different track on the left channel or 3) if something is messed up with my install.
I even went as far as swapping the speakers(putting the one that was initally in the passenger door in the driver door) and trying different Crutchfield wiring harnesses for the speakers(I have like a million of them lying around so i tried a few). The behavior is still present. The only thing I can think of is that something on the wiring harness for my headunit isn't done correctly or is loose or that the Subaru speaker wiring has a problem with it. Maybe this is normal but it just seems kind of odd to me. Has anyone else noticed this? Please tell me I'm not nuts

 

[KurtW]

Well, there's a few easy ways to check this. Take the speakers out of the doors, and pull the deck. Then swap the left to right and right to left, see if the problem persists. Of course make sure nothing's out of phase. If it's the radio, any speaker will sound bad on that side. If it's the speaker, it'll sound bad on any output. Make sense? The best way to track down gremlins like that is by process of elimination.

My money's on an out-of-phase speaker, or a blown speaker.

 

[Dave Bennett]

Thanks for the info Kurt. I already tried swapping the speakers and the once I did that the problem still existed with the sound from the drivers side speaker. It definately doesn't sound blown, just slightly muffled. I'll take a look at it all this afternoon and see if I can hunt down the problem.

 

[Andy Hardin]

Dave,

Sounds like it is miswired (i.e. positive and negative is switched)

I would check that. Might be hard to change inside the door, you could change it at the amp as well.

 

[Dave Bennett]

I think a connection ended up being just a little loose. I reattached it and then actually sat on my center console and panned it left and right and they sounded the same to me, so I think that's all the problem was. I checked the wiring at the headunit and it was correct so I think all it was was a loose connection(probably from when I swapped out my Pioneer's for my new Polks).