Intermittent Fuzzy Audio... Stock '04 Bose

[LC8Adventures]

Searched and couldn't find anything. All of the audio in my 2004 suburban 2500 is intermittently, but more often than not, very fuzzy. Sounds a lot like blown speakers, but every single one of the speakers has this distortion. Doesn't matter if the source is radio, DVD player, or even the door chime. At other times, the audio quality is fine even at high volume.

Bose, stock head unit and amp, stock console subwoofer, and rear seat entertainment. It is a non-lux system.

Any idea what could cause this? Anyone seen this before? As far as I can tell, it has to be the amp or the head unit, but I don't want to just throw parts at it.

 

[Joseph Garcia]

Welcome to the Forum from NH.

Lots of knowledgeable folks here who freely share their knowledge, experiences, and perspectives. Knowledge is power.

I hope that you will become a participating member in the Forum's discussions.

Pics of the truck, please.

I cannot personally help you with your question; however, other members on this Forum that are much more knowledgeable than me will chime in.

 

[LC8Adventures]

Welcome to the Forum from NH.

Lots of knowledgeable folks here who freely share their knowledge, experiences, and perspectives. Knowledge is power.

I hope that you will become a participating member in the Forum's discussions.

Pics of the truck, please.

I cannot personally help you with your question; however, other members on this Forum that are much more knowledgeable than me will chime in.

Nothing special here, it is just a stock Suburban.

At this point I'm tempted to throw an amp at it since that is the cheapest and easiest thing I can swap in the absence of ability to test audio signals I think.

 

[MassHoe04]

Nothing special?!

I am suffering from wheel envy... I got a set of beater 16" Silverado rims with 245 series tires, which I hope to address this spring.

So, don't sell yourself short!!!
You have a very nice rig!
Besides, you still have rocker panels...

 

[HiHoeSilver]

Searched and couldn't find anything. All of the audio in my 2004 suburban 2500 is intermittently, but more often than not, very fuzzy. Sounds a lot like blown speakers, but every single one of the speakers has this distortion. Doesn't matter if the source is radio, DVD player, or even the door chime. At other times, the audio quality is fine even at high volume.

Bose, stock head unit and amp, stock console subwoofer, and rear seat entertainment. It is a non-lux system.

Any idea what could cause this? Anyone seen this before? As far as I can tell, it has to be the amp or the head unit, but I don't want to just throw parts at it.

I'm having this problem on my 06 right now. I have a constant "static" anytime the head unit is on and volume is anything other than absolute zero. The volume knob does not affect the level of the static sound, but does still adjust the music.

Also, even if the radio is off, it makes the noise during the boot up Bose screen when you start the truck before the radio turns itself back off.

It's there on the door chime and also for a brief second when I push one of the seat memory buttons (usually beeps).

Did you ever figure anything out?

 

[LC8Adventures]

I'm having this problem on my 06 right now. I have a constant "static" anytime the head unit is on and volume is anything other than absolute zero. The volume knob does not affect the level of the static sound, but does still adjust the music.

Also, even if the radio is off, it makes the noise during the boot up Bose screen when you start the truck before the radio turns itself back off.

It's there on the door chime and also for a brief second when I push one of the seat memory buttons (usually beeps).

Did you ever figure anything out?

On mine at least, the static/distortion varies with the volume level for whatever that's worth. Like yours, mine is distorted even on the door chime.

I have not finished fixing mine yet so I have not confirmed if it's the head unit or the amp. However, I did pull the console apart and found some evidence that the amp had gotten wet, so I am in the middle of replacing it. Upgrading while I am in there with a JL 4 channel where the stock amp mounts and a second amp for the sub, also mounted inside the console. Hoping to have it back together within a week or so to see if it is fixed.

 

[LC8Adventures]

Just wanted to throw an update out there - I did replace the amp, ended up installing a JL JD400/4 for the door speakers and an Infinity Primus amp for the sub. Dramatic improvement in sound, particularly bass, but the intermittent buzz or distortion is still present, and still annoying. It seems a little different in that I have more background buzzing going on that wasn't there before that is independent of system volume, but time will tell a bit. Somewhat bummed that it didn't eliminate the issue.

I did find some references to the rear seat radio/head unit causing some fuzz or buzzing for people, but no idea if that's my cause yet. Only the rear channels are interrupted by that module, so I may unplug those from the amp and see what happens. It isn't too hard to completely bypass the audio signal to the rear control unit, but I didn't do that as I want to keep as much factory functionality as I can. I don't use the rear controls and given that it's $100+ for a used module, I would likely just permanently bypass it and move on with my life if that ends up being the source of the issue.

By the way, if you have a late truck that doesn't have the HVAC duct running through the console, the JL amp will fit where the stock amp was with a bit of trimming, and the Infinity will fit where the duct would typically pass through.

 

[LC8Adventures]

Another update - I did bypass the rear seat controls. It did not make a difference.

However, there's an unexpected (but in hindsight pretty obvious) result of doing this. when you turn on the RSE control header, it sends a class 2 data signal to the head unit to bump the rear channel outputs to a very high volume level. It does this so that the input volume is maximum and the rear seat volume knobs can then be used to limit volume to any lower level. At the same time, it interrups the signal to the amp rear channels. With the audio signals bypassing the source switch, you instead end up with maximum rear channel volume. It's not the end of the world....but it's definitely a surprise if someone hits that button and you don't expect it.