Bose Stereo Failure

[Soichiro]

I have a question for the EE types concerning the failure mode of the Bose audio system in our cars. One of my speakers displays ALL the following conditions

-plays normally
-complete silence
-loud clicking noises

My question is how are all these modes available at one time? I would think if something broke it would go from one mode to another and stay there.

BTW I do have repaired speakers and will be fixing this when the temperature of my garage exceeds my age.

 

[Acura NsX Pilot]

In my car it plays normal until the amp on the speaker starts to heat up and then it starts to break up and then it just shuts down few minutes later it will work again and repeat the process.

 

[pacacu]

how old is your car ??sound like you have an amp.problem more than a speaker problem... i replaced all three amps in my 91 but the speakers are still doing fine. check FAQ.. the amps are about $ 75 each.. replace all three at the same time and save on the labour to RR the panels.. also they all tend to go bad at the same time. Good Luck

 

[BryanZublin]

Mine does the same thing. It appears to be related to the ambient temperature. Some electronics fail gradually.

 

[I'm NSXed]

Mine did the same as yours. Sent it to Bose and for $75 each amp/speaker unit they will fix it. It now works fine. I'm am sure that it is the amp, I don't think speakers would react that way.

 

[rrwildman]

>>>My question is how are all these modes available at one time? I would think if something broke it would go from one mode to another and stay there.

A common misconception, but having worked in the business for decades I can tell you that electronic things can have a variety of failure modes which can result in absolutely bizzare symptom patterns. Connections can go "open", or can just go "high impedance", either resistive or capacitive. Certain components can either "short", go "open", or simply degrade in different ways. They can even alternate between those conditions in a random way, or depending on operating environment. Temperature almost always plays a role, and vibration often does as well (not to mention moisture). Like I said, it can get really bizarre man.

I've also been amazed after over 25 years of owning and working on Honda products that nearly every Honda part I've ever seen fail, either mechanical or electrical, has "soft-failed". They not only have extraordinary operating lives, they've also almost invariably degraded prior to total failure. In some respects that's really indicative of very well-engineered parts. As one who fixes things for a living and has dabbled in reliability engineering, that's always amazed me. Unfortunately the Bose units are not up to the high engineering standards of nearly all other Honda OEM parts.

- Richard

 

[Soichiro]

Richard thanks for your reply. I still don't understand how these units fail - mine varies between working fine/silence/loud popping noises on a second-by-second basis with seemingly no accounting for temperature or vibration. In any event I replaced the unit (amp and speaker) yesterday and it works fine again. Don't forget to lube your power windows when you do this - it's been 7 years since I replaced and lubed the regulator in that door.

 

[NSXCessive]

Well if there is one thing that I've leaned nothing lasts forever... I know because I've repaired these Bose units before. I didn't actually repair my NSX unit, I left that for Acura to replace with a new/refurbed unit. I've repaired a unit for a friend's QX4. I found the 'caps' and some other devices out of tolerance. I believe that no electronic component esp capacitor will last the lifetime of the vehicle. Also what 'rrwildman' has already stated, opens, shorts, cold solder joints etc. Some amps will die B4 others, quite simply depends on how much you use your stereo. Electrolytic caps will over time dry out, esp when the amp has large heat dissipation, and we all know where the amps are... esp that awesome sub box, which is well insulated by padding and carpet! For the NSX owner that only drives his car on Sundays it will probably last forever, for the guys that use their NSX everyday... well I guess you guys already know...

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-=RudeBoy BaBy NSX=-
[email protected]
http://www3.sympatico.ca/rramchar

[This message has been edited by RudeBoy_baby_NSX (edited 05 March 2003).]