What is wrong with my audio system!!!

[dynamik]

I'm sick of constantly spending money on my damn audio system trying to figure out why it keeps screwing up. Someone please tell me they know what's wrong!

I have a:

Clarion DPX1851 850W Mono power Amplifier (460W x1 into 4 Ohms)
1250W 4 ohm Earthquake subwoofer
Jensen VM8022 2DIN head unit
VX Series II Berlina

My first Jensen headunit started flickering after 2 weeks from installing it. I got it replaced under warranty recently, and as soon as it was replaced I noticed a huge improvement in quality of my audio, but now the brand new one has started showing the same symptoms after being installed for about a month. My subwoofer randomly starts rattling too. It only rattles sometimes. And it's not to certain bass frequencies either. At times all my songs would play perfectly with perfect bass and not a single rattle, but then at other times all the songs would rattle like hell and sound like the car is breaking down. It's completely random. I don't know how I can get it fixed! Could my headunit be the problem? I can't understand why it keeps flickering even after I've replaced it. I get the feeling it must be my car damaging the head unit. I don't want to buy a brand new headunit only to find that my car will screw that up too. Does anyone have an idea what's going on? Everytime I replace something in my car, my audio is fixed for a while and eventually something goes wrong. I just want it working perfectly permanently! Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[HCVP]

Notice the unit from Clarion is fine, yet the 2 cheaper components seem to be causing you problems...Could be some sort of indication there as to their build quality.....

If your thinking of buying a new head unit, if you have it professionally installed like you did with this one, then the warranty should be peace of mind enough.

Where did you get the instalation work done?

[dynamik]

Notice the unit from Clarion is fine, yet the 2 cheaper components seem to be causing you problems...Could be some sort of indication there as to their build quality.....

If your thinking of buying a new head unit, if you have it professionally installed like you did with this one, then the warranty should be peace of mind enough.

Where did you get the instalation work done?

Hi, thanks for the quick reply. My system was installed by a mate, so definitely not done professionally, I was too cheapo and decided to save the installation costs. But he's installed audio systems on many other cars and none of them have had issues like this. I got my headunit replaced under JB HiFi's 1 year warranty for purchased products (not installed by them). I was told the Earthquake sub I have is equivalent to competition kickers by someone at Autobarn who had a look at my car, so I don't think it would have cheap build quality but then again he could have been wrong. Can you think of any installation mistakes that could cause these problems?

[aazn]

im going to put all my money on the jensen unit, never liked them..

replace it with a clarion unit (if you want to save money)
autobarn sometimes have a big sale on them and they go for about 500-600 installed.

[HCVP]

[QUOTE=aazn;
replace it with a clarion unit (if you want to save money)
autobarn sometimes have a big sale on them and they go for about 500-600 installed.[/QUOTE]

Hardly a useful suggestion. Have a look at the rest of his gear, and his current h/u, and it gives a clear indication on his budget, and how much he has spent so far. A $500-600 h/u is hardly worthwhile in a situation like this.

Any entry level unit (just pick one that has the amount of pre-outs you need) for $100-150 would be more than substantial.

Installation is fairly straght forward if a little time consuming, however there are plenty of "how to" guides amongst the forum, along with the wiring diagram.

[aazn]

Hardly a useful suggestion. Have a look at the rest of his gear, and his current h/u, and it gives a clear indication on his budget, and how much he has spent so far. A $500-600 h/u is hardly worthwhile in a situation like this.

Any entry level unit (just pick one that has the amount of pre-outs you need) for $100-150 would be more than substantial.

Installation is fairly straght forward if a little time consuming, however there are plenty of "how to" guides amongst the forum, along with the wiring diagram.

i just assumed he wanted another dvd player in there.

and how is the rest of his gear cheap stuff?

earthquake sub and clarion mono?

rrp of both of them is somewhere around the 800 mark

[dynamik]

i just assumed he wanted another dvd player in there.

and how is the rest of his gear cheap stuff?

earthquake sub and clarion mono?

rrp of both of them is somewhere around the 800 mark

Aazn, do you have any particular clarion 2DIN model you would recommend I get given the amp and sub specifications that I have? I don't mind spending up to about 600-700ish, but I don't know what specs would be the most suitable for my system since I'm not that knowledgeable about car audio and how rms, watts, and all the other jargon relate to the type of head unit I need. I mainly got my Jensen unit because I like the blue lights on the sides (matches with my blue interior backlights lol) and cause it was 2DIN it gave the car a more stock feel than a single DIN.

The Jensen is 160Watts peak, 40w x 4 (whatever that means). Does that indicate it's not good enough to get the full potential out of my 850W amp/1250Wsub? If that's the case, what kind of specs should I look for in 2DIN head units to get the most out of the rest of my system. And what if I get an unbranded one with the specs you recommend, does the brand really matter if the specs are the same?

Thanks everyone for your responses.

[aazn]

pretty much any unit will be an upgrade..

clarion max385vd goes for about 500 installed (2008 model)
but like i said its a 2008 model so you might be able to bargain it down a little more as it would be classified as clearance stock.

go into jb/autobarn/strathfield/ etc and have a look around.
dont be sucked into thinking clarion only, set your budget and go in store and have a play with some units.
jvc make a pretty good and cheap unit too. (about 600-700)

but ive used jensen units before and they keep coming back.

[dynamik]

pretty much any unit will be an upgrade..

clarion max385vd goes for about 500 installed (2008 model)
but like i said its a 2008 model so you might be able to bargain it down a little more as it would be classified as clearance stock.

go into jb/autobarn/strathfield/ etc and have a look around.
dont be sucked into thinking clarion only, set your budget and go in store and have a play with some units.
jvc make a pretty good and cheap unit too. (about 600-700)

but ive used jensen units before and they keep coming back.

Thanks for the help mate, I'll keep an eye out for them on eBay and hopefully get something good for a good price.