Irritating sound from your speaker can be burdensome and very annoying. You may get pissed off and embarrassed if you are driving on a long journey and all your car could give you is wobbling music that may even tempt you to dose off!
We sometimes experience very irritating phenomena from car speakers which not only bother us but also spoil the car audio system if not taken seriously. This could be as a result of so many issues that have to do with installation problem, poor connection or absolute damage.
The aim of this article is to suggest procedure you can follow to fix your car speaker rattle should you have one.
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How do I fix the rattling car speaker?
The brand and type as well as price at which you purchased your car speaker does not really matter much, many factors may be responsible for its rattling.
Which not only affects the quality of the sound it produces but can also be good enough to destroy your entire sound system if ignored. The annoying sound coming from speakers sometimes can easily be treated by just checking out the door pockets.
Rattling speaker can be a severe or minor issue depending on the degree. Knowing the degree and what is the cause will assist you in finding solution.
To carry out an excellent fixation, you first have to identify the leading cause behind the speaker rattling. We give below some possible reasons behind speaker rattling and some steps you can take to fix them up.
- Check your door pockets very well before loosening nuts and removing screws as most often items in the door pockets are major cause of speaker rattling. Your sunglasses, keys, pens, etc. can rattle and make annoying sounds and hurriedly you may think it is your speaker that had blown. So, check to remove all the items from door pockets, play music again to check out for speaker rattling, if there is no rattling anymore, then that is good news. But if there is, then there is an issue to check further for.
- Find out the source by checking all the speakers to locate which of them is creating rattling. Many of the time, it may be only one speaker and in very rare cases, it may be the two speakers. How do you find out now? First, allow sound to come only from a front speaker by adjusting the fade and adjust the balance to check the other speaker. With this, you will find the source, then go straight to fix it. Sometimes due to roughness of the pathways, irregular use of speakers and higher pressure on some (rear and front) speakers screws get loose, voice coil, voice gap or the outer cabinet may get loosen out too. You have to re-tighten them.
- Check out the feet of the speakers as they may get damaged if they often vibrate due to imbalance. Take a screwdriver and tighten them quickly and check out if the problem has been solved, if OK good luck but if not get ready for the next step.
- Unscrew the cabinet to check out for any defective component which may strike with the speaker’s wall and produce rattling sound. Remove any found, re-tight the screws, tight up the cabinet in its place and secure it on its site appropriately. If the problem still exists, go for the next.
- The next is checking out for over – or under-powered speakers for proper adjustment. Speakers come with specific power handling range within which they can give optimum performance. If the power is low it will result in sound distortion. Increasing the volume beyond limit will increase voltage signals which will invariably tend to move speaker cone beyond limits and in turn not only distorts the sound but may tear the cone.
- You may need to re-configure the rattling speaker by adjusting the audio setting because many times due to improper configuration of the system, speakers do not tend to perform well but rattles.
- Through the adjustment of the audio setting, one may stop rattling from speakers. Many times, due to improper configuration of the sound system, speakers do not tend to perform well and start rattling. Minimize the volume and check for bass, fade and balance one by one when checking the speakers’ configuration.
- Dusts, grits and any foreign object like dirt particles trapped in speakers can cause rattling. The simplest solution is to clean speakers both from outer and inner surfaces to stop its misbehavior.
- If the mounts and stands are not properly affixed or are not well-seated the speaker may rattle. Loose panels or screws can also be the cause and they must be tightened well.
- Check the uneven contact of the speakers by putting a plastic insert in between as parking which will stop your car speakers from rattling.
- Speakers’ uneven contact must be checked out and for resolving irregular contact of speakers, the perfect way is to put a plastic form inserts, which will stop your car speakers from rattling.
- Many factory-fitted speakers are not built to handle loud and low-frequency sound waves and upon loud bass, these speakers produce distorted sound and rattles. If that is the case then you should install bass blockers to limit low-frequency sound.
- If after all the above steps, your car speaker rattling minimizes but not fully resolved and you still desire enjoying upper grade music, then buy and properly install a good sound deadening mat which will definitely save your time and money to be spent in replacing the speakers. Be sure to choose self-adhesive and heat-resistant mat which must be very thick. To install sound deadening mat, you will have to remove your door panel. Use plastic tools (if you have) to remove the door panel to check and remove screws inside or below the door panel which may be causing disturbing rattling sound. Check out the armrest and remove the screws therein. If you use a car that has an electrical window, remove the wires connecting it with the arm set, remove the mirror, screws, wiring etc to remove the door panel. Remove also the vapor shield and keep it properly safe till the end of the operation. These removals will assist in installing the sound deadening mat properly.
- Other steps may include proper mounting, adjusting the uneven contact, tightening of the screws, nuts, panels, trunk leads, bumper, plates, etc. will help reduce your car speaker rattling drastically without doubt.
- Age of your car can cause excessive jerking. With these incessant jerking, speaker’s components may get loose. Everything has a shelf life after which it starts to degrade with time so proper maintenance and regular up-grading may help to prolong your speaker’s life span.
- After perfectly installing the sound deadening mat, perform a test to check its effectiveness before fixing the parts. Now your speakers should sound great without any nauseating rattling! If you are OK with the audio, it is time to fix all the removed components and enjoy your favorite track. If not, go through the installation again and if upon this checking no error is found and still, the speakers are rattling, go for the last option which is replacement.
To confirm finally that the speakers have blown off, listen to the noises coming out from them which might be fuzzy or poppy because what you initially notice in blown speakers is unpleasant rattling, distorted sounds and drastic reduction in bass response.
Does it mean that my speaker has blown if it rattles?
As we have explained above, it may not necessarily mean it has blown as a blown speaker often has a tear in its audio cone or produces a hollow rattle when shaken.
What do I do if my car speakers rattle with bass?
Just re-tight the screws, turn off the music and nudge the speakers and the surrounding surfaces a bit to have them secured.
Conclusion
Speakers are the main part of a car audio system without which a good music lover may not be able to enjoy his driving. Though not too sensitive, but any minor error in them can cause speaker rattling and can lead to blown out.
So, it is desirable that you take good care of your car speakers and in case of rattling, either you are experienced or a beginner, follow our above outlines without skipping a step.
We hope you found this article helpful in fixing your car speaker rattle, if you have a comment or question drop it in the box below, we will be glad to hear from you.
