2007 JBL Buzzing Speaker Not Blown - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

markman · 09-27-2010, 10:50 PM

Well, I have pictures, but the forum doesn't allow me to post them.

So here's the story.

I have a 2007 Camry XLE with the JBL sound system. I got the car last year and noticed when the weather was cold one of the rear speaker buzzed like crazy. Not just a buzz, but with very distorted midrange and missing low frequencies, especially at low volumes. Crank it up loud and it almost sounded OK I put it off until summer...

It got warm, and the buzzing was gone. It just suddenly fixed itself. Well, it's Fall. So, I tore the interior apart to take the speaker out. It's definitely the speaker as it does the same thing indoors on a different stereo system. I pushed around on the cone and noticed that it would start sounding fine if the spider was just pushed to one side. Well, that could be a voice coil with windings that came loose from excessive heat. BUT, it moved smoothly with a wide range of offsets to one side. Normally a shot voice coil takes up more room in the gap and its very difficult to get it to not buzz.

It seemed more like the voice coil (and spider) just weren't centered together. I played and played and eventually peeled the spider from the frame. Then I noticed something. The magnet wasn't pushed completely against the frame. There was a gap around the seam between the magnet and the frame on one side, causing the magnet to be tilted. I clamped the edge of the frame and magnet tightly in my hands and "CLICK" it sat down flush. The speaker started working much better. I twisted it and pulled it back off a bit and the performance was worse. I used some thin CA (super glue) to glue the magnet down tight. Now I still have to glue the spider back on without screwing it up.

If I could do it again, I'd leave the seats, deck, trim and speakers right where they were, climb in the trunk, and push up on the magnet hard or squeeze on the edge of the frame and the magnet tight. I believe that would have been the 5 minute solution. Maybe this will save someone else from replacing an expensive speaker or just not listening to the stereo.

untitlejk · 09-27-2010, 10:57 PM

Hey, at least you found the solution to something that couldve potentially been a lot worse.
A regular car-owner would've taken the car a shop, pay to get it checked, then they'll probably say that the speaker's blown and then charge you an arm and leg to pay for an OEM replacement or something.

It sounds like a lot of work but you now have knowledge of how to remove the rear deck and speaker, along with a easy fix to something that was really bothering you.

hossmaster · 09-28-2010, 06:03 PM

Oh I hope you can get the pictures put up, I have same type of sound from the rear speakers. It is really annoying but not worth paying someone to fix it. NEVER buy a first run!!!

markman · 09-28-2010, 07:02 PM

Well, it still says "You may NOT post attachments" and I see there's something about paying a yearly membership fee which I'm doubting I'll do as I don't use this board much. But I added the pictures to the photo gallery and linked them from there. I hope this works right.

The first two pictures show the magnet as I found it - it isn't tight against the basket (the stamped metal frame). In the first picture, the gap is to the left side and the right side is tight. In the second picture, the gap is in view straight on. The last one shows how it appears after squeezing it on.

Happy Trails

hossmaster · 09-28-2010, 07:08 PM

Thanks for the pictures, I am going to have to have a look see if that is my issue.

markman · 09-28-2010, 08:13 PM

For what it's worth, I glued the spider back down (the part I shouldn't haven't touched in the first place) and put it back in the car. It sounds great now. I just hope the adhesive I used holds up.

AML · 09-28-2010, 08:44 PM

Wow, I don't know if I would have even caught that, it seems like it would be easy to miss at a quick glance.

But since you took the speaker out and saw it, what do you think of the construction of the OEM JBL speakers?

markman · 09-29-2010, 02:50 PM

It looked pretty good. It's a very heavy, stiff paper cone - great for HiFi (stiff, high internal dampening, etc.), but it may wear over the long term a hot, humid car environment. The metal basket was thin stamped metal - I assume they're going for weight and cost savings. It probably doesn't hurt the sound much, but it no cast metal SEAS, Focal, etc. driver. The voice coil was quite long for decent throws. The bridge holding the tweeter was plastic and pingy - cost/weight savings again, but the dome tweeter looked pretty good. The surround is foam, but it appears to be of pretty good quality as there were no signs of age on these 3 year old ones. If I had any of those foam-edge treatments around, I'd be tempted to coat them. It might change the sound a little but foam surrounds generally don't hold up for forever in these outdoorish environments.

Warning! Audio nut ramblings below:

Overall, for an OEM setup, it's better than many - I like it better than the Pioneer in my old Lexus. It sounds a little hard in the midrange for my tastes. In a close up crappy car environment, I think the OEM's would do well to include a bit of the old BBC dip in the response - it lets you hear into the bass and highs and takes some of the bite away that wears you down after a while with destroying the midrange like kids with graphic equalizers. The bass is also a compromise. It's got a double humpiness to it - somewhat thuddy (underdamped) and not really well defined. I don't know if you can avoid that without having a good stiff enclosure somewhere, and the car amplifies everything below 100Hz (to varying degrees) just because its a small enclosed space itself and that doesn't help.

As it is, I think you'd be looking at serious money to sound better overall. Lots of people spend a few bucks and then focus on the one thing a new system does better, but the miss that the overall integration went to hell. I'm fairly happy with it.

hossmaster · 09-29-2010, 05:56 PM

no luck, my speaker makes the garble sound when pushing it up and down with my finger. I guess the gizmo in the middle of the speaker is rubbing on the woofer. F-it I am getting rid of this POS!

markman · 10-01-2010, 08:37 AM

If there is a visible gap, then it takes a lot of force to push the magnet back on the basket. Pushing straight on probably took like 30 pounds of pressure - not something you could do with a finger. If you grab the cylinder piece with your hand and twist while pushing, it might pop back on with less force.

Sounds like you'll enjoy a whole new sound system better anyway. Have fun.