Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Audio new Kenwood, sound degradation problems

I have a new HU (kdc-3025) about 2 months old with the Sirius hook up. Nice system but I noticed if I listen for more than 30 minutes, the sound quality of my system goes does down and degrades at high volume like the speakers are blown. After I turn the system off and let cool down for a minute or two, I am fine again for a while. This happens in both CD mode and tuner mode. I don't know what the problem would be. I bypassed the factory amp and they are stock speakers. Any ideas?

I you don't have an amp then it's the HU. It's getting hot and with heat, electronics don't perform as well. Computers, stereos, amps etc... they don't like heat.

Did you install yourself? On my cheap Sony I can pull the whole radio/front cover assembly out without unplugging. Maybe in your case you can do that and leave it on for awhile. Does the performance degrade when it's not enclosed in the dash still? That MIGHT be a good way to test it.

Also I would immediately get rid of the stock speakers. They are cheap 20 watt units......you know that could be a big part of the problem there too. You may be pumping too many watts to those cheap "Premium" speakers.

Good luck

Oh and how is Sirius? I had a taste of XM at the Autoshow In Motion and I got hooked. One click of the radio and it's a different station! Man that's awesome!

take the CD out when your having the sound issues after a half hour... is it hot??? after an hour in a kenwood it should be warm, but not super hot. Try what Natestour said and try running the HU outside of the dash, see if it overheats or changes anything that way.. All I can say is make sure that the heatink is clear of jumbled wires. The heatsink on your unit is silver right in the middle of the back.
If it still overheats then it sounds like one of the mosfets in your HU is not connected to the heatsink internally.