Did you click on the thread ready with the answer as to what it usually is when the audio in your car is low and distorted? Probably you did.

Yet I took my car to no fewer than five different places, 3 of which were recommended to me as good.

None of them knew what the problem actually was. Sure, two of them told me my radio-CD unit (built-in to the car's dashboard) was "knackered" to use their words, one even photographed the whole dashboard so that he could ask his mail order repairer if they could effect a repair for £110. Another repairer told me a fix would be £300 plus VAT. Neither of these even used a test meter or screwdriver, they just sat in my car and listened. My local garage said the same. I did a round trip of 105 miles to hear another recommended repairer tell me that as he'd found a small coin inside the radio my radio was finished and I'd need to buy a new one from Nissan or used on on eBay (these are a rare thing to find and cost £500 new, £200 used, sometimes £100 used but may not work if out of their original vehicle unless reset by the authorised service centre). I was charged diagnostics fees by some of these experts, none of whom wanted to do the repair themselves.

That's 5 different parties who are said to be qualified to repair in-car audio, all of whom had the chance to check what they were saying, although only 2 of them actually pulled the unit out of the car to try to look at the wiring at the back of the unit.

So, what was the actual problem in the end? Was it a £300 fix, a faulty radio-CD, a mysterious wiring short, a bluetooth kit badly removed, a broken amp or some such?

Er, no. It was the simplest of simple things. 1 of the 4 speakers was missing from the NSF, the OSF speaker was damaged inside the door, the 2 rear speakers ditto, someone had obviously blasted music in the car very regularly before I bought it. So then, the problem was simply install 4 good speakers. Total cost of this? £40 delivered from a seller on eBay (Boss, great value speakers). Problem solved. The worst part is getting the interior door trim panels back on, but I managed it. I now have my radio and CD working fine, £300 saved, although of course I wasted a fair amount of money paying the aforementioned "experts" for a diagnosis which was entirely wrong. I am just amazed at them, I really am amazed, and not in a good way.

Got distorted sound or low volume or both - first check the speakers!

I've posted this here in the hope it will save someone else the 3 months of messing around I've just been through, and money loss.

(PS yes it was me who checked the speakers myself in the end)

Edited by Lee1 on 07/06/2010 at 14:06