labguy

After getting my car back from my Indy for an Intake manifold repair and Camshaft Adjuster Solenoids replacement, I have been getting some rather annoying popping sounds coming from the stereo speakers. But the very strange thing is while I use my radio exclusively with XM/Sirius I am only getting the popping sounds when tuned to a talk radio station or news station - never when tuned to a music station. Strange right?

Any idea on how to stop the popping noises?

Anker

Do the noises change with RPM? If they do you probably have something sparking. Could be a bad/dirty connector, a bad ground or a bad electrical component.

labguy

The noises do not seem to change with RPM.

Anker

Next question: Are they related to bumps or turns? Indications of a loose wire.

labguy

Bumps and turns do not affect the popping noises.

megacrazy

Is it one speaker or all speakers? I would check for speaker failures first then check the head unit and amp and then finally look into the wiring.

If all speakers are making noise it's obviously head unit or amp related, assuming everything is stock in the car.

My money would be on the amp if I were to guess.

insame1

I took my sub out the other day and the spider that holds the voice coil was not attached to the basket on one side. Since I plan to replace it soon i just used some super glue and it has been working fine ever since.

Nero Tenebre

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Mikalish

Labguy, I am having the exact same problem with SiriusXM that you've described. I started to hear the popping sound right after January 2nd, 2018. It may have started right before Christmas, but I was not driving my car at that time. I didn't have any service done on the car, it just started out of the blue. It's very noticeable on talk channels (non-music), and not obvious on music channels. The popping is at its worst during commercials. I'm hearing it out of the rear speakers. I can't find any pattern, it's completely random. The popping sound will get louder when I turn increase the volume and conversely decreases when lowering the volume. As with your experience it is not affected by RPM or bumps and turns. I'm located about 1 hour north of New York City. I wonder if it's a SiriusXM signal issue or if our cars are afflicted with the same problem.

labguy

So, this is also not a problem when I change to FM radio. FM Radio produces no popping sounds. I had SIRIUSXM send a refresh signal and that seemed to help a little. But today, I called them and talked to someone about it and they offered to send me a free radio. When I told her that would not work, she said that I should take the radio to the dealer. I told her that I was not going to do that, and that I felt like it was a problem with the signal. The call ended with no resolution.

If I can't find a resolution, I may decide to cancel the service.

Rudeney

I suspect it's a bad Sirius/XM tuner. The talk channels use a different CODEC from the music channels (talk uses a much higher compression, lower bandwidth signal). Also, you have an older "Sirius-only" tuner so it's possible there is an issue with changes made by SXM's signals that is just not "playing well" with your tuner. You could try to find one on eBay and sway it. Other than mounting differences, any MBZ SXM module should work regardless of which vehicle it came out of, as long as it came from the same NTG2-type COMAND or Audio 20 system.

zill