[ryder55555]

To start I have a 2006 Cadillac CTS.

I guess I'll explain the problem first before anything else. It doesn't matter what weather conditions I'm driving in, the speakers always seems to cut out for 1-5 seconds then come back on. This is very annoying because I can't even make it through a single song without the speakers cutting out. I can't seem to tell what is causing this problem. Sometimes it happens when I hit a bump, and sometimes it happens when the gears are changing. I can't tell if these are tells to what is actually causing the problem or just coincidental timing.

I'll give a little back story as to how I believe this problem arised. My father owned this car before me. He had the factory radio still in the car but wanted something where he could use bluetooth, so he got an after market radio installed. This was around the time he gave me the car, and around the time when the problem started. I think the person who installed the radio must have known they did something wrong because they told my father the installation was free.

Since the problem has started I have done everything I can think of to fix the radio. Instead of bluetooth, I switched to a wired connection. Then, we had the battery replaced. Then, we had a whole new radio installed by different people.

The problem still persists to this day. Someone please help. It's getting to the point where I'd rather just drive without music

 

[CaptSoloNJ]

This can happen when the soldered or spaded connections become oxidized by weather and moisture. The current becomes inconsistent and need to be repaired or replaced. Even the speaker unit can have that happen. This becomes common when the car is over 12 years old.

 

[Submariner409]

If the install was done incorrectly and the speakers are the wrong impedance for the amp(s) used then one or more amps may be tripping internal output transistor circuit breakers. They auto-reset when the amp guts (output heat sinks) cool enough.

 

[greenmachineiijh]

As others have said, may not be wired right. Also if the radio is wired to the factory amp and is just being used as a head unit, then I would see how that was done. If they spliced in at the line level, or used the speaker outputs to go into the amp. That can cause all sorts of issues as the factory amp wants a certain signal level.

Do the car chimes still work? That will tell you if they are still using the factory amp or bypassed it and are running off just the deck.

 

[Hurricane87]

Once again, an aftermarket radio is the cause of other problems. Tear it out, get a factory radio from the boneyard, pay a dealer to match it to your VIN, and mark it down as an expensive lesson learned.

I repeat myself on every forum, and will continue to do so until people learn:

1. The head units in modern cars are an integrated part of numerous electrical systems of these cars. Pioneer, JVC, etc. do not custom wire their head units to match your car, nor (despite their advertisements) does Crutchfield have actual access to GM internal files. Or Ford. Or Toyota.
2. Unless your head unit includes Bluetooth, Android Auto, or Apple Play, the newest technology in it dates to 1981. GM has figured it out.
3. The sound comes out of the speakers. As a special added bonus, replacing speakers neither affects the other functions of your car, nor makes your car look like a junkyard piece of garbage. Aftermarket head units do both.

 

[greenmachineiijh]

Definitely. Kind of where I was hinting at. there are too many possibilities of issues or failure points.

My radio is stock, but I upgraded all the speakers and sub to Infinity and added a 1000W amp to the Infinity sub. The factory amp and head unit is actually quite good for a stock radio.

For hands-free Phone, messaging, GPS, etc. I use the Garmin Drivesmart 65.

Only thing missing is BT/USB streaming to the radio. But with all the issues and money I have seen trying to add it to this caddy, I can live without.