Center speaker "buzz" only during talk radio

Ever since I got this car I've been dealing with an annoying screech or buzz coming from the center speaker, and it only happens when I'm listening to the news, talk radio, or in between songs when a radio DJ is talking. I've driven dozens of cars over the years as a result of traveling (and always having to pickup a rental car when I fly) and have never had this problem. But then again I don't think I've driven a car with a center speaker like this one. Has anyone else had this problem? Is my speaker defective or is this a problem with ALL of them? It sounds as if the speaker is vibrating against the metal grill and causing the shrieking noise.. Funny how a certain pitch will set it off non-stop!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(johnjohn @ Mar 27 2007, 08:23 PM) [snapback]413264[/snapback]</div>

It's during radio, CD, MP3.. I don't have satellite (yet). I have to listen to alot of conference calls on my MP3 player too so I'm noticing the problem constantly.. I still haven't had the chance to call my dealer again to follow up- they were supposed to order a new speaker like over a month ago. Anyways now I assume it might not be the actual speaker and maybe it just needs a piece of rubber wedged in between the speaker and the grill. What a strange problem....Rather annoying when you spend $27,000 on a brand new car and have to drive around with a squealing speaker!

 

Hey Bill, thanks for the instructions on popping out the center speaker myself. Sure is alot easier than taking it all the way to the dealer, sitting in the waiting area, and worrying about some mechanic manhandling stuff inside my brand new car. I suspect they would use a screwdriver to pop out the speaker causing indentions in the plastic/metal frame (I guess I only care about that kind of stuff because this is my 1st 'new' car!).

Well, so I basically used my fingernails to pop off the cover, pulled the speaker out, removed the electrical connector, and then used a phillips screwdriver to remove the two screws on either side. It was sort of difficult to see the actual speaker because it's covered by a black thin mesh which is glued on, IE unremovable! So I had to shine a light through it to see if the speaker was torn in any way. It didn't appear to be. Tried to figure out how I could get rid of the squealing noise while leaving the speaker intact and usable- couldn't seem to find an answer and was worried I would have to take the speaker out again and experiment so I just left it unplugged. So I guess I have one less speaker, kind of sucks since it's part of the JBL "nine speaker package".

NOW, believe it or not, I can notice another type of slight vibration noise (although very minor). Sounds like it's coming from the 2 tiny JBL speakers on the front sides next to the small windows. Weird! Maybe it was always there before and I just didn't notice it OR the fact that the center speaker is disconnected now and has boosted the wattage of the existing speakers causing the residual noise? Those tiny JBLs probably shouldn't be there anways. Just seems too small to mean anything. Man I probably should have gotton the package that didn't have the special JBL speakers OR do all Prius' have those tiny speakers near the front doors? Anyways this new noise is no where near as annoying as the squealing from the center speaker so I guess I will have to just live with it.

LOL can't believe I've got to deal with these kind of petty issues after spending $27 grand on this thing.. Now I just need to figure out how to pad those lame armrests;-)) I sure hope the next gen Prius doesn't have cheap 'flat' unpadded armrests!!


<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Bill Merchant @ Mar 30 2007, 06:22 AM) [snapback]414771[/snapback]</div>

Actually this is for recorded conference calls on MP3, I haven't used the Bluetooth feature yet, don't have a compatible phone.