hot stereo speaker

[Ken Heyman]

Here is a new one. While trying to troubleshoot some static emanating from a cockpit Sony stereo speaker I noticed that the back of the speaker was quite hot to the touch. I immediately turned the stereo off. I'm not much of an audiophile but it seems to me the only way this could happen would be if the radio wires running to the speaker somehow got shorted in my wiring harness with the power lead. Is there anything else which could explain a speaker becoming hot? The current running thru the speaker wires should be pretty minimal.

I'm going to check the wiring harness but I am puzzled.

Ken

[Mike and Joanne Stimmler]

Hi Ken,
I would suspect the speaker itself to be bad unless your playing some Lead Zeppelin music at full volume and the balance control is set to only that speaker.    You could try swapping the speakers to prove the trouble.

Mike

[lazybone]

Do they have built-in amplifiers?

[Ken Heyman]

Thanks- I'll be poking around next week--so far I'm leaning toward a bad speaker as opposed to a wiring snafu as I haven't seen anything suspicious electrically.

Ken

[noworries]

I replaced the stereo (the one in the boat was dead) and had static in the cabin speakers.  I ran new speaker wire, still had static, so I replaced the speakers--static gone.

I would replace the speakers, especially if they are too hot to touch.  I doubt you got 12V coming to the speaker, it's more likely just resistance from corrosion that's causing the heat.