My car stereo has been acting up the past few days.

I was playing some audio CD's (originals, not copies) and they played fine, all of a sudden, the CD that had been working started playing tracks and then muting for 10 or 20 seconds and the playing the rest of the song for another few seconds then muting again for all of the tracks.

I checked the CD, works fine. I ripped the CD and put the mp3 on an SD card hoping the problem would go away, but still, it played the tracks and suddenly went quiet a few seconds in, but carried on playing, then the sound came back and went away again e.t.c

Now, not only the CD that the problem originated on, but any music played from CD or SD card does it.

Radio works fine.

Any ideas??

Wierd one that joe, does it do this at high volume or all the time?

sounds like internal amp, wots the set up in your car?
does its do it from cold for after a bit of use?
r u running any empty channels on the head unit?

its does it all the time regardless of volume

Standard speakers through standard car wiring.

I have a pretty shit amp and sub, but has been and does work fine.

Output channels on the head unit have been snipped & taped for a few months, but it's played CD's and MP3's off SD cards fine.

It does it from cold and theres no change after its been on a while.

Like I said, radio works fine, Audio on the TV also works fine.

It does have 2 audio input channels, but they have been snipped and taped for months too.

Just external media thats causing it

cd laser been cleaned recently ?

yeah, i did that just after it started doing it, but still does it and happens on the sd card aswell

what brand is the unit?. i mean powered output channels. i.e no speaker connected to one or more of the channels on the headunit. does the sub still play music when it cuts out or does everything go including the bass??

not sure, ones of these ones with a flip touch screen off ebay jobbie.

AFAIK, there are 2 powered output channels, neither connected

Everything goes, but the track keeps playing

and the amp is just connected to the sub??? and you dont get any sound through that?
did you turn these channels off on the head unit menu??

yeah amp is just connected to the sub

no sound through anything, speakers or sub just goes quiet, but the track keeps playing

tried to turn them off, but there is no option to in the menu.

Its worked alright since its been fitted though

joe, isnt your's one of those Ripspeed ones mate?

well was going to suggest buying a very cheap 4 channel amp to power the rest of the speakers, but aint gonna work if there is now sound even through the un amped channel (seams strange tho that ths channel also cuts out). tbh i would cost more for someone to fix than it would to buy a new one, as ive said it sounds like the internal amp in the unit has been fried (probs due to there not being an option to turn off the unused channels) you could try and take it to sound waves or the place in bebington(forgot the name tho) but that wont be cheap at all!