deathsled

What part of the factory stereo fails most commonly? Does the volume/power **** ever fail on its own? Do the amps go out more often than the actual head unit?

I've got the pioneer unit in my SC and while everything seems to power up and all functions on the head unit work most of the time there is no volume even with the **** turned all the way up. However, today I tried it out and with the **** all the way up the radio could actually be heard at a reasonable level. As an experiment I turned the 3 equalizer ***** (bass, mid, high) all the way up and got some decent volume out the system. It was enough that I could turn the volume **** down to halfway and and listen at a comfortable volume. Returning the equalizer ***** to the middle positions dropped the volume back to a super low level.

What's likely to be the failing component here? I was thinking it could be the factory amp but if it was then wouldn't the sub amp need to be failing too for there to be no sound? If the main amp was failing but the sub one wasn't then I should still be hearing the sub, am I right?

Could it be possible the volume **** has a problem? Or is the actual head unit most likely my problem?

I'm not sure the best way to go about testing things and getting to the root of this problem. I have a cheap aftermarket head unit laying around. I guess I could get an adapter for the stock harness and wire it up and see if I get full time sound out of it? If so then I could assume the stock head unit is my problem?

deathsled

oh also, does anyone know how the volume control **** works exactly? Does it control the volume at the head unit? or is it controlling the volume at the amp?

Is it possible to use an aftermarket head unit with the factory amp and retain the use of the factory volume/power ****?

Has anyone ever been able to utilize the **** in aftermarket setups?