I have a new to me '08 HHR. If I crank the radio volume to max up I get scratchy reception out of the tweeters but nothing out of any door speakers. I also have no warning chimes of any kind. I have adjusted the fade which was of no help.
I'm thinking I have a bad radio based on the small amount of sound I am getting out of the tweeters. I'm tired of singing to myself so any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

The speakers usually fail before the radio.

 

12 years I've been on this forum. 95% of the time it's bad speakers caused by age and water/moisture corrosion on the speaker coils.

 

X2 what they said!! ^^^^^
speakers are 6 1/2 inch


https://www.chevyhhr.net/forums/audi...ers-fit-50528/

 

First Welcome to the group !
As mentioned more then likely Speakers ! A Common issue !
I am going through the same thing !
Many post on sight here about all 4 speakers going bad .
Not hard to do .
Several videos on You Tube
and on sight here
https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...kers+chevy+HHR

 

The A-pillar tweeters hardly ever fail but the junky base speakers almost always do. They tend to fail one at a time but many owners fail to notice until the last one goes.

The door chimes come through the front door speaker(s?) That your tweeters are still working is not absolute proof but pretty good evidence that the radio is fine. Stop cranking up the sound or you’ll just ruin the tweeters too.

Ive heard the Pioneer Premium upgrade (with the subwoofer in the cargo bay) can fail too but that seems to be far less common, calling into question the water damage theory. I dissected a couple base speakers and there was no evidence of water damage, just bad design that ensures frying the coil leads if the volume was turned up at all. Wetness would likely hasten the process, though.

Once one speaker goes, the owner turns up the volume to compensate, hastening the demise of the rest of ‘em, in an accelerating cascade.

I’ve replace base speakers in three HHR’s now. Even the cheapest aftermarket speakers will be an improvement. If you’re satisfied with low volume, just replace the speakers.

Because low power and skinny speaker wires like also contribute to the problem, if you’d like a little more volume, at minimum run larger wires, and maybe add an amp. Aftermarket head units can be nice but add many complications and are never as simple to operate.

There are many post in these forums and YouTube vids on speaker replacement.

 

My 2008 did the same thing about four years ago and it was the speakers. Replaced all four door speakers and sounds great still.

 

Both my HHR’s have the Pioneer seven speaker upgrade system, Oldblue had 300,000 miles at it was still sounding awesome, and the BlackSwan has 150,000 miles and I get no complaints when I crank it up!

 

WOW almost 2 weeks since he asked the question and has not been back since :O A 1 and done lol

 

So let’s close this, if they come back send me a PM and I’ll open it back up!