Stock Radio cuts off

[Biaggi]

Has anyone had a problem with their OEM radio just turning off while driving? Tonight, I was driving and all of a sudden my radio cuts off for no reason. It wasn't my speakers, but the actual head unit was turned off. No display on the face of the head unit, except for the dash lights (my headlights were on because it was around 9 pm) and the antenna retracted. First thing I thought was that the fuse for the radio must have blew, but after about 5-10 minutes it turned on back to the same station and sound level. This happened twice tonight. Once I got home and back into the garage, I immediately checked ALL my fuses. They were fine. Then I came upstairs and ran a search for radios turning off and found this one replied by Chris at SOS:
-------------------------------- http://www.nsxprime.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/002606.html

Does your car have a factory stereo?
Most amps have a heat circuit that will shut the amp off if the circuits overheat.

Other NSX owners have problems with their speakers malfunctioning in higher heats, however, I think you're talking about the stereo shutting off.

-- Chris

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Now the question is why did this happen, especially when it is <40 degrees outside tonight, although I was running the heater at 78 degrees in the cockpit.... Is my head unit going bad??? Do I have something going on that is common?? I currently have all my stock radio components and have been on the fence with replacing the faulty Bose system, but I like the stock look of the center console with the OEM unit.. Has anyone had any such problems and if so what did you do to resolve it?

Thanks

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Biaggi
92 NSX #483
94 CBR900RR

 

[D'Ecosse]

Originally posted by Biaggi:
... I currently have all my stock radio components and have been on the fence with replacing the faulty Bose system, but I like the stock look of the center console with the OEM unit..

I don't have any advice on your current (seemingly) temperature problem - however, there is no reason why you can't replace the Bose set-up with a trunk mounted amplifier & better speakers & retain the original head unit, so interior appearance will be unchanged. Many people choose this route for the very reason you mention, avoiding a drastic change to the console. You will find a dramatic performance increase with a decent amp & speakers plus a replacement sub-woofer. Note, this is a small cabin obviously, so its not necessary to go overboard to get a decent improvement.
If you search the forums, you will find many suggestions - typical is amp in the trunk, plenty of room for speakers in the existing door location (a co-axial or tri-axial is a decent compromise if you don't want to re-locate seperate tweeters); I have seen options for the sub in the original (passenger footwell) location; personally saw a nice custom mount at the rear of the console, between the seat backs where the worthless stock center used to be; or in my case, in a custom box behind the drivers seat (which works OK for me at 5'6"). Again, you don't need to go crazy with size (& hence associated cabinet) for the sub to get a decent improvement in sound in this small cabin space.
You can even drive an Alpine 634 changer with MP3 capability w/o having to change the stock head, although of course the graphic display which would aid library selection won't be there.