Need some expert advice. I have the avic-z2 with and external amp and powered sub. The amp powered the front component speakers. It sounded awesome and I was jammin out then all of the sudden the front speakers started popping/cracking and then went out and all I could hear the soft music out of the two rear speakers that are powered only by the head unit. I stopped, restarted the car and now the front speakers work but there is loud background noise/popping/ cracking and the subwoofer does not work. Prior to this, there was no background hissing/popping/cracking what so ever. I restarted the car, still getting the background noise/cracking/popping/ the front speakers work, but don't sound as loud and clear as before. I can put the sound all the way to the front and to one or the other side and then that speaker sounds really good again. The subwoofer does not work at all and I sent that back under warranty. I disconnected the rca's from the amp for the component speakers and the cracking and popping stopped, so I am thinking the external amp still works. Is it possible the sub fried my internal amp on the head unit. Any advice on what to check or can the head unit be repaired or should I just upgrade and replace it. Thanks in advance for the help.

Sounds more like the external amp died.....

Why don't you try connecting the front speakers directly to the Z2 speaker outputs, leaving the external amp disconnected ?....

Bought a new external amp and still have the cracking and popping, so I am guessing it is the head unit. That will be the next to replace.

Bought a new external amp and still have the cracking and popping, so I am guessing it is the head unit. That will be the next to replace.

Check youe RCA's and power/ground that nothing is loose.

If you are sure the head unit's line outs are bad you could get speaker to line level converters to save you a lot of money. Like these: http://www.crutchfield.com/p_136XDCLR2S/JL-Audio-XD-CLRAIC2-SW.html?tp=2610