sound fizzing out

all right, here's a tought one (at least, i think)!  i've been thinking about it and TRYING to do the whole process-of-elimination thing, but it's just not cutting it.

i have an alpine cdm-7874 cd receiver.  the speaker leads are tied off...the receiver's only function is to supply my amps their signal.  about a month ago i started getting this wierd problem where the music would get staticy, then fade and quit altogether, then get staticy and come back on, over a period of a few seconds; now, this process can happen as many as three times a minute, but usually more like once every five minutes.  my amps don't necessarily go out at the EXACT same time...sometimes the sub amp quits a second or so later, sometimes the amp for my highs/mids.  there is no dimming of the receiver, so i know that the power lead to it's not grounding out.  there's no problem with the amps b/c i've hooked up a discman to the crossover for long periods of time, driving the same roads i normally do, and no problem.  so, it's gotta be my receiver.  i checked the speaker wire leads (coming out of the receiver) to make sure they weren't shorting, which i figured might cause the internal amp to overheat which could cause such problems, but there was no stripped insulation or otherwise exposed wires.  pretty much the only thing left that i can think of is that one of the patch cables going to my crossover might be pinched and is grounding out...however, i didn't THINK that they had enough power going through them to cause a problem if they grounded or shorted, at least enough of a problem to cause the receiver to go out.  however, if one of you pros thinks that the current going through a short in a patch cable could cause the problem, i'll rip em out and check em.  otherwise, do you think that it might just be the receiver going bad?  (oh, by the way...i forgot to say that it happens with greater frequency at higher volumes.)

thanks for any help ya can give me!

ben

well, this evening i got some motivation and tried some stuff...isolated thru process of elimination that one of the patch cables might have been damaged (problem didn't surface when using one signal cable to the crossover and ghetto-riggin it from there, so i figured the other one might have some damage).  i left it like that and did about twenty minutes of driving, playing it at a much higher volume than usual...no problems.  so, i went ahead and ripped the "bad" patch cable out (blah!) and checked it over...no damage except at one point where it looked like it might have gotten shoved into a bolt when i put a panel back on...didn't look like the internal shielded wire had gotten into contact with the external unshielded wire wrap, but i couldn't tell for sure, so i went ahead and replaced the RCA cable and put everything back together.  if it doesn't screw up during my commute tomorrow (or, actually, today) i'll know i found the problem...otherwise i'll have to try some of your other suggestions!

thanks much for your help!  hopefully this will have resolved the problem!!