very strange problem re l channel

Today and yesterday I encounted a very strange problem while driving.  Upon making a left turn the sound from my left channels died.  There was only sound from the right for blocks.  Then, as I was making a right turn, the sound came back to the left. 

This is very confusing because nothing was run anywhere near the any moving parts (stearing column, etc).  One oddity that might be a clue is that old factory deck would slightly  flicker sometimes when making turns.  The lights have never flickered with the eclipse deck and I first experienced this problem with the left channel going out yesterday after more than a month of driving this install. 

The other fact that might be relevant is that I am bi-amping, so both the RCA and speaker wire runs for the mids and highs are separate.  This pretty much rules out the fact that one of the cables or wires is bad.  So, somewhere along the line the ENTIRE left channel is getting shot.  This leaves the head unit or the amplifier. 

I was just out this afternoon and everything was fine the entire drive.  I am confused and pissed off.  :-)

Any ideas?

sounds like a possible pinch or short on a wire...double check all wiring with a meter for a short...this will only tell you something if you happen to be metering when it's DOS ( dead/down one side )... otherwise try another RCA cable and drive it for a few days, you'll find how frustrating ( and time consuming ) it can be trying to track down intermittent problems like this.... 

also inspect the wiring behind the radio to make sure you dont have an unused speaker wire touching chassis ground anywhere....

No, that was a correct read of the bi-amp blurb.  That is what is confusing me .. it is unlikely that both the mid and high RCA's have problems at the exact same time. 

Anyone?  Are entire left sides of separate channels somehow connected inside amplifiers?  Why would turning left or right with the car have any effect on any of this? 

Are you running any sort of accessories like a cd changer? My Dad had this exact same type of problem when he got his new 97 Jetta. Whenever he made a left turn, if using the cd changer, the cd would start skipping, and if the turn was a few seconds long, the stock deck would display "error". We ended up taking it back to the dealership and they popped in a new changer and everything has worked perfect since then.

I guess this isn't the most useful post to help you out, but it lets you know that you are not he only person who gets the turning problems with car stereo. Wish i could be a bit more useful in tracking it down.

Good luck with it.

Thanks for pointing out that I'm not the only one w/ turning problems!  :-)

I have no accessories like a cd changer.  Pretty simple system really.  grrrrrrrrrrrrr       Guess I'll need to start driving around with a multimeter and pull over next time it happens. 

Ok .. so my next question to this effect:  How do I test the speaker level outputs on the amplifier and rca inputs with a multimeter while the stereo is on? 

Probably a stupid question to many of you, but I'm a computer software guy, not an electirical engineer.  :-)

Since your problem is related to turning the vehicle you either have a pinched wire, a loose wire, a bare conductor or a bad connector that is either moving from the certrifugal (or is it centripital?) force caused by the turn, or is being pinched or moved by the steering mechanism. 

As you stated you noticed a similar symptom in the OEM head unit, then I suggest the problem is in your OEM wiring somewhere.  You have two choices.  First, you'd have to hand-over-hand all the factory wiring related to power, ground and speakers in your OEM wiring harness looking for a bare wire, a loose wire, a bad conenctor or some other physical problem.  This is the best way to go if you have the skill and time as there is definately something wrong in the original wiring and other electrical problems may be lurking.  On the other hand, the second option is to run all new wiring for every part of your audio system (power, speakers, ground) that is currently using the OEM wiring and eliminate it from your system.  This should solve the audio problem you have, but will not "fix" the real problem.  You will in either case need to check and double-check all the additional wiring you have added for your system, but this sounds like it would be only a precaution if there was a problem in the car's original system.  Good luck!

Alright .. I took a little time this evening to do some trouble shooting.  I drove around until I got the car in the 'no left sound mode' and then slowly drove home so it was still gone as I pulled into the driveway.  

After playing with the fade and balance I have determined that only my left mid is not producing sound.  There IS sound coming from the left tweeter.  (after this experience I am sold that the midrange driver is the most important driver in the car).

So, I hooked up a boxed 6x9 I have around to the left mid channel on the amp.  Great sound!   So, it isn't the head unit, RCA's, or the amplifier .. thank goodness...

This leaves:

Totally baffled as to why making a sharp left turn would knock the sound out of any of these and a sharp right turn will knock it back.  More testing will have to be done!

Will update after I have more time to work on it this weekend.  Thanks for the suggestions.  :-)   Actually works out OK if I have to run new speaker wire because I just received my Dynamat Xtreme bulk pack and will be installing that this weekend.  (crossing fingers it isn't the speaker or crossover)