Thecar

Notice how the tail-end of his name is missing? Kind of like how my rear speakers don't work at all!

Funny enough, this works for us since my kid is sometimes sleeping in the back anyway and we don't want to wake him with our Hall & Oates-level rock and roll music...

Mbodall

Dumb question, but I assume you've made sure the fader isn't set all the way to the front? Do you not have any sound coming from the subwoofer in the rear deck, nor both of the two speakers mounted in each of the rear doors? When you fade the sound all the way to the back, is it 100% silent? If so, I'd bet that your amp is shot, or that maybe the other speakers got unplugged from the amp. Has it been like this since you bought the car, or a new problem?

If it is the amp, they're about $1600 to buy as new, but only about $350-$400 to fix if you send it to a place called "United Radio" in New York and usually have it back within about a week. United Radio repairs/rebuilds factory amps and quite a few members here have used them with great results. If you're not already aware, the amp can't just be replaced with a different brand aftermarket amp because of the impedance of the whole system. The ML amps are 16ohms I believe and most every car audio system is either 1ohm, 2ohm, or 4ohm. I think there are a few that are 8ohm. Either way, you can't mix and match ohm rating of amps, speakers, and head units without frying things and making the system sound like *****.

Thecar

No such thing as a dumb question. I did try to fader, to no avail. However I have not jumped in back to see whether the sub is still working. I was hoping that it was not indicative of the amp dying since the front and side speakers still work, though.

The problem has probably been there since I got the car (only a month and a half ago), but I never noticed until more recently.

Mbodall

If you fade all the way to the back and it's completely silent, no need to hop into the back to check the sub. Obviously an open air 8" sub doesn't rattle any windows, but if you're not feeling any low frequencies - or any sound at all - when faded 100% rear, it's not looking good for your amp

VWTim

FWIW, I just had United Radio refurbish the amp in the my '01. They now market the service on E-bay under the name "Radios and More" for $475 including returned shipping. I took advantage of a 20% off fathers day coupon code 2 weeks ago. $400 for rebuild and paid $20 for overnight return shipping. I sent it Fedex overnight Friday and had it on my doorstep last Wed.

Mbodall

Nice! And I assume it works like new again?

VWTim

It works great, I haven't had a chance to confirm it was the source of my battery dying though. I'll check that after work when I get back to the garage at my apartment.