Amplifier Location

[wrpdrive26]

Hello all. Recently my sound system has started to act up. Due to the way it is acting up, I believe the issue is to be one of two things, the radio head unit or the amplifier. I'm leaning more towards the amplifier due to the fact I just replaced the head unit with a NOS unit a few months ago and the fact that the issue is occurring on all settings. It all started with the sudden loss of both driver's door speakers. They came back the following day, however, they would still drop out and stop working intermittently. Now as of yesterday, the system's volume is changing on its own. It will get very quiet. I'll turn up the volume on the head unit to full volume and can get the sound to come out of the speakers "normally." Then the sound will suddenly start to increase again and return to normal functionality again for a little while before repeating. I'm also getting weird sound affects when I start or turn off the vehicle. With these symptoms, I'm leaning towards an issue with my amplifier. I have the dealership repair manual I bought online a few years ago, but it doesn't tell me where in the vehicle the amplifier is located. Only that I need to remove the left sound insulator to get to the amplifier. So I'm assuming the amplifier is on the driver's side of the vehicle somewhere, but have zero clue where exactly it is. I was curious to see if anyone knows where the amplifier is located so I can try and test it, and or replace with a used one. Also to note this vehicle does have the Pioneer 10 speaker sound system with the six disc CD changer.

 

[melsg5]

Found this, don't know if it is correct
Access: Open the trunk, and pull back the interior lining on the left (driver's side) near the back seat to find the amplifier unit.

 

[wrpdrive26]

Found this, don't know if it is correct
Access: Open the trunk, and pull back the interior lining on the left (driver's side) near the back seat to find the amplifier unit.

Thanks for the help, but that wasn't the location. It appears to be underneath the dash by the e-brake.

 

[Silver State 77]

What year is your pontiac? my 1977 has an upgraded stereo amplifier behind the glove box, but its not anything we could repair, its all sealed up inside an aluminum heat sink, and has some wires plugged into it. If I were to guess, it is most likely that something you changed when you put your new stereo in is causing the problem. what you described sounds like a bad connection, sometimes when wires do not have a solid connection, it still works but it will not allow the full amount of signal through the connection, and that will cause an audio signal to suddenly loose Volume, or cut out completely. Recheck all your wire connections and make sure they are not only crimped, but soldered, as time goes on bad connections get worse, so its a good idea to make sure all wires and plugs have the best possible connections.
IF AFTER doing all this it is still giving you trouble, what I would do is not look for the other amplifier, but just buy a new one and wire it into your system bypassing all the old stuff.