An odd audio problem has arisen. I am losing a portion of the audio played through the stereo of my 2006 Mazda 6.

The standard stereo has no Bluetooth or AirPlay or similar wireless capability. It does have an auxiliary port. The port is intended for use with a CD-changer. I bought a super-cheap auxiliary cable online. I plugged one end into the auxiliary port. The other end is a 3.5 mm plug that fits into earphone ports, such as that of the iPhone. The set-up worked well for a few months.

Now, though, the set-up turns down the volume of any vocals in music played from an iPhone. The instrumental portions of such music remain at a satisfactory level, but the singing is diminished.

I hear the music from both sides of the car, so I still have stereo for the sound coming out of the iPhone. It's just that the singing in the middle of the sound stage is toned down.

This problem occurs with two different iPhones, including one in which I installed the latest iOS last week. I am using the phones’ “Music” application.

The end of the cable with the earphone plug on it appears intact and undamaged. I have not pulled out the stereo tuner to inspect the other end of the cable, but I expect, that if I had any loose wires there, I would hear it.

Does anyone recognize the problem and know the solution?

TIA

 

Have you tried another cable?

 

No. I have not yet chosen to spend any more money on this project.

The reason why I not yet made that experiment is that I would not think that a simple pair of wires would affect only one segment of the recorded sound. My initial expectation is that there is some software problem somewhere.