Help. Cabling????

[kizza50]

so i recently upgraded my sound, i had a kenwood HU MP-2034 or something, Audioline 2x300watt amp and a 600 watt US audio Sub, i upgraded to twin pioneer champion series subs and a 4 x 200Wrms amp. I got splitters as my head unit only has one pre-out, the wiring was an 8 gauge 600 watt. now whenever bass kicks in the amp goes into protection mode, is this due to the cabling not being able to handle the load, the amp has 2 channels briged to the subs and the other 2 to the parcel shelf speakers. any help or advice would be much appreciated

[StoneX]

More likely that your ground wire isn't making a good contact. Check that first.

[kizza50]

but it was working fine on my last amp,? and making good contact with the amp or the ground contact point? isnt it abnormal that 600watt 8 gauge wiring kit is being used on a 4 channel 4x200rms ???

[acarmody]

So if the cable is rated to 600 watts and your using 800 watts, do you think the cable might not be big enough? Also have you adjusted the gain on the amps properly, if not when they hit a powerful note, they will go into protect.

Also can you provide model numbers for the amp and subs?

[kizza50]

but wouldnt the wiring kit 8 gauge be measured in watts while the subs measured in rms? and im not to sure on model numbers, but the subs are pioneer champion series, and the amp is a powervox 4x1400 watt ebay one till i come accross something a bit better.

[acarmody]

WRMS is Watts Root Mean Square, all audio equipment should use wrms, watts means nothing. Take your Powervox amp for example, it says 1400w x 4, but in reality it will NEVER make that power, what it really makes is 4 x 200wrms (unlikely, no offence but it is powervox).

Also the reason I ask for the model numbers is because the two channels bridged for the sub would likely need a 4-ohm load. Now to achieve this with two Pioneer champion subs you would need them both to be D4 models and then wired in series AND in parallel to make it work.

[kizza50]

well could i not bridge 2 channels for the twins, but run 1 channel to each sub ??

[kizza50]

??????????

[acarmody]

Twins?? Explain?

[kizza50]

twin subs, instead of briding two channel from the amp to one imput on the sub to run them both, could i run 1 channel to each input on the sub

[acarmody]

No offence mate but your not making much sense. Are the subs both in individual boxes or in a twin box?

[kizza50]

twin box, iv bridged two channels,to 1 output on the sub box, there are two outputs on the box......

[acarmody]

So there are two negatives and two negatives on the outside of the box? If yes, are they on different ends of the box or are they all together.

[kizza50]

two negatives and two "positives" on oppisite ends of the box

[acarmody]

OK OK, good. But what I really need to know now is whether these are D2 or D4 subs. So on the back of the subs it should say something like TS-W304D2 or TS-W307D4 or something similar, its the last two characters I'm interested in. Also while the sub is out I need to know whether the sub is wired with one positive and one negative is wired together with a few cm piece of cable, or whether both positves and both negative (on the one sub) are connected to the positive and negative on ONE side of the box. Or a photo will explain.

[kizza50]

This might answer ur question, I can put the positive n negative on both sides ad they will both work and pump from having the speaker wires from eiter side, and I'm not sure on d2 or d4

[acarmody]

Not really that doesn't help, but honestly, the first thing I would do is upgrade the power and ground cable to 4-gauge. If that doesn't work then we can go more in depth. Just wire the subs back to however you had them.

Also just make sure the gain is set properly on your amp, if its turned up too high it will send the amp into protect.

[kizza50]

The amp comes in and out of protect, is 0 gauge overkill? I dnt wanna buy say 7 meters of 4 gauge n find out I have to go bigger.

[acarmody]

Yeah 0-gauge would be overkill for now, but if you ever upgrade to some bigger amps later it will save money now. For instance I myself bought 3 lots of power cable before I got the 0-gauge I am running now.

[kizza50]

U wouldn't wanna sell some 4 gauge would j
you haha, and I'll need a new fuse also aswell won't I

[acarmody]

I cut up my 4-gauge and am using it as speaker wire for the subs. Works well.

Yep you'll need power cable, a bigger fuse, and ground cable.

[kizza50]

So wiring is definantly the problem? And 4 gauge would def fix it??

[acarmody]

There is no definitely here mate. But here's an idea, if the cable is to small then there is a chance the cable could melt and catch fire, and then your whole car could catch fire. Just a thought.

[kizza50]

So it's highly recommended lol

[acarmody]

Yep definitely so. Look around when buying cabling as you can get some good deals with old stock, or clearance sales, unless your just buying cable and not a kit, in which case Jaycar might be able to fix you up. As a good rule, get the biggest stuff you can get your hands on. 4-Gauge would be OK for now, but if you can afford 2 or 0 gauge then get it.

I myself got a Stinger 0-gauge wiring kit for about $150 because some retard went into JB and without asking decided to rip open the case to inspect the content, obviously no-one told the retard its just friggin cable, it doesn't look any different behind a plastic case. Oh well, one mans stupidity is another mans bargain.