Problems with 650Wx4 PowerVox Amplifier... Please Help

[jw.pfitzner]

hey people. i just jumped in my car to chill out, listen to a bit of music and i get to 23 on my head unit and the amp cuts in and out like in a continuos pattern just completely dies then comes back on then dies... this has never happened before even in the pissing rain, all of the wires are done correctly no wires are touching, i used all the correct plugs on the ends of wires, the fuses are all still intact i have checked everything i can think of, any ideas? this happened in a friend of mines AE86 if his car wasnt turned on but he was runnin two 12" woofers off a 1000W Howler, im only running the two 10" woofers off two of the channels on the amp which is a 650Wx4 PowerVox...

[kizza50]

yee i had a powervox also, jus something cheap to run while i got something half decent, lol the rms ratings for one thats 640 watts is about 100 rms.... anyways, i found the same problem, i simply changed to bigger wiring, and turned the gains down, and no more cutting out, just play with the gains, and see what happens. Also your probably seeing 1ohm resistance at the amp n its probably trying to kill itself

[Phyco]

Wrong Section.... Try in Car Audio

[jw.pfitzner]

thanks kizza, my gain is right down otherwise it over powers the stereo and just sounds shit house... bigger wiring, do u mean heavier gauge cause my current wiring is what i was directed to use for what i said to be a 650W amp haha so if your sayin its only 100W RMS then shouldnt it be a lighter gauge, im so not goin through all that again just on the maybe, ive never had the problem before and its been in there for about a month and a half now, im just gonna wait for it to stop rainin then see if it still does it... unless anyone has another reason why it may be doing it...?

[acarmody]

Okay well the first problem is Powervox, they are good for boat anchors, paperweights and fire-starters, and the 640w per channel, is probably 64wrms per channel. Now your running a sub off one channel each so at best your getting 64wrms per sub.

Chances are your problem is just that the amp is crapping itself, it cheap and you get what you pay for.

[jw.pfitzner]

cheers... ok so ive done nothing wrong, which is good, so basically what your saying is that i should go buy a deent amp, whats a good brand like i know the top shelf names but i want something with a clean sound that aint gonna shit itself, crackle, sound like a dusty needle on a record player all of that shit i just want a nice clean amp, and what would power these two subs, they are only give aways... temporary 10" hole fillers i think they are AudioLine or some shit but there is no rating on the magnet or nothin so...

[holdenboy]

What are you powering off the amp?, like channels 3 and 4 are bridged to a sub and channels 1 and 2 power speakers etc.

[STEEV888]

i have a 2 X 75w (150w bridged is my set up) blaupunkt amp going to 2 prolinear 12" 600w subs.
the amp also cuts out but it only does this because the amp is overloading and its a safety switch so it doesnt blow fuses etc.
this is normal when you are under powering something yet it still has plenty of bass to suffice me. (and the amp was free. was a warranty job from repco for the problem when we rang up the company they said it was normal but the guy didnt care and bought a bigger one and we could not resel this one.)
just dont crank it as loud also if its variable gain turn it down start a song and slowly turn it up.
this should be fine till you can afford a really good system.

[holdenboy]

i have a 2 X 75w (150w bridged is my set up) blaupunkt amp going to 2 prolinear 12" 600w subs.
the amp also cuts out but it only does this because the amp is overloading and its a safety switch so it doesnt blow fuses etc.
this is normal when you are under powering something yet it still has plenty of bass to suffice me. (and the amp was free. was a warranty job from repco for the problem when we rang up the company they said it was normal but the guy didnt care and bought a bigger one and we could not resel this one.)
just dont crank it as loud also if its variable gain turn it down start a song and slowly turn it up.
this should be fine till you can afford a really good system.

So youve got a 2 channel amp thats bridged to run 2 subwoofers? If those subs are single 4 ohm voice coils and your just connecting the +s and -s together and running them to the amp it means the amp is running 2 ohm bridged, or 1 ohm per channel........if thats the case the amp is shutting off because you are running it below its minimum impedance. In NO way is it normal operation for an amp to shut off into protect, something will almost always be wrong either with the amp itself, the power / earth wiring or the speaker / subwoofer wiring.

[STEEV888]

So youve got a 2 channel amp thats bridged to run 2 subwoofers? If those subs are single 4 ohm voice coils and your just connecting the +s and -s together and running them to the amp it means the amp is running 2 ohm bridged, or 1 ohm per channel........if thats the case the amp is shutting off because you are running it below its minimum impedance. In NO way is it normal operation for an amp to shut off into protect, something will almost always be wrong either with the amp itself, the power / earth wiring or the speaker / subwoofer wiring.

wow really? i have never asked any1 about this because i thought it happend for a reason its been like it for nearly 3 years in my excel.
also happens in a mates car with her jensen amp.

if this is not correct and there is a way to fix it i would really like to know.

thanks for the info

|--+--|-----|--+--|-----|
the 2...................the 2
positive...............negative
wires..................wires.

thats how i have it set up (if you can understand it haha.)

(sorry i dont mean to thread hijack)

[jw.pfitzner]

What are you powering off the amp?, like channels 3 and 4 are bridged to a sub and channels 1 and 2 power speakers etc.

on channels one and two i have the two subs running off each channel, i had them bridged to both channels one and two but i wasnt getting any sound at all so i swapped em over so the subs and tweeers are on one channel each and then they worked fine, i have had the stereo flat out playing hardstyle techno for mates of mine to "shuffle" to, i myself have never gotten into it i was just proud to hear the bass flat out as this is the first stereo ive ever done myself, i had a go but im to unco, more into me cars haha but i will try the diagram u just put up, im not at home for the night but will definetly try it tomorrow, oh and channels three and four are not in use, i was going to run the 280W Pioneers off them but i havent bought them yet... this shits me because it worked fine then just out of the blue i turned the tuner up, i was having a drink and lightning crashes by live just happened to be on the radio so i went to turn it up and noticed the subs cutting in and out which shit me to tears

[aazn]

check the earth on your amp.. ive seen amps dropping out plenty of times, its mainly because the earth is not set up properly.

[jw.pfitzner]

|--+--|-----|--+--|-----|
the 2...................the 2
positive...............negative
wires..................wires.

haha thanks people, it ended up bein two wires touching in between the amp and the box, oh and after i parted the wires, i tried this and it just did it twice as bad so i just swapped the channels over and now it works fine, but because of that playing up i went looking for a new amp, i ended up buying an alpine head unit with alpine m650 mono amp, dunno what that stands for but it also came with an alpine type s 12" ) now my boot rattles haha i think its just the torsion bars but cause one of them is broken but it sounds mad... i wanna do a sound check on it, can u buy something to do it yourself or do i have to take it somewhere, like to get a dB reading...?

[acarmody]

Any dedicated car audio store that does any sort of competition gear/work should have a TermLab or similar, or at the least know where one can be found. They will usually charge for the time though.

[jw.pfitzner]

cheers for that man... i love this website haha