Sub broken?? Or is it the Amp? What's going on?

[holdenboy]

By wrong wiring i mean too many speakers running off the amp (too low impedance). This can be fine if you dont turn the volume up past a certain level....but after that the amp tries to pull more current than its capable of and trips into protect.
Also going with the low impedance theory, using power cable thats too small for the amp will result in a lower voltage at the amps' terminals, which will also cause the amp to go into protect.

So basically, yes if the wiring isnt right then components can work sometimes, and sometimes not. Going off his explaination it sounds like a wiring / configuration problem more than components. Yeah sure they do come into it as a possibility but im thinking more towards my first thought.

The OP also wrote in his first post that his front speakers (splits), rear speakers (6x9s) and subwoofer were all running off the amplifier.

 

[jazza15]

I'll try and get that picture tomorrow.
And just to confirm it is the rear parcel shelf 6 x 9's running off channel 1/2 and the sub off 3/4, that's it.
Inspected the wiring on the sub and it appears to be fine.
It's clearly not the best gear, but i've got no complaints when it's working, nor am I looking to upgrade as I don't have the money, nor do I want to be putting my money into car audio, it's a trap.
So hopefully I don't learn much in the process of getting this to work again and not get tempted into upgrading my system... too much ...oh no!

 

[holdenboy]

lol.

So the amp is working fine now youve only got the 6x9s and sub connected?

 

[jazza15]

Yeah it did when I had only the 6x9's connected.
Hooked up the sub and it only works when i have it turned right down to a dis-proportionate level. Not as loud as it used to be. Will try and get the photo's soon, but until then I am open to any suggestions/ideas.

 

[jazza15]

Ok, so here are the photo's of the Amp setup.
The thick wires go to the sub (channels 3 & 4) and the thin wires go to the 6x9's (channels 1 & 2) the rest I'm sure is self explanitory in terms of power cord etc.

In the second photo is the x over. The knob on the left, near the power light controls the 6x9's, it is turned down to min as that is all that's necessary for a good balance.
The problem is on the right hand side, where you may be able to see that it is only turned up about a quarter of the way as that is about as far as it will go without cutting out during deep bass. Fiddling with the High|Full|Low on either side had no real effect on fixing it (cutting out).

 

[holdenboy]

Ok then....well by the looks of that the amp is wired fine. Proper gauge power/earth cables are used and the speaker wiring looks fine. On the other end everything looks OK too.

Seeing as the amp has been wired wrong in the past (running the fronts, rears and subwoofer) i would imagine it has done some permanent damage internally.

Try wiring the subwoofer off just channel 3 or 4 (not bridged) and see if it stops cutting out......even try hooking up the sub by itself not bridged. If the problem persists and its only happening when youve got the subwoofer connected then i would be turning my attention towards the subwoofer itself.

Another thing to do is grab/buy a multimeter (can be had for $10 at SCA) and while the system is on and playing music (car on/off dosent matter at this stage) check the voltage on the amps terminals.

Its really hard to diagnose / rectify problems like this over the net, i can go over probably 10 different things to check, including individual speakers, RCAs, connections etc etc.

 

[jazza15]

Ahk thanks for that.
Just a note: the fronts were never hooked up to the amp (to my knowledge).
I'll try what you said and let ya's know how it went.

 

[holdenboy]

Ohh, well ok....if the fronts were never amped then as far as wiring configs. go then it should be fine.

Im starting to lean more towards component error (either speaker/s or amp). Try hooking just one speaker up at a time and turning the volume up......if its a speaker then you'll find that out soon enough. If it still goes into protect after youve tried all speakers then its possible the amp is faulty.

 

[jazza15]

Ok, so i de-bridged the sub (previously across 3 & 4) and hooked it up to just 4. Got nothing coming from the sub.
So i tried it on 3 and it worked perfectly fine, was able to adjust the level without any cutouts whatsoever.
So it is working well now, but what's going on. what has gone wrong so that i can't bridge the sub across 3 & 4? or even hook it up to just 4?
Anyone know why?

 

[holdenboy]

I'd say theres a problem with channel 4 somewhere.....could be internally or the RCA input. try swapping the RCAs around on ch. 3 and 4.