have i blown my amplifier?

(re: haemph's post above)

I am an idiot gets my vote for platinum, too, along with the .  I learn something every time I read his answers. 

I have to agree over and over again. You should be compensated vast sums of money for the invaluable experience and wealth of knowledge you've shared over the years. I've read and relied upon your responses even before our current  correspondence.

Pins 11 and 12 were connected to eachother, but they weren't connected to pin 8. However, I feel like they are common now. The picture below should show what I was able to do based upon my understanding of what you wanted me to do. I have a feeling I may have messed up...which is why I'm not going to put it back in the car until I get your vote of approval. Regardless of which 3 I test, they all check out at .3 ohms on the meter and are all well connected. Tomorrow I'll clean the board off real well and make the connections as you directed. I know I won't mess those steps up. 

http://picasaweb.google.com/Chance.Lester/QuickPics#5260600055381379522

http://picasaweb.google.com/Chance.Lester/QuickPics#5260599966006935074

Once again, I greatly apologize for the delay. But at least now you know why. I just attempted to embed some pics I took of the recent soldering. Sorry, they aren't the bext quality. Nothing is being bridged although it may look like it is from the pics I've posted. I'm hoping I didn't misunderstand your directions. I've had a lot on my mind and confusion has tended to set in lately. I haven't and will not hook anything up until I get the go-ahead from you. I'll be back in Durham (home) sometime early this evening and I'll be able, if directed, to hook it up and get any necessary readings.

All looks fine there.  As you stated, in one pic it does look as though 12 and 13 are bridged, the other pic shows they are not.

You can bring it to the car and remember a single 10 amp fuse, and only connect the power plug.  No RCA jacks.  With the power plug connected, briefly touch the jumper to the power block or the shiny metal going into the back of the fuse holder.  By briefly, I mean about 1/2 of a second,  watch the LED when you do this.  It should light up.  If it lights up and the fuse is ok, the next time try it for a few seconds.  If that goes well, connect RCAs and speaker terminal.  With the volume turned very low touch the jumper to the fuse again and see if the sub plays.  If it plays, this will let us know that there is no major damage. 

Let me know if it plays.

Edit:  A soldering tip for you.  When attempting to solder a wire to another component or to another wire for that matter, heat up the wire and apply solder to that device,  then heat up the other device and saturate it with solder.  With solder on each device, now place the devices together where you wish to make the connection.  Heat up the 2 soldered devices and when the solder melts, remove the iron and hold in place until the joint cools. 

Never touch the solder directly to the iron, the iron is hot enough to make the solder melt, if the part you are soldering is not hot enough to melt the solder, you will not make a good connection.  Depending on the quality of your iron, you may have to briefly touch the solder to the iron to start the melting process, but the metal needs to be hot enough to melt the solder. 

I was able to hook it up as you directed last night and the news I have isn't very good. The only light that was visible was a very faint spark created at the end of the IDE jumper cable whenever I touched it  to the power block. I also tried touching the metal rear of the fuse holder, but there wasn't any life from the power LED. Now that I think about it, I don't recall if there was a spark created on the fuse holder the way there was on the power block. Also, I know you said to connect on the power block so that is all that I connected. Did you want me to connect the remote as well?

I'm guessing there may in fact be major damage? Using your soldering tips, which are greatly appreciated by the way, I will re-solder the connections to make sure my problem isn't just a couple of bad connections. That is if you think it would even be worth it. I'll be able to resume with much better contact and response times starting at this point.

Thank you for your condolences and you're understanding.

See the 2 transistors next to the chip, they are labeled Q44 and Q45.  We need to check them to see if they are shorted.  Put your meter on the diode test function, it should be the only little picture on the choice of selections.  The pic should be similar to this

Touch and hold one meter lead to one leg of the transistor, now touch the other lead to the other 2 legs, one at a time of course, and notice the readings.   Do this for both transistors and let me know what you find out.