did i fry my amp?

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gt_mule

Member - Posts: 17

Joined: August 13, 2005

Posted: April 02, 2007 at 5:55 PM / IP Logged

Running an Alpine MRP-F250 driving 4 Polk db525's. Installed for 2 months. It started cutting out for a second every now and then occasionally; now it happens on a regular basis. Power light stays on, and sub amp is unaffected. Gains were set at about 90%, enclosure is also prone to heat.

I opened up the enclosure today and will be installing a fan, but I'm guessing the damage is already done. I am assuming that heat+high gain=blown amp?

haemphyst

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Joined: January 19, 2003

Location: Michigan, Bouvet Island

Posted: April 02, 2007 at 6:55 PM / IP Logged

Could... not guaranteed tho. Adjust your gain correctly, and add the fan, as that could certainly not hurt anything.

It all reminds me of something that Molière once said to Guy de Maupassant at a café in Vienna: "That's nice. You should write it down."

sedate

Silver - Posts: 1,173

Joined: July 03, 2004

Location: Colorado, United States

Posted: April 02, 2007 at 7:02 PM / IP Logged

gt_mule wrote:

I opened up the enclosure today and will be installing a fan, but I'm guessing the damage is already done. I am assuming that heat+high gain=blown amp?

That does NOT read like a blown amp to me....

An amplifier like this would normally be *very* hot in operation.. any MOSFET amp like that should get so hot under normal operation that touching it should be uncomfortable. I don't believe this is the source of your problems.

gt_mule wrote:

It started cutting out for a second every now and then occasionally

When the amp cuts out, does it otherwise sound normal? Like the music is going along beautifully, then the signal just drops for a moment, then cuts back on?

Are there any other indicator lights on your amplifier? Any sort of protection light or anything?

Honestly, it sounds like a bad ground or something interupting a nice steady 12v flow to the amp... if it is cutting *in* and out without distortion, then it is certainly not blown.. I'd put my money on a wiring problem somewhere..

"I'm finished!" - Daniel Plainview

sedate

Silver - Posts: 1,173

Joined: July 03, 2004

Location: Colorado, United States

Posted: April 02, 2007 at 7:05 PM / IP Logged

gt_mule wrote:

I opened up the enclosure today and will be installing a fan

Wait wait.. are your amps... enclosed themselves?

If so, perhaps your amp is going into thermal protection..

"I'm finished!" - Daniel Plainview

gt_mule

Member - Posts: 17

Joined: August 13, 2005

Posted: April 03, 2007 at 1:57 PM / IP Logged

Here

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/gt_mule/UnderPlexi.gif

is my setup. There is plexi over the amps with 1" between. The power light stays on; the amp does not have a protection light.

The sound is great and then drops out 100% then comes back on 1-2 seconds later like nothing happened. I am able to touch the heat sink fins during normal operation through a routing hole in the aluminum, and they do not even feel warm.

I did mess with my ground connection 2 days ago; I added a 40w PA amp ground to the same location. I will check that connection first. However, I did have a bad ground when I first installed this setup, and when the ground was bad the power light would shut off along with the amp as it went into protection. So I have my doubts about the ground being the problem.

sedate

Silver - Posts: 1,173

Joined: July 03, 2004

Location: Colorado, United States

Posted: April 03, 2007 at 7:10 PM / IP Logged

gt_mule wrote:

doubts about the ground being the problem.

Yea the ground is sort of one of those car stereo bogeymen that never really pans out.. see...

I'm not saying the amp is turning off.. I'm saying maybe for some reason the voltage to that amp is dropping below whatever point it will play at... my JL amps will cut out exactly as you describe when the input voltage hits >9v.. it won't turn off and the protection light won't come on, but the amps will completely cut output until the voltage stabilizes. The weird part is, that really happens to the sub amp during big bass drops.. the way you describe is really odd. I've never encountered it.

I'd say your next step is check the voltage at that amp when this occurs... I dunno man. Maybe someone else will chime in..

"I'm finished!" - Daniel Plainview

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did i fry my amp?

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