no sound til volume increase

Equipment in question:

• HU: Alpine CDA-9830 https://vault.alpine-usa.com/products/documents/OM%20CDA-9830.pdf
• Amp: ClarionPro APA2104 https://ampguts.realmofexcursion.com/Clarion_APA2104/
• Midwoofers: Silver Flute W14RC25 https://www.madisound.com/catalog/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=150&products_id=843 Lowpassed @ 2500Hz 6dB per, waiting on caps to finish -3500Hz 12dB per. Jantzen coils/caps (Silver line caps, 19g inductors).
• Tweeters: Alpine SPS-1015 https://www.sonicelectrnix.com/item_38_Alpine+SPS-1015+Titanium+Balanced+Dome+Tweeters.html

16g speaker wire, everything soldered. 8g power/ground wire for amp. Amp @ 4ohms stereo (is 1ohm stable).

*Sometimes when I turn the HU on, the left side doesn't play until I turn the volume up. Then it gets scratchy and comes in. All wiring is great. After it comes back in, I can turn the volume back down and it'll keep playing, for good, until I get back in the car later. Sometimes when I get in the car it'll be fine!

Ideas?! I went over everything, more than once! I did the wiggle test on all wiring (even though it's all soldeRED / tight). Nothing...

Be right back!

Of course it's not doing it right now, and I don't exactly want to drive around with my speakers reversed...

I'll update when I find out.

Do you really know which side of the stage the piano is on?

i am an idiot wrote:

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Do you really know which side of the stage the piano is on?

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Good point! I do drum right-handed so I like to do the rolls in my head, but I guess for the sake of troubleshooting I can switch it around...

Will switching the RCA's on the amp around serve the same purpose as switching the speaker wires? -It's so much easier!

I keep going out to the car and it won't do it anymore! Aargh!

El Oh El

So what I am looking for is, when I switch the wiring, be it the speaker wires or the RCAs, the problem should occur on the right side -currently on left side?

Cool. I'll let you know as soon as I can -the ghost seems to have left the car...

Thanks for all your help, idiot, past and present!

Anyway, I came across a better front stage amp: Alpine MRP-F240 and I don't think I still have the problem (as I said, it happend when it wanted...). I'll update on that.

But, the amp exchange got rid of the dreaded alternator whine -yippee! So I guess when the ground wasn't sufficient on the Clarion a while back (something idiot helped me with before), it sought ground through the RCA shields -as you stated might have happend. Also, it sounds much better, with a little more volume! I currently have the front stage wired to only the front channels from the amp but once I run separate wiring for the tweeters, i'll be bi-amping. I know it'll sound even better then! El Oh El.

I'll let you know if the problem still occurs.

If you have a single set of 4 ohm speakers connected to it, you would probably be better off running the amp 2 channel instead of bi-amping it. 

Why would that be? Each set (tweeter and midwoofer) is getting about 40 watts right now. If/when I bi-amp them, each driver will be getting 40watts. The amp will be running @ 4 x 4ohms, so damping will still be alright.

I forgot to add, if this is why you recommend against bi-amping, each driver has its' own passive x-over inline.

There is no replacement for power.  If your speakers will handle you behind the knob with 100 watts on each channel, you need to at least try it.   How high can you set the crossover frequency on that amp.  If you can not set it high enough and you have to use the passive crossovers you are not going to gain anything.  If the amp is wasting energy producing frequencies that your speakers (the tweeters) can't play, it is wasted power.    What kind of speakers do you have?   If you want some good clean sound, remember there is no replacement for power. 

Okay, I gotcha. I was mostly going to bi-amp so I can adjust the time-correction for each individual driver -that's about it but, the extra power will clean it up a little.

I surely know where my amp runs out of power, I can hear clipping fairly well -the huge volume increase at the point of bad clipping usually does it for me!

The amp has a high-pass/low-pass switch @ 80Hz, so there's not much adjustment available. The 80Hz cutoff is right about where I had the other amp h/p'd at anyway, so it's ok.

You're saying to bridge the amp to the components? I have 2 problems with that;

1. I don't want to run the amp @ full power because of efficiency and damping.

2. I want separate inputs/outputs for each driver, for time-delay.