Printer Friendly Forum Posts - bass cuts at high volume?

i gots 2ga. power & ground wire (power has 80amp fuse)

3 hifonic 10s, 900 max 450rms, 2 ohm DVC(wired series parallel @ 1.33 ohms) in a vented box

power akoustik 2000max 1200rms @ 1ohm mono (two 40 amp fuses)

the first 24 hours it was fine, but now when i turn the bass up, the subs quit until i turn it down, or restart cd player. i can hear a clicking sound in the amp when this happens ( but the protect light on amp never comes on) and a scratch sound from the speakers for a split second before the go off(sounds like when you touch a speaker wire to a speaker) are the speakers shutting down or the amp, and why???

i thought maybe it wasnt enough power??or something so i did this

hooked up 2 of the speaker @ 2ohms (left one out)

and the amp is 900rms @ 2 ohms

thought it would be perfect, but it does the exact same thing??? im starting to think my amp is a piece of junk

any ideas why my subs shut down??? i cant figure this out, and like i said, it worked fine the first day...

Have you checked voltage at the amp with the amp playing just below the level of it cutting out? When checking the voltage, black meter lead to the ground terminal of the amp, not to the chassis of the car.

no, how do i do that???

With a volt meter, set to DC volts, or the 20 volt DC scale if it is not an auto-ranging meter. Black lead to the ground terminal of the amp, red lead to the power terminal, now have someone turn the volume up to right before it would shut off. Notice how low the voltage is dropping. Let us know what you come up with.

i will try that im guessing it cant be too much to buy a volt meter??? shouldnt my protection light on amp be lighting up, (or does it light up if too MUCH power?) i saw somewhere someone said shoreter ground wire is better, i used the ground wire in the kit (power akoustic kit) its like 3 ft. or so, i guess i could take a foot or so off. do you think this could make a diffrence??? from the sound of my problem? i know the basics, but nothing more, thanks for the help, i will check the voltage

The protection light may not come on when the voltage drops too low for the amp to play. If you do not have a meter, shorten the ground wire, make sure you remove the paint from the chassis of the vehicle where you attach the ground wire. Check the connection at the battery and also inspect the fuse and fuse holder at the battery. If it has an AGU type fuse, replace the fuse. Those fuses are famous for melting the solder off of the connections under the cap of the fuse. It looks fine but it is not.

The protection light on most amps should be renamed, It's too late, your amp is already broken.

yeah i scratched all the paint off . ive checked all my wiring 2-3 times. checked my fuses, but i WILL replace the AGU ones (makes sence b/c i didnt do it at first) AND ill shorten the ground..one more thing the amp booklets reccomends 4/8 guage power wire (heavier if planning to add more amps) i ran 2 guage(dunno if that helps) also i had no RCA hookups in back of cd changer, had to get the converter kit & tap into speaker wires...lets say it is the volt thing....what would i do to fix it? is that was a capacitor is for???

posted_image

A cap will not fix your problem.

And yes that was just for you BigJohnny

speakers dont shut down do they? they will just blow when they get too much power huh? so its gotta be my amp? i dont know what ur picture is all about, but what will fix my problem if da volt is too low?

dont tell me id need a new alternator???

I would assume the Big 3 is in your future...Get a digital multi meter...Yes a new alternator would be appropriate...But lets first see what the voltage is doing...The picture is how to install a cap...1. put a 10 watt resistor across leads ...2. Mount at bottom of trash can(that way you can cover it w/ trash and wont feel so bad everytime you throw something away)

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M.E.C.P & First-Class
Go slow and drink lots of water...Procrastinators' Unite...Tomorrow!

Wait, wait... Hold the phone!

ryan223741 wrote:

...thought it would be perfect, but it does the exact same thing??? im starting to think my amp is a piece of junk

Didn't you say in your OP that it was a Power Acoustik?

In the immortal words of Adam Savage:

"Wull, there's your problem."

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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."

i am an idiot wrote:

With a volt meter, set to DC volts, or the 20 volt DC scale if it is not an auto-ranging meter. Black lead to the ground terminal of the amp, red lead to the power terminal, now have someone turn the volume up to right before it would shut off. Notice how low the voltage is dropping. Let us know what you come up with.

i got da multi meter, if im reading the right scale on it, its about 13-14volts and never drops below 11-12 volts when the bass hits right before it shuts off...???

i saw something today that worries me and maybe a clue to why my amp shuts off...the speaker wires running from the amp to the terminal on the box...well on the box end of the wires, they are alittle dark, looks like they are getting too damn hot.....wth causes speaker wires to do that?? can junk terminals on a box do that??maybe a short somehow???ALSO can you use TOO THICK of speaker wire?????instead of splitting the speaker wire, for neg&pos i used both for each. basically ive got twice as thick of speaker wires as anybody else ive seen.. could that be causing this????? what do yall think?

haemphyst wrote:

Wait, wait... Hold the phone!
ryan223741 wrote:

...thought it would be perfect, but it does the exact same thing??? im starting to think my amp is a piece of junk

Didn't you say in your OP that it was a Power Acoustik?

In the immortal words of Adam Savage:

"Wull, there's your problem."

what do you suggest

Something similar happen to me before. My 4 ch. amp would cut off when i reached high volumes. Reason was because one of my speakers blew and i didn't realise it. So when I started to play at loud volumes the coil would cause a short and short out my amp and send it into protect then once lowered it played normal again. Just a suggestion ...I don't know what u consider speaker or sub abuse

...and yes when my 4ch would short out my mono block would continue playing

nah they brand new subs, they all bump the same, and ive checked all voice coils...

I would recommend reading The Big 3 sticky...And How to Set Gain sticky...!

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M.E.C.P & First-Class
Go slow and drink lots of water...Procrastinators' Unite...Tomorrow!