All goes silent at higher volumes not clipping
Printed From: the12volt.com
Forum Name: Car Audio
Forum Discription: Car Stereos, Amplifiers, Crossovers, Processors, Speakers, Subwoofers, etc.
URL: https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=141011
Printed Date: April 25, 2024 at 2:02 PM
Topic: All goes silent at higher volumes not clipping
Posted By: nu2droid
Subject: All goes silent at higher volumes not clipping
Date Posted: March 13, 2016 at 2:47 PM
I added a Pyle pla2378 (2000w 2 channel amp ) and 2 4 ohm svc woofers to my factory radio in my 2014 kia soul (base model radio is marked 14 volt , 4 ohm). The amp is powered by and grounded by 4 gauge wires wired directly to the battery. The inputs are spliced from the factory wire harness and connected to the amp by rca jacks. When I turn the stereo up the system goes quite when the dial hits 28-30 (out of 45). Everything goes quite: the front speakers, rear speakers and the woofers. What makes me think it is not clipping is, after it goes quite the only way to reset it is to shut the car off. That, is the only way it resets. The system qoes quite but does not shut off nor does it go in protect mode (as the green power light stays on and the red protect light never lights up) If I remove either one of the inputs I can turn the system all the way up. I have wired the speakers individually and parallel. Didn't think about this, but when I spliced the input wire at the radio, I spliced into the existing speaker wire and I did not disconnect the rear factory speakers. Would that do it. Would that add the resistance of the factory speakers therefore making it more than the amp or radio can handle? If so, why does it work when I unplug one of the inputs? Shouldn't it also cut out if only one channel is being used? The voltage at the amp from the power terminals is 13.9-14.1. When the system goes silent the voltage at the terminals drop to approx 13.55. The speakers are rated for 4 ohm and measure just at 3.9-4.1 ohms. There is 0 resistance on the power wire, ground wire and remote (access wire). Any help is greatly appreciated.
Replies:
Posted By: DYohn
Date Posted: March 13, 2016 at 2:59 PM
Sounds like you are shorting out your head unit and it is shutting down in protection. You say you "spliced" into the factory wiring harness? Did you use an LOC to drive the amplifier? ------------- Support the12volt.com
Posted By: nu2droid
Date Posted: March 13, 2016 at 3:13 PM
I spliced the wire into the factory speaker wires and the other side is the rca jack into the amp.
Posted By: nu2droid
Date Posted: March 13, 2016 at 3:17 PM
Originally I had the 4 gauge wire to the seat bracket. It produced 5-8 ohms of resistance when I checked the ground from the battery. Then I ran a new 4 gauge wire from the battery to metal under the bracket, then a second wire from the bracket to the amp. All links now have at most a 0.1 ohm reading. I also added an additional ground to the radio, which also now has 0 resistance..
Posted By: nu2droid
Date Posted: March 13, 2016 at 6:58 PM
DYohn] wrote:
Sounds like you are shorting out your head unit and it is shutting down in protection. You say you "spliced" into the factory wiring harness? Did you use an LOC to drive the amplifier?
No, I did not use a loc. Going to look into getting one though so I can rule that too
Posted By: nu2droid
Date Posted: March 14, 2016 at 8:19 AM
Question. .... What happens when you draw more ohms then "allowed".. what I mean is if the radio channels are 4 ohm and I am adding the 4 ohm woofers to the existing car speakers... what will happen? Would it cause this? The description of the amp says ,"Input sensitivity: 200mV-5V". I measured the input at .2 volts, that is good then, Correct?
Posted By: pegleg1960
Date Posted: March 21, 2016 at 8:52 AM
You can't just add more speakers to your existing wiring. If you do you change the ohms at the amp. I don't ever use factory wiring except steering and nav controls. It sounds like your amp is either overheating due to the low ohms at amp or you have a short. It could also be an intermittent interruption to the power or a speaker wire or RCA cable not fitting properly. 
Just sharing a pic of what's in the bed of my Mazda. ------------- Pegleg Charlie
Builder-Charlie Cannon Subwoofer Enclosures and general troublemaker at
LMMFAO Corp.(LOL)
Posted By: pegleg1960
Date Posted: March 21, 2016 at 9:57 AM
If they are wired in series the Ohms would be at 8 Ohms. If wired in parallel they would be wired at 2 Ohms. Both situations present major issues. First of all, if the two sets of speakers are wired for 8 Ohms(series) you just cut your wattage output at the amp in half. If the amp isn't 2 Ohm stable then you're trying to pull more watts and thus, more power. I would not recommend wiring the way you have wired it because it can cause a myriad of other issues, including frying your stuff.
-------------
Pegleg Charlie
Builder-Charlie Cannon Subwoofer Enclosures and general troublemaker at
LMMFAO Corp.(LOL)
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