Stereo Questions - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

86CRESSIDA86 · 09-28-2002, 01:42 PM

Alright, i just hooked up a 300watt amp to my 10". The problem is that everyonce and a while it will cut out. I know im not over powering it or anything but i have no idea whats going on. So then i borrowed my friend 2 12's and they never cut out, they worked perfectly. Then my friend sold me his 12" and i know it works in his car because i hear it everyday. And when i hooked it up to my amp, it cuts out once and a while! Why, does anyone know why? How can i fix it? My dad thinks its because I dont have enough gain or something, im not a stereo guy. I know very little about all this, so any help is greatly appreciated.

Ian K

4Aaron GE · 09-28-2002, 02:18 PM

What do you mean, it cuts out? Like does it just stop playing? If that's the case, it could be several things. The amp might be shorting out, or it could be some other preventitive measure built in. On the other hand, your amp just might be screwed.

alex · 09-28-2002, 02:45 PM

or it could be you don't have it set up right...cause if it works with two subs....but not one....somfins screwed

PLRBEAR · 09-28-2002, 04:01 PM

I've got my money on the amp. Also depends on how you're wiring the single subwoofer to the amp. Could it be that you're running it at 1 ohm?
Try wiring it to one channel (eg. left side +/-), and then wire it as + on the left and - on the right channel. See what happens.

EasyE · 09-28-2002, 06:42 PM

your amp might be overheating
it could be an amp not intentionally meant for low end (bass) and most for highs... like mine... after playing for a while (a long while) it will start to overheat... it comes back on tho

does yours come back on after it "cuts out"?

TorontoBud · 09-28-2002, 06:45 PM

we got a section for this now. moderators?

86CRESSIDA86 · 09-28-2002, 08:22 PM

woops, sorry bout the wrong forum. No its not anything about overheating, because it happens all the time, when i first start the car or wether its been running for a while. I was thinking its an amp problem too. Im goin to take it back and see what they say, i might exchange it for different amp if its an amp problem, well even if it isnt i might exchange it. Its wired fine i beleive. What i mean is it cuts out is that only the speaker being powered by the amp (sub) will cut out, but everything else works fine. It will just stop working all together but will dome right back on. I was looking at the amp when it was doing this and it will switch itself to protect when it cuts out, then back to power when its goin. Im so confused. I think im going to go swap it out for the 540 my friend has. He used to have this sub and it worked fine with his 540, i know its not the problem with the sub either. Right now the sub is bridged, but ill try it not bridged and see what happens. Im thinking its the amp because of the symptoms. Now the head unit has nothing to do with powering the sub, right? My dad keeps insisting its the head unit, i even drew him a diagram on how its set up, only thing coming from the head is the RCA cables. Nothing to due with power, right? Thanks for the help guys

alex · 09-28-2002, 08:37 PM

only thing i can think of is that your power wire is not big enough.....or that your battery sucks...or the amp itselfed is fvked

86CRESSIDA86 · 09-28-2002, 09:39 PM

well i have a 4 gauge power wire, and a brand new battery. So i dont think its either of those. Im goin to talk to the place i bought the amp from and see. like i said ill probably exchange it.

Ian K

wunderboy · 09-29-2002, 09:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PLRBEAR

I've got my money on the amp. Also depends on how you're wiring the single subwoofer to the amp. Could it be that you're running it at 1 ohm?
Try wiring it to one channel (eg. left side +/-), and then wire it as + on the left and - on the right channel. See what happens.

Thats called bridging. Bridging your subs causes the amplifier to increase its voltage to the sub's. If you have one sub that is cutting out, it could be due to too much power going to it, If you bridged the one sub, and it has too much power running to it... what do you think will happen? See if you have had it bridged in the first place, if you did dont.

It could be overheating, but then why doesnt it overheat when you have two subs installed?

86CRESSIDA86 · 09-29-2002, 11:52 AM

the reason i dont think im overpowering it is because my friend had the same setup with a larger amp on the same sub. But im goin to go hook em up not bridged and see what happens.

Ian K

***EKam*** · 09-29-2002, 12:07 PM

Check how many Ohms you're running your subs at, try tweaking your gain too and see if it helps. Check the voltage of power/ground of all your wires (and make sure they are connected the right way) just to be safe.

It sounds like you haven't done the install properly.

***Phi*** · 09-29-2002, 12:17 PM

I had a similar prob once. Check ALL of you connections. Especially the ground. It sounds like your amp is overheating and not liking it.

Xenon · 09-29-2002, 12:33 PM

There's 3 reasons why this would happen:

1- bad speaker wires connections either inside the box, or to the Amp..

2- Your Amp has an internal problem.

3- If the Amp is heating up and it's not because of number 2 then it's definetly a bad ground, Amps tend to heat up when they have a bad ground because since the current is not going throught the Amp to the ground, it will stay in the Amp causing it to overhea..

86CRESSIDA86 · 09-29-2002, 04:36 PM

Well i hooked it up w/o bridging it and it doesnt do it anymore. Whys that? Ive checked all my connections, ill test how much power i have going through it all tommorow. I dont see how it is the amp overheating, it happens when the amp is cool. How do i tweak the gain?

Ian K