Sound problem with amp

contagious18 · Post by **contagious18** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 7:13 pm

So I hooked up some subs on Saturday and now when my speakers get too loud the cut off and the subs jeep playing. My speakers cut off and come bak on but they sound really distorted unless I turn it down. How can i fix this

ZeroChad · Post by **ZeroChad** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 8:36 pm

Are you running your amp off the proper pre-amps from your headunit?

contagious18 · Post by **contagious18** » Tue Oct 06, 2009 12:32 am

jetas · Post by **jetas** » Tue Oct 06, 2009 3:16 am

check ALL of ur wiring. Fromt he HU to the amp(s) and speakers.

you could have a short or u need to re-tune ur amp.

RADARsx 2.0 · Post by **RADARsx 2.0** » Tue Oct 06, 2009 4:42 am

It sounds like your amp is going into protection mode. that could be several things causing that.
-Does your speakers pop when you turn it on? If so could be a grounding issue (mostlikely at the HU)
-Is it in a area that it gets enough "air flow around it"? if not it could be overheating and going into the protection mode for a few seconds. and then doesnt' play right cause it's still overheated.
-Did you make sure that your amp gains are set to your HU's output voltages? if they aren't that could cause clipping. which gives you the distortion at higher volumes.
-And don't want to sound rude..but what size wire you running to your amp and to your speakers? (just make sure they are within manufactures ranges)

Hope some of this helps you narrow it down.

contagious18 · Post by **contagious18** » Tue Oct 06, 2009 11:34 am

RADARsx 2.0 wrote:It sounds like your amp is going into protection mode. that could be several things causing that.
-Does your speakers pop when you turn it on? If so could be a grounding issue (mostlikely at the HU)
-Is it in a area that it gets enough "air flow around it"? if not it could be overheating and going into the protection mode for a few seconds. and then doesnt' play right cause it's still overheated.
-Did you make sure that your amp gains are set to your HU's output voltages? if they aren't that could cause clipping. which gives you the distortion at higher volumes.
-And don't want to sound rude..but what size wire you running to your amp and to your speakers? (just make sure they are within manufactures ranges)

Hope some of this helps you narrow it down.

no pop when I turn on. It's not overheating. I'm running 4 gauge for the amp but then runs into a splitter to split to 2- 8 gauge for each amp and I'm using 10 gauge for the subs and the regular for the speakes

hybrid-Srt2001 · Post by **hybrid-Srt2001** » Tue Oct 06, 2009 12:05 pm

check the grounds, and mess with the hpf settings.

most problems i see with stereos are related to a ground issue.

RADARsx 2.0 · Post by **RADARsx 2.0** » Tue Oct 06, 2009 5:12 pm

I would have to agree. I would check the ground and then your amp and HU settings.

SOKADAO954 · Post by **SOKADAO954** » Tue Oct 06, 2009 6:00 pm

What i belive your problem may be the amp. When you are pushing your amp to the max, it goes into protect mode (amp overheats) witch cause it to shut down intil its at normal temperature.

What kind of subs, head unite, amp???

contagious18 · Post by **contagious18** » Wed Oct 07, 2009 9:57 pm

Why would the amp to the speakers heat up all of a sudden that I hook up another amp and subs. I regrounded both amps ran a new RCA cables to the amp and Its still doing the same thing Ima chek the wires to the headunit again

drftz31 · Post by **drftz31** » Thu Oct 08, 2009 6:51 pm

My 05 was doing the same thing...You may have a ground problem or a short...Thats why it goes in to protect mode...if you have stock speakers it will sound like crap when you turn it up. Check all your setting...in the head unit and amp. The bass maybe to high for the amp to handle. Check the fuse in the amps

nineball · Post by **nineball** » Sat Oct 10, 2009 5:44 pm

what amps are you running? the only amps i have ever seen that produce a significant amount of power and require only an 8g power/ground are the cadence txa line. every other amp i have ever run needed 4g. by adding the second amp you may be pulling more current than the wire can handle thus sending the amp into protect.

RADARsx 2.0 · Post by **RADARsx 2.0** » Sun Oct 11, 2009 3:40 am

contagious18 wrote:Why would the amp to the speakers heat up all of a sudden that I hook up another amp and subs. I regrounded both amps ran a new RCA cables to the amp and Its still doing the same thing Ima chek the wires to the headunit again

It's called VSWR (voltage standing wave ratio) if your output inpedance isn't matched from the amp to the input inpedance to the speaker you will get this and cause your sound to go to crap...

this will explain it better http://www.microwaves101.com/encyclopedia/vswr.cfm
http://www.microwaves101.com/encyclopedia/vswr.cfm

Its something that alot of people that don't take the training and work around RF systems realize and think of when fault finding...

so this means ulitmately your wires from your amp to speaker could be sending "signal" back into the amps output, which it's not designed to take and cause it to go into protection mode or cause a output distortion if it's not great enough to cause the protection mode to kick in.

nineball · Post by **nineball** » Sun Oct 11, 2009 10:29 am

it's a good theory but i don't think that is the case here. the OP said that the original amp for mids/highs was working fine and the problem started when he added another amp and some subs. the only thing that has changed in the equation is the second amp, which should have nothing to do with the performance of the first amp.

2001rt32 · Post by **2001rt32** » Sun Oct 11, 2009 1:26 pm

are you running a capacitor? in my mini truck i had the same prob and it was the capacitor

RADARsx 2.0 · Post by **RADARsx 2.0** » Sun Oct 11, 2009 9:25 pm

nineball wrote:it's a good theory but i don't think that is the case here. the OP said that the original amp for mids/highs was working fine and the problem started when he added another amp and some subs. the only thing that has changed in the equation is the second amp, which should have nothing to do with the performance of the first amp.

You can have VSWR from one amp to another...any O/P to I/P can be subject to it...just an idea that could be it..not saying it is..but don't rule it out totally....look into it...If she worked with the one and then you add the second then I would say it's something between the O/P to I/P of them..thats what I learned in my two years of college and 2 years of university for my technology diploma and technologist's degree.

Caraudioholic24 · Post by **Caraudioholic24** » Sun Oct 11, 2009 10:52 pm

What is the impedance/OHMS of the speakers your running? If its too low the amp will turn off at a certain volume.

nineball · Post by **nineball** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 9:21 am

RADARsx 2.0 wrote:You can have VSWR from one amp to another...any O/P to I/P can be subject to it...just an idea that could be it..not saying it is..but don't rule it out totally....look into it...If she worked with the one and then you add the second then I would say it's something between the O/P to I/P of them..thats what I learned in my two years of college and 2 years of university for my technology diploma and technologist's degree.

like anything else related to mobile audio the only way to know for certain what is causing the problem is to check everything in the system. i still don't think vswr is the cause of the problem unless the hu being used has only a single rca out which is being split for both amps. adding a second amplifier into the equation with it's own source and output should have no affect on the first amp unless they are sharing power/ground wires (which i still say are too small at 8g and i don't even know what amps he is running).

RADARsx 2.0 · Post by **RADARsx 2.0** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 10:22 pm

Yeah 8 guage wire is a little small for power to an amp...that would definately cause the amp to go into protection mode...

Good catch nineball, didn't even notice that in the previous thread.

I say get a larger wire and see what that does man...

contagious18 · Post by **contagious18** » Wed Oct 14, 2009 11:48 pm

Mmmm but it goes 4 gauge all the way to the rear where it runs into a splitter for 8 gauge to both amps

RADARsx 2.0 · Post by **RADARsx 2.0** » Thu Oct 15, 2009 12:06 am

So your power is 4 gauge and your audio is 8?

I think I ran about 12-14 on my audio lines from amp to speakers...

nineball · Post by **nineball** » Thu Oct 15, 2009 12:11 am

contagious18 wrote:Mmmm but it goes 4 gauge all the way to the rear where it runs into a splitter for 8 gauge to both amps

i am willing to bet that is the problem. chances are each amp requires a 4g line and you are only using a single for both. it would explain why you had no problems with a single amp but do with two.

you have 2 choices.

buy another 4g inline fuse holder and fuse, buy more 4g wire, connect it to the battery, run it to the back and have a lot of extra wire to hide.

buy a run of 0g wire and fuse holder and have a single power line for everything. that will also give you a bit of headroom should you decide at some point to add more power (i.e. bigger amps).

RADARsx 2.0 · Post by **RADARsx 2.0** » Thu Oct 15, 2009 12:14 am

Oh snap..I missed that one again too..that is definately your issue if I was a gambling man

contagious18 · Post by **contagious18** » Thu Oct 15, 2009 11:44 am

Well it's not an extreme setup that's why I didn't think it would be a problem but I guess I need another 4 gauge. I do plan on going big but not till later this year.

Caraudioholic24 · Post by **Caraudioholic24** » Thu Oct 15, 2009 1:06 pm

it may also be that the amp is "clippping" that is when your pushing the speakers to the limit before serious damage occurs. The amp protects itself and the speakers.

nineball · Post by **nineball** » Thu Oct 15, 2009 3:01 pm

contagious18 wrote:Well it's not an extreme setup that's why I didn't think it would be a problem but I guess I need another 4 gauge. I do plan on going big but not till later this year.

Trust me, redo it in 0g and be done with it. You will just be wasting money and time installing another run of 4g since you plan on upgrading.

Caraudioholic24 wrote:it may also be that the amp is "clippping" that is when your pushing the speakers to the limit before serious damage occurs. The amp protects itself and the speakers.

Clipping happens when you overdrive an amp but that doesn't really apply here. The mid/high amp was working fine, added another amp, mid/high amp started having problems. If it was clipping it would have been a problem before the second amp was added.

contagious18 · Post by **contagious18** » Thu Oct 15, 2009 11:19 pm

0g split to 4g then

Caraudioholic24 · Post by **Caraudioholic24** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 3:33 am

Guess I misunderstood his first post. I apologize. LOL

I have a ton of distribution blocks and fuse holders that you may need. I have a ton of 0gauge but I dont think I have enough for a complete run from the battery to the trunk I will check if youre interested