Need Help with Alpine MRV M500 Mono amp having possible power loss.

Speedyed

CarAudio.com Newbie
Hello, I've had this amp for 10+ years in 3 different cars with constant use. It's powering a single JL Audio W3V3 at 4ohms. It been a great little amp and puts out +45 more watts than the rated 300 watts. About 4 weeks ago I notice my bass sound dimishing with songs/music I frequently listen to. I checked the wiring and fuse and everything checks out fine. I decided to increase the gain from a smidge above 1/2 to 3/4 and it gave me a bit more bass but still not like before.
I then increased the gain to a line before MAX and the bass got more powerfull BUT it still fades (not present on certrain frequencies) during songs that have certain bass lines and also get some distortion.
While I was at a local stereo shop getting a camera installed on the wife's car i asked an installer about my amp issue and he pretty told me that cause of its age and use this is a common issue, caps leak and other internals wear out. Has anyone come across this issue before? If my amp needs to be replaced then I'm considering a new Stinger MT-1001 that my brother's neighbor is selling as he ended up buing the MT-2000.1
 
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  1. Not right now
Yes it is normal for an amp to get weaker and less clean sounding after all this time. If you can't restore it yourself, buy the Stinger. Definitely not worth having someone doing it for you. Sell it as is for cheap.
 
Yes it is normal for an amp to get weaker and less clean sounding after all this time. If you can't restore it yourself, buy the Stinger. Definitely not worth having someone doing it for you. Sell it as is for cheap.
That Stinger amp has my attention since its modestly priced for putting 500+watts rms from a reputable company. I may just open up the Alpine to see if i see anything obviously damaged, leaking caps etc and try to see if i could fix it myself.
 
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Speedyed

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