4-Channel Amp Trouble

[BleakCoffee]

Hey, all. So I've had the worst time getting my four-channel amp running properly. My problem is two-fold: the sub thumps endlessly when the head unit is at zero volume, and the front two speakers receive little if any volume from the amp (if you press your ear up against the speakers, you can maybe hear the music faintly, but usually it's just a nearly inaudible buzzing sound).

I took it to a local car audio shop, and a sales associate and I tried a ton of different solutions. We tried a different head unit, tried a different amp, changed the amp ground, tried different speaker wire going from the amp to the harness, and tried different RCA cords. None of these fixed the problem, though.

I'm about ready to just take it in to their shop and pay the exorbitant amount for the labor, but I want to do this on my own. Does anyone have any idea what might be going wrong in my system?

Click to read more...

 

[CrossoverOre 10+ year member]

what year make and model? try disconnecting all speakers and taking a test speaker to the outputs of the amp to see if the amp works at the amp itself. if not then going by your description it almost has to be on the power wire side of things. make sure all connections at the amp and the fuse holder are nice and tight. If you have a dmm this will make it a lot easier. if you get proper function at the amp then reconnect just the subs and see what they do. Then try connecting just the fronts. If I had to guess you might have a grounding out issue with the front stage.

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

we need a lot of specific info. make/model/year/trim

brand/model of equipment

description of wiring - what stock wiring is being used?

I assume you are using some stock wiring and possibly trying to run through a factory amp given your comment of running wire from amp to harness. don't do that. run wire from the amp to each speaker directly, bypassing all factory wiring.

this is a common problem with Chrysler vehicles and Infinity premium systems which have factory amps at the speakers. if you try to power them separately, you get nothing but faint noise because their amps are not on.