Amp getting very hot after new install

[AIpine]

Hey how's it going. So I finally got an amp for my set of subs I got a while back and had the amp professionally installed at a local car stereo shop.

Setup:

2 12" Alpine Type R Subs (1222D)

200-500 rating per

R500X1D

640 watt birth sheet.

4 Gauge wiring

-

I know I am not pushing my subs with a full 1000w amp that I could be, but each sub is getting about 320 watts.

My gain is set properly, but the only problem I'm seeing, is that my amp gets very hot. Not enough to where it would burn me, but I can only keep my hand on the amp for about 5-10 seconds before it is too hot. This is after about 10 minutes of playing them decently loud.

I'm just wondering if this is safe- the amp is brand new. This is the first time the subs are actually being used as well.

-------------

UPDATE:

It was the boosters on my amp. They were cranked up to their max. I turned it down to about 30% and the amp stays cold. Thanks for the help everyone!

Click to read more...

 

[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

How do you know the gain is right? Check ground and make sure all boost are off. By the way. It's a 500 watt amp. Birth sheets are marketing, you will never see that power. Just letting you know in case you stick around.

Also most shops don't set stuff up right. In and out get paid.

 

[AIpine]

How do you know the gain is right? Check ground and make sure all boost are off. By the way. It's a 500 watt amp. Birth sheets are marketing, you will never see that power. Just letting you know in case you stick around.
Also most shops don't set stuff up right. In and out get paid.

They set my gain with a DMM. They are a very high quality shop. Been open for about 35 years and my family gets all of our cars done there. Never had one problem. They did the job correctly.

If I have my boosts turned up on the amp could that be a cause of so much heat? I know I had the Punch EQ booster about half way up. My subs were way louder with that turned up a bit.

Sorry about not knowing about the birth sheet. The amp was rated at 500 on the box and had a 640 birth sheet inside. I thought Fosgate was a quality company, haha.

 

[CSCStang]

Boost off. They should have told you that man.

 

[fly_marlin]

I would double check that the shop really wired the subs to 2 ohms and not half an ohm.

 

[adulbrich 5,000+ posts]

Boosts should be off. That right there tells me they aren't a top-notch install shop.

Better check to make sure grounds were scraped to bare metal.

Also, I would not use a DMM to set the gains on my equipment. Too much guessing with that method.

 

[AIpine]

It is wired as such-

wire from + to - on each speaker, and one + and one - to the back of the sub, so 4 wires total coming out of the back of my box.

each positive and negative are spliced together and 2 wires are left, one positive, one negative.

This is correct series/parallel 2 ohm load right?

 

[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

It's the boost.

Its way louder because it's overdriving the amp. That's called clipping and it kills stuff.

Also make sure they didn't set the gain to that birth sheet.

 

[AIpine]

Boost off. They should have told you that man.

what are the boosts used for? When should I turn them on? If ever

 

[AIpine]

It's the boost.
Its way louder because it's overdriving the amp. That's called clipping and it kills stuff.

Also make sure they didn't set the gain to that birth sheet.

I just did this. I played a 20 hz tone I believe and just slightly turned my gain up and heard distortion. Turned it back down to clarity.

 

[adulbrich 5,000+ posts]

what are the boosts used for? When should I turn them on? If ever

Boosts are for valleys in frequency response, but people do not use them properly. They just boost it "cuz that gives you more boom boom".

Amps should not have bass-boost knobs, imo.

 

[fly_marlin]

Turn the bass boost off. Find out what the pre-amp voltage of your head unit is and set the gain to that. See how that sounds, slightly turn the boost up if needed - see if it sounds good to you and also see if the amp is still getting hot. Let us know what the pre-amp voltage of the HU is.

 

[AIpine]

It sounds to me like it is the boost causing the heat. I will keep it off from now on. I'll go check on it in about 20 minutes. I'll play them quite loud for about 10 minutes to see if the amp starts getting hot. If not, I'll be sure to let you guys know.

Also, 2 more questions.

- Do I actually need to break in my subs? Like I mentioned, this is the first time they're actually being used. Will they get louder after they're broken in if so?

- Can anyone recommend a nice amp that puts out about 1000-1500w @ 2ohms to run with my subs? This amp was very cheap and only temporary. I'm not looking to break the bank with a new amp, but definitely don't want garbage. Just suggest what you would use.

 

[fly_marlin]

This is pretty solid:

JBL GTO-1001EZ Monoblock GTO Series Class D Car Amplifier

 

[HitManSE 10+ year member]

Its always worth making the ground better, most of the time it can be improved and it usually does help. Even if its just shortening it, or scratching of paint from the contact surface, etc.