And suddenly, the bass stops.

[deymious]

Hey all,

So let me go over my set up first and then I'll explain whats happening. I have a pioneer avh-p4100dvd head unit, a capacitor, 2 kicker comps (800w RMS), and a kenwood KAC_9104D amp. Had this system thumping hard in my car for about 3 years with no problems (besides the occasional fuse blown on the amp which i would replace and then everything would be fine)

Over the past two weeks while I have been driving, I've noticed that my subs began cutting out on some of my bass heavier songs. Then all of a sudden, i was playing a sound pretty quiet, hearing the bass and all was fine, then the next second the bass turned off. i thought to myself, ahh sh*t the fuse blew again, so when i got home i checked the fuses on the amp and none of them seemed to be blown, but i replaced them anyways. this didn't fix the problem. i checked that the fuse under the hood was alright, and it was (power was coming fine to the amp and all the cables were fine). next i thought the subs were blown so i hooked them up to a 9volt battery and the cone moved on both so i know they are fine.

basically, I want to know whether its a 100% that my amp is done or if there is something else I should do to check things out further. music still plays in my car to all the speakers fine (have 6 kicker speakers) and the amp still turns on, just no bass comes out. i haven't replaced any of the cables going to the amp, so is that the next step to check if the amp is done, or should i assume by now that it is?

the reason i'm asking is because im a pretty broke grad student and want to be 100% sure that its the amp thats screwed and i can somewhat try to justify the price of getting a new one if i know that i did everything to check that it was 100% gone.

on a side note - if you feel the amp is done, can you please give me some advice as to what my next amp should be? should i get the same one again or should i go for an alpine unit (which i've heard are better).

also, does anyone have an idea what could have caused this? I wasn't pumping my bass loud at the time, so is it just normal for the amp to die after 3-4 years?

thanks for all the advice guys, i truly appreciate it.

Click to read more...

 

[Trey803 5,000+ posts]

do you have a multi meter?

 

[Trey803 5,000+ posts]

first I would check the resistance of the subwoofers voice coils. This will tell you if the subs are damaged at all

 

[deymious]

hey trey803,

thanks for the response. no i do not have a multimeter but i guess i should get one. how much do they usually run and is there a unique kind i should get? all i have to do is hook it up to the positive/negative end of the sub wires and it should tell me if theyre ok? what number should they be showing if the subs are alright?

so just by testing the subs with a 9 volt and seeing that the cones are working, it doesn't mean the subs are ok?

 

[deymious]

Hey guys, any more advice would be greatly appreciated. Should I try using different wires to the amp and sub also? Should I try and hook the amp up to another speaker/sub and see if it makes sound? I miss my bass //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif TIA!!

-deymious

 

[jasonbillnelson 10+ year member]

You can pick up Digital Multimeters for like 10 bucks. Pick one up that has OHMS (resistance), AC and DC voltage. With the system playing music probe the speaker wire terminals on the amp to see if you have any AC Voltage coming out. If you don't have any voltage than the problem should be in the amp.

However, You also need to see if your RCA cables to the amp or RCA hookups are good on your deck. No voltage from those guys and your amp isn't going to know what to play.

 

[des343 10+ year member]

Hey guys, any more advice would be greatly appreciated. Should I try using different wires to the amp and sub also? Should I try and hook the amp up to another speaker/sub and see if it makes sound? I miss my bass //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif TIA!!
-deymious

they are fairly cheap as mentioned 10-15 dollars. Also check your ground maybe something came loose or something. Or possibly RCA's going bad

but on another note your fuses should NEVER blow...or something is wrong to begin with especially the fuse on the amp you were defiantly abusing the amp and thats a good sign also never heard of a 800 rms Kicker Comp unless you mean the CVRs which would be 800 together...

my overall guess is your amp finally called it quits but make sure to check everything first

 

[Milk Mayne 10+ year member]

Get a multimeter, use it to test what's already been mentioned, also check to see if the remote wire at the amp is still connected. If your amp is blown, MAKE SURE TO USE THE DMM NEXT TIME TO SET YOUR GAINS. Ahem, sorry for that, but yeah, it will save your equipment and should ALWAYS be used.

 

[deymious]

they are fairly cheap as mentioned 10-15 dollars. Also check your ground maybe something came loose or something. Or possibly RCA's going bad
but on another note your fuses should NEVER blow...or something is wrong to begin with especially the fuse on the amp you were defiantly abusing the amp and thats a good sign also never heard of a 800 rms Kicker Comp unless you mean the CVRs which would be 800 together...

my overall guess is your amp finally called it quits but make sure to check everything first

ahh yeah you're right CVR's that are 800 rms together. so does that mean I was pushing my amp too hard if fuses kept going? but I can't get an amp that is stronger than the one I was using because that'll blow my speakers right?

 

---------- Post added at 03:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:16 PM ----------

 

Get a multimeter, use it to test what's already been mentioned, also check to see if the remote wire at the amp is still connected. If your amp is blown, MAKE SURE TO USE THE DMM NEXT TIME TO SET YOUR GAINS. Ahem, sorry for that, but yeah, it will save your equipment and should ALWAYS be used.

kk thanks man, and what do you mean by use the DMM next time to set the gains? DMM = digital multimeter and then gains for what? sorry I'm not as well versed in electronics (clearly =P)

 

[deymious]

You can pick up Digital Multimeters for like 10 bucks. Pick one up that has OHMS (resistance), AC and DC voltage. With the system playing music probe the speaker wire terminals on the amp to see if you have any AC Voltage coming out. If you don't have any voltage than the problem should be in the amp.
However, You also need to see if your RCA cables to the amp or RCA hookups are good on your deck. No voltage from those guys and your amp isn't going to know what to play.

thanks man I just bought the multimeter and it'll be at my house soon. I'll check the speaker wires coming out from the amp to the subs to see if any power is coming out. if it isn't then I guess I won't have to check the RCA cables and its time for a new amp //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif any suggestions on which one to get?

 

[des343 10+ year member]

ahh yeah you're right CVR's that are 800 rms together. so does that mean I was pushing my amp too hard if fuses kept going? but I can't get an amp that is stronger than the one I was using because that'll blow my speakers right? 

---------- Post added at 03:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:16 PM ----------

 

kk thanks man, and what do you mean by use the DMM next time to set the gains? DMM = digital multimeter and then gains for what? sorry I'm not as well versed in electronics (clearly =P)

what exactly is the model of your amp?

check this out maybe to help with setting your amp using a DMM

 

[deymious]

my exact amp is a kenwood KAC_9104D.

and thanks for the link, hopefully i'll be able to work through it and understand it =P

 

[deymious]

hey guys I need your advice once again. I used a multimeter to see that it was in fact my amp that was done (it's not sending out any power to my subs). What I need now is to figure out how to set the gain on my next amp to make sure that its not putting out too much power to blow.

I have two kicker cvr's 12 inch with 400 watt rms each at dual 4 ohm. So together, its 800 watt rms but idk how you add the ohms together. I was hoping on getting the kenwood kac_9105d because I'm most familiar with that series of amps and to wire the subs in parallel, but can i make it so the amp does not go over XX amount of voltage so that it doesnt blow? If i wire the subs in parallel to the amp, will that be enough power for the subs and not too much to kill the amp? so regardless of how high i try to put the volume on my headunit, the amp won't blow because it cant physically go higher? just wanted to see if this was possible and your opinion of the new kenwood amp.

thanks a lot, really appreciate all of the help guys!

 

[deymious]

hey guys, I really want to buy the new amp so I think i'm going to order it tonight. besides wiring it up like my last one, how do I set the gain so it doesn't stop working like the last one? the gain will stop it from having to much out too much power and that should inhibit it from crapping out, right?

thanks!!

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

hey guys, I really want to buy the new amp so I think i'm going to order it tonight. besides wiring it up like my last one, how do I set the gain so it doesn't stop working like the last one? the gain will stop it from having to much out too much power and that should inhibit it from crapping out, right?
thanks!!

They have said it before, set your gains with a multi-meter, google it up and learn more about it, its pretty much using the gains to have the amp put out X amount of rms to go to the speaker.

And stop, dont buy that friggen amp, its only 2 ohm stable. If you wire your 4 ohm subs parallel, you'll have 1 ohm final impedance and those kenwoods CAN NOT handle 1 ohm. Its a miracle your old kenwood lasted 3 years. Plenty of Better amps can be had for the 150 dollar range that are 1 ohm stable.