Audio cuts out

[tacoguy]

Hello. I'm an idiot that got my audio system at Best Buy.

Okay, so I purchased used to work at Best Buy and used my discount to purchase a nice sound system for my VW Passat 2004. I bought two pairs of Alpine SPR-17S and an MRP-F250. I also got an Alpine head unit but I can't remember what model; Tell me if you need that, too. They were purchased new and installed in December 2005. I still have another year on my warranty.

Now to my problem. Whenever I listen to music with loud, high-pitched sounds (e.g. "Another One Bites The Dust"), all of my speakers cut out for the duration of the sound plus 1-2 seconds more. It just started about a month ago. When I took my car to a VW dealer for a 40k I had them look into a problem of my front right speaker cutting out, with only the cranking up of my volume temporarily fixed. That problem has been solved, but they told me they found a shorted RCA cable that handled the FR side and needed replacing, the wires attached to the amp are bare and should be covered by terminals, and some wires which were held in place via duct tape should be soldered. I've asked my friends about it and I got answers ranging from the cross over to the wiring.

That was yesterday. So I made an appointment with BB today and took it in. I mentioned the above they said "there is no RCA cable that goes to the FR door" and didn't look for any shorted wires, they didn't answer my question about the terminals, and that "duct tape is fine, soldering can damage the equipment." They ended up turning down the bass and treble on the amp and setting it through the head unit, and made it so the max volume which was previously very loud, rather quiet when driving with the windows down. As for why the speakers were cutting out, they said "they are probably dying" and that I shouldn't be listening to music as loud as I do. As a reference to how loud I normally listen to music, with the windows closed the music is the same loudness of someone talking normally. As a side note, when I had my FR speaker tested a few months ago for my previous problem, my speaker was sent away and tested by Alpine and showed no problems.

I have another appointment tomorrow since they said they needed more time to dig around. I told them I wanted my components to all be tested today, but nothing was really done.

My questions. What do you think is causing the speakers to cut out? Is there anything I should tell them tomorrow that would help them/me get it fixed?

Any help I'd really appreciate.

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[Trey803 5,000+ posts]

clipping......protect mode

This is why best buy scares me

 

[vwrx_freak 10+ year member]

yeah tell em to eat a dick

 

[zack39648 10+ year member]

Hello. I'm an idiot that got my audio system at Best Buy.

i lol atleast you admited it it your opening statement

 

[Trey803 5,000+ posts]

turn tha ish up while you are looking at the amplifier. there should be some kind of light to indicate it is in protect mode. To fix the problem set your gains with a dmm

 

[tacoguy]

I mistakenly told the guy "VW told me the RCA cable connecting the FR door has shorted" and he replied "RCA cables don't connect to the speakers, they don't know what they're talking about." Then he assumed I don't know what I'm talking about and tells me "yeah, uh huh, yup" to whatever VW told me to tell him and just tinkered around with the amp. He didn't look for any shorted RCA cables.

Anyways, I got the speakers to cut out while I was looking at the amp and the only light on it didn't flicker or turn off; I'm pretty sure it's just the power on light. I'm pretty sure of the few things the guy did was lower the gain on the amp and it still cuts out. Would increasing it prevent it?

 

[tacoguy]

turn tha ish up while you are looking at the amplifier. there should be some kind of light to indicate it is in protect mode. To fix the problem set your gains with a dmm

I've been reading around and you're probably right, but I can't tell if it's going into protection mode. I found this and mine seems to be doing it when there's a sound with lots of treble. There's a single blue light on that doesn't flicker, dim, turn off when the audio cuts off. Would disabling it allow the system to damage itself?

Also, I've isolated the problem to Queen songs. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/confused.gif.e820e0216602db4765798ac39d28caa9.gif Nevertheless, it happens on a lot of them.

 

[Fiercetimbo17 10+ year member]

well your speakers are type rs, which **** and are terribly inefficient, they need at least 100w to sound decent, so considering you only have 40w per channel your most likely pushing the amp beyond its ability and its going into protect.

And i will bet it will do it on any song with a decent amount of bass.

What is you highpass filter set at

 

[jrwalte 10+ year member]

How hot does the amp feel when it cuts off? You may be overheating it. With older age an amp could produce more heat than it used to.

 

[tacoguy]

well your speakers are type rs, which **** and are terribly inefficient, they need at least 100w to sound decent, so considering you only have 40w per channel your most likely pushing the amp beyond its ability and its going into protect.And i will bet it will do it on any song with a decent amount of bass.

What is you highpass filter set at

It doesn't do it with bass sounds, it's high treble peaks like the ones during Another One Bites The Dust. I just want to know what I have to do to make them keep on sounding decent. As for the filter settings, there's one for channels 1-2 and 3-4 and both are set to HP.

I still have another year on the warranty, would you recommend having anything replaced now? Is the cutting out definitely it going into protect mode? And, if so, is there a quick fix to it or do I need a more powerful amp? Which amp would you recommend?

How hot does the amp feel when it cuts off? You may be overheating it. With older age an amp could produce more heat than it used to.

The amp is warm but not any warmer than usual. I can get it to cut off like clockwork: Set my volume to 28, skip to 1'15 into Another One Bites The Dust, and it cuts off every time at 1'20 to 1'22.

 

[02accord 10+ year member]

sigh //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif...

 

[jrwalte 10+ year member]

That doesn't sound like a heating issue. Could be a wiring issue.

What size wire is your power and your ground and exactly how is the ground connected in the trunk? It's possible your ground is loose or gotten weak and when high current demands are made it choaks up on the ground and the amp gets low voltage spikes, which can cause it to go into protect for a few seconds and then turn back on.

 

[tacoguy]

I can't tell what size the wire is, so I took some pics.