blowing subs

[nickmell 10+ year member]

im the past 6 months i have blown a 12" digital audio and 2 8" cv subs running off a sony xplode 600wat amp but i cant figure out why. i wasnt listening to any hard bass tracks and dont think i was over powering them ( ran 2 chanells bridged for the 12 at 2ohm impedance. i only have stock on the big three for now and i just found that the cable from the negative terminal to the frame was broken and looks like it has been that way for a while , so could that have been some of the problem?

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[dman4486 5,000+ posts]

the amp is the problem....how did you set gains?

 

[Blinkrazy 10+ year member]

get a nice amp and new subs.... plus you were probably clipping the amp. so set it with a dmm next time

 

[ultimate157 5,000+ posts]

If it was installed and setup correctly, nothing should break.

 

[nickmell 10+ year member]

im not sure wat i had the gains on ill look when i get home i think i had them turned up most of the way ..... wat is a dmm? im pretty new to this stuff. also wat would be a good amp to get for kinda cheap? i race dirtbikes so most of my money goes in to that so i cant spend a whole lot... thanx

 

[ultimate157 5,000+ posts]

DMM = Digital Multimeter

Check out profile amplifiers for good budget amps.

 

[nickmell 10+ year member]

http://cgi.ebay.com/Used-MTX-RT4240-4-Channel-Amp_W0QQitemZ250271873859QQihZ015QQcategoryZ88433QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem i found this one would it be ok and how hard would it be to fix the knob short

 

[nickmell 10+ year member]

i had my gains maxed out wat should i had them at?

 

[oldschool4me 10+ year member]

dont think that amp is stable at 2 ohms bridged but the gain setting is dependent on what load it is seeing. personally i would sell that and put a lil money with it and get something better. you can pick up a decent used amp for under 100 bux that will be much better than the one you have.

 

[DePratt 10+ year member]

get a mono amp. better for subs

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

i had my gains maxed out wat should i had them at?

There's your problem.
The gains are input sensitivity adjustments, to compensate for the various strengths of signals coming from different brands/models of head units. One h/u might put out 5 volts while another only puts out 1 volt. Turning your gain all the way up is like assuming you have the smallest signal voltage possible (fraction of a volt), the amp is working its hardest and is being pushed into clipping. This will increase amplifier output well above listed specifications, and can/will mean premature failure of the speaker(s) connected to it.

A 'mono' amp is not inherently better than a 2-channel amp for subs. Nor would simply switching over to one solve the OP's on-going problem.