Blue smokin' Brutus - info, please;

[theCybe 5,000+ posts]

Over the last two days, I noticed a decrease in performance.

It started cutting out at higher volumes, and wouldn't come back until I turned off the HU (and thus the amp) and turned it back on; I watched for a protect light, and could reproduce the problem, but the light never lit.

Then today, I'm hearing like half the performance I expect. So, I thought maybe I'd knocked the wires off one set of terminals;

I open the box, everything is wired fine. I rewire it carefully, just in case.

Still about half the performance.

And tonight, I'm driving around having a conversation; HU is on, Amp is on, but volume is only at 3, and Attenuated. (mute is on.)

It's turned down so low it's not making any sound at all.

Then I smell it. I pull over, stop, and hear a scratch noise - just one.

I remove the keys from the ignition, pop the hood, remove the fuse, open my trunk.

Smoke. Shit, I think - my woofer //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

Then it hits me.

It's the amp.

Sure enough, I fold down the seat, and the amp is there, smoked out, protect light on.

What gives?!

Dual 2 ohm coils, wired in parallel for a 1 ohm load, almost zero volume, conservative gain, 14volts. WTF?

Click to read more...

 

[theCybe 5,000+ posts]

Oh - and could it have blown my woofer on the way out?!

I'll be pissed.

 

[Neostar63 10+ year member]

Shit the magic smoke came out. Did you check your connection to the back of the sub, did they rattle loose and complete the circuit, or maybe you shorted a wire somewhere else. Thats never fun.

 

[theCybe 5,000+ posts]

The more I think about it, the less answers I have; I checked the sub wiring, power lead, ground, remote, .. There's really nothing else to check! All the connections at the amp are clean and seperate, and same with the sub.

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.. That's wired in parallel, right?

.. Two 2 ohm coils makes a 1 ohm load, right?

Gain is set very conservatively, because i didn't want to blow anything up.

I don't think I could be missing anything //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

Besides, it wasn't even playing music! WTF?

Think I got a defective amp?

I'm not THAT bad of a noob!

 

[GCAdidas13 10+ year member]

omg. wtf mate. i don't get it. there's no reason... nothing was changed on the amp...

were the MTX's wired to a 4 ohm load?

the SE's have 4 ohm coils, so the load on the amplifier would have been 2 ohms.

the only reason i can see that would say you had a defective amp, is if you have never ran the amp in 2 ohm before.

and seriously, i'm pretty sure that unless you hear a lot of noise from the sub you probably haven't ruined it as far as i know...

let us know man //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[theCybe 5,000+ posts]

I've run the amp at one, 1.33, two, and four ohms.

1o = 1 mofo

1.33o = 3 mtx 8000

2o = 1 rl-p

4o = 2 mtx 7500

Never had any problems at all. It blew while wired to my MOFO @ 1 ohm. But with no volume at all - that's what makes me think something's funky / defective.

That and the strange way it was cutting out; That's why I checked the wires; Everything was fine, but I redid it anyway.

The noise was just a scratch / crunch sound - it wasn't terribly loud, but it worries me.

I shot an email off to MaxxSonics; Ya know, I remember when I registered it with them, the process was pretty empty, and didn't give me much confidence; Just hope they return my mail, and send me a replacement amplifier.

 

[tRiGgEr 5,000+ posts]

Electronics do that...

It broke. What else do you want to know???

 

[Berry47 10+ year member]

Wow there are two posts in the amp forum about the same amp doing the same thing.

 

[theCybe 5,000+ posts]

Well, if that's the case - I want to know when MaxxSonics is shipping me another one; And then I'd like to know how long until that one breaks.

I guess my problem with the situation is that it didn't break under strain, it broke friggin' sitting there not doing anything.

 

[Berry47 10+ year member]

http://forums.caraudio.com/vb/showthread.php?t=95399

 

[Berry47 10+ year member]

I installed an amp for a friend and the same thing happened! Hopefuly ikesound will cover his warranty. They were good to me in the past.

 

[denim 5,000+ posts]

if they ship you a new one I would sell it and try a different amplifer with a better track record

 

[jujumantb 10+ year member]

To be fair it was a cheap amp. Strangely enough, you often do get what you pay for.

 

[theCybe 5,000+ posts]

Apparently I was mis-informed.

I thought what I needed for a warranty repair/replacement was proof of installation by a professional; Apparently what I need is proof-of-purchase from an authorized dealer.

Strangely, that's their only requirement for replacement.

Anybody got one?

 

[tRiGgEr 5,000+ posts]

I guess my problem with the situation is that it didn't break under strain, it broke friggin' sitting there not doing anything.

That happens to any piece of electronic equipment. You just got a bad piece of equipment.

Contact the location you purchased it from for warranty services. If they do not provide a warranty, you probably knew that when doing your buying...