Cheap wiring causing subs not to hit?

[STONGE 10+ year member]

Hey guys. I have a pretty cheap, starter audio system in my '00 Jetta. It consits of a JVC HDR-10 HU, 2 Kicker Comp 10 (10C104), Kenwood KAC-6104D 600w max, and a cheap Bullz Audio 4 Gauge wiring kit which came with power, ground, remote, and RCA's. Got it all hooked up and it worked for a short time and goes off. Randomly will sometimes kick back in. The amp will stay on, however. Never turns off until I shut off the car, obviously. After looking at the end connectors on the power and ground, the wire seems pretty cheap and loose. Any suggestions? Or if I didn't provide enough info, just let me know. Thanks!

I got the end connectors put on by a local audio shop a week and a half ago so I don't think it can be the end connectors..

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

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[Louisiana_CRX 5,000+ posts]

i would think a bad ground or the subs might be wired at to low of an ohm load to match your amp

 

[STONGE 10+ year member]

Well each sub can do 2Ohms at 150W RMS. On the back of my mono amp, there are two outputs. So I wired each sub on its own to the amp.

 

[STONGE 10+ year member]

Each sub is also 4 Ohms. I don't know why there are two outputs on the back of a mono amp? When wiring each sub individually to the terminal on the amp, does that make the final impedance on the amp 2 ohms?

 

[disturbed471985 5,000+ posts]

are they dual4 or single4?

 

[STONGE 10+ year member]

Svc

 

[Louisiana_CRX 5,000+ posts]

if its a mono amp and they are single voice coil subs....each sub a single 4 ohm...theyshould be wired right for your amp...i'd look into the ground

 

[STONGE 10+ year member]

I'll look into the ground tomorrow then!

I drilled a hole in the trunk, sanded the paint, put a bolt in and a nut under the car securing it. That is the proper way correct?

 

[STONGE 10+ year member]

I redid the ground today.

Still no sounds from the sub, silent.

Could it be the amp not putting out enough power or wires?

I wish I had a DMM to test the amp, but unfortunately I don't.

 

[Somchine13 10+ year member]

Check your power wire fuse by the battery. MIne did the same last time because the fuse connector was kinda loose, make sure they are well secure.

 

[STONGE 10+ year member]

The fuse in the fuse holder looks fine and doesn't seem like it's loose.

Plus if it was bad/loose, wouldn't the amp not power on?

 

[Team TH (Donny) 10+ year member]

Perhaps you could take a look at your RCA's. Easy for a cheap pair of RCA's to fail due to the poorly shielding, so sometimes when installed the shielding could have been rubbed down against metal or what have you. This would cause either no sound or randomly working due to the signal loss. Sometimes you can't even notice error to the eye of RCA's. Well if thats not what is wrong perhaps there is a problem with your amps signal inputs. Did you buy this amp used?

 

[STONGE 10+ year member]

Hmm..i'll try another set of RCA cables I have.

And yes, I bought it used.

thanks

 

[daboyfrumdabx 10+ year member]

Yeh, try the other RCAs. The fact that it's cutting off could be a defective/damaged amp. Otherwise, I would've suspected ground as the other guys mentioned but its seems like you went about grounding it the right way. So when they do work, are they always pretty quiet, or only sometimes quiet? If always quiet, I would suspect that one or both of your subs are wired out of phase.

 

[Team TH (Donny) 10+ year member]

Well, since the amp is used and assuming this is the first setup that you have had it in there could very well be some internal problems of the amp. Most likely if this be the case then I could see something being wrong with the RCA inputs of the amp. Seems like you have everything hooked up right enough for everything to function as it should, which is why I think the problem may be some kind of failure/failing internal part(s) of the amp. Lets hope it's just the RCA's or something rather simple.