Cooling my amp

[imaginarius]

Ok, I'm new to this board, so hello all.

Alright I have a 600w Dual XPA4640(http://www.dualav.com/mobileaudio/xpa.php) powering 2 newer 10 inch 600w Pyle subs. I know, it's cheap, but in my Justy, they sound good and that's all that matters.

Anywho, I have a problem with the amp overheating very quickly. When I first hooked it all up, I put in Ludacris's Word Of Mouf album for testing, and I cranked it. Naturally. But within about 6 or 7 minutes, it shut off. Not the entire amp, but the 2 channel thingy(I'm kind of a dummy) pretty much pooped out. My brother-in-law said that was natural, and to let it cool. Well, the next morning(extremely cool by then!) I turned it on, and it still would not work. So I farted around a bit, and switched it to 4 channel, and then it worked...sort of. Only the right speaker worked. The catch is, there are these 2 sets of switches that have abbreviations that I still have yet to figure out what they mean.

The setup is, on the left, is the 2/4 channel switch; then 2 RCA's, a 4ch on top of a 3CH; then it's the crossover switch, which has 3 settings: LPF/FULL/HPF. (That's what I am confused about) Then there is the other dials for whatever, then the 2CH RCA on top of the 1CH RCA.

I have two RCA cables for the speakers, on hooked up to the 2CH, the other hooked to the 1CH. Yes, it's bridged. When it's set to 2 channel, the system whoops; the top side crossover is set to "LPF". When it overheats(which it does VERY quickly), I figured out that switching the crossover to "HPF), works, but like I said, only the right(passenger side) speaker works. Still thumps a little, but...just a little.

Today after I got the car running again, I cranked it again and about 7 minutes later, it pooped again, so I switched it back to the "HPF" setting.

Am I setting it up wrong? What can I do to keep it cool?

And...trunk rattle...bad...how can I remedy that? Ok, technically it's the hatch(back).

Click to read more...

 

[Chris Z 10+ year member]

LPF = Low Pass Filter

HPF = High Pass Filter

 

[imaginarius]

Ok...how do I say this without sounding like a newbie *******....

So that actually truly does answer A question, but that really answers(overall) about 3 percent of what I am trying to figure out. It helps, I think, but since you only answered that particular aspect, does that affect the heat? I mean, that post includes many questions, the main one, why does it heat up so fast/how can I keep it cool...

 

[1rockford1 5,000+ posts]

ooo my, your gain is up to high or u have bass boost on, or wired to low. or the amp is crap or your geting crazy volt drops cuz of the clipped signal

 

[dragnix 5,000+ posts]

cheap is an understatement. Those shit will blow up soon. Glad you're happy, but i'm just stating facts

 

[lantz 10+ year member]

find somebody on this forum that lives close to you and have them physically check it out for you...i guarantee that you have that amp wired at too low of an ohm load if its getting that hot and shutting down in such a short time.

are those subs single or dual voice coil? are they 2 ohm or 4 ohm? they would each have to be either a single 4 ohm sub or each would have to be dual 2 ohm for you to have them bridged on that amp at 4 ohms.

HPF..... filters the bass out of your subs.HPF is used for highs and mids.

LPF.....filters out the treble in your subs.Recommended!!!

 

[z0n3d0u7 10+ year member]

Indeed. Sounds like the subs are showing the amp too low of a load, And throwing it into protection mode.

 

[rgplayer 10+ year member]

First of all the shutting off of that is NOT natural. Its doing that to keep from causing damage. Any of the above could be your problem, there are so many variables its hard to say without more details. But something that hasn't been mentioned yet is a bad ground. My buddies amp would fire up then once he started cranking it shut off. Well his ground was bad and once he started trying to pull to much current than that ground would allow it would shut off. So try all of the above first and if none of that works try this. Oh and welcome to the forums btw.//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 

[imaginarius]

Do you see my car?? Of course it's cheap!! lol actually the first amp was to power an old 12 fosgate that blew(foam seal), that was the exact amp, just 300w for 55 at wally world, this one was 40 off craigslist, and i just sold the 300watter for 40 heehee anyways, the Pyles I got on clearance at the Stereo Store for 19 a piece...not that bad of deal, right?? but yeah...you would think at 47-51 mpg i could afford a better amp...

 

[dragnix 5,000+ posts]

Do you see my car?? Of course it's cheap!! lol actually the first amp was to power an old 12 fosgate that blew(foam seal), that was the exact amp, just 300w for 55 at wally world, this one was 40 off craigslist, and i just sold the 300watter for 40 heehee anyways, the Pyles I got on clearance at the Stereo Store for 19 a piece...not that bad of deal, right?? but yeah...you would think at 47-51 mpg i could afford a better amp...

deals are all around you, just gotta look harder. Can't find subs for that cheap though. However, you might end up having to replace them soon.

 

[scottyk 10+ year member]

Your trunk rattling is going to need some deadening agent to stop the rattling. There's a variety out there. Dynamat is good stuff. Its sheets of sound deadener that you have to put in between the actual trunk frame of your car and the plastic covering.

 

[subzero 5,000+ posts]

Indeed. Sounds like the subs are showing the amp too low of a load, And throwing it into protection mode.

x2 re-wire it That amp can only do 4ohms bridged

 

[Goldenknob 10+ year member]

hahah Nice, I have family that lives in Eugene, OR. To bad I live in Ok, or I'd help ya out. Good advice here, hope you get your problem fixed..

Can you take pictures of how you have it all setup?

 

[imaginarius]

Ok so last night this guy Pete that lives across from me helped me out with it; he basically took the speaker wires, hooked them all up together, and made it to where while both speakers bumped hard as a ****, only 1 set went into the amp. "I know this looks really weird, but this is basically breaking down the ohms and keeping your amp cool." 10 minutes of Luda later, the amp remained cold as ice. Success!

And ahh I don't have a camera anymore(my wife lost it at a Pepper show), my boss has a camera on her phone, I will take a few pics Monday afternoon. And what's really weird, she is actually my cousin that just moved up here....from Duncan, OK!! Very weird.

 

[bigaudiofanati2 10+ year member]

First off your amps are going into protect as stated above to protect themselves from damage. Meaning that your subs are giving it a load it is not stable at such at 1 ohm or maybe even 2 ohms. I would first upgrade the amp to something like a profile amp. Than after finaly blowing those pyles I would get something like a kicker or a Rockford Fosgate sub for the amp. You will be all set. I can help you out of you need it just pm me or Im me at reimermatt.