Help! I think somethings wrong with my amp.

[AATorres28 10+ year member]

I have a Zapco Reference 650 6ch. I swapped my single JL 12w1v2-4 for Kicker S12L7 dual 4 wired in parallel about 2 weeks ago and everything has been relatively good until today. I was listening to a bass heavy rap song and the bass started fluctuating. I mean the volume on the sub channel would lower then go up. It was only happening on the sub channel (5-6). When I turned down the volume on my h/u I would hear a thump as the music played, kinda like the turn on thump that some of us have experienced. I opened the amp when I got home and I noticed a couple of areas where the soldering(sp*) looks oxidized. Im goona post pix so you see what I mean. Anyway, let me know what you guys think. Any and all help is appreciated. System in sig.

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[AATorres28 10+ year member]

Did I post this in the wrong section? Not enough info on my part?

 

[wenn_du_weinst 10+ year member]

call zapco and ask if they have had any similar issues on warranty stuff

 

[05trailblazer 10+ year member]

wish i could lend a hand buddy! have you gone to see how much it would cost to repair the amp?

 

[-01limited- 10+ year member]

wish i could lend a hand buddy! have you gone to see how much it would cost to repair the amp?

Really? Maybe if he had done that he wouldnt be here asking what was wrong with the amp now would he? :fail:

 

[TheUnderFighter 10+ year member]

wish i could lend a hand buddy! have you gone to see how much it would cost to repair the amp?

What?? He doesn't even know if anything is wrong with it yet...

 

[AATorres28 10+ year member]

Thanks everyone for ur help. I talked to an electrician here at work and showed him some pix. He said it's possible that the car is dropping in voltage and the amp is trying to compensate by working harder thus, heating up. The rust looking stuff is the flux from the solder(sp). I suspected that that might be the case, the flux part, but if this is true idk what to do. Call Zapco like wenn said.

wish i could lend a hand buddy! have you gone to see how much it would cost to repair the amp?

Thanks bro...I'm gonna call Zapco Monday and go from there

 

[akheathen Premium Member]

ok couple q-s, i noticed your thread on grounding the amp on the magnum forum. what did you eventually go with? stud, or battery? and if you went with the stock stud, did you check what it has for wire going to the battery? that may have been insufficient. go over your rca's again, check that cable crossing to the sub section of the highway amp, or is the sub section by the power supply, can't see much from your pic..... and what's the deal with the missing fuse?

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

Most amps will have some spots that look like that right out of the box. If there is something wrong with the internals odds are more often that not you'd never be able to see physical damage to a component.

A simple enough test would be to put the old sub back in. Kicker has been known to call a 2.8 ohm DCR coil "4 ohm" so could be a high current protect circuit, or as others have suggested, could be weak current suppied to the power input.

 

[AATorres28 10+ year member]

ok couple q-s, i noticed your thread on grounding the amp on the magnum forum. what did you eventually go with? stud, or battery? and if you went with the stock stud, did you check what it has for wire going to the battery? that may have been insufficient. go over your rca's again, check that cable crossing to the sub section of the highway amp, or is the sub section by the power supply, can't see much from your pic..... and what's the deal with the missing fuse?

Sorry for the late reply. I ended up going with the stock stud where the battery is grounded to. As far as the wire going to the battery, the pos. is the stock wire. The ground I got around to upgrading first and that is 4 gauge. I honestly dont know how to answer the questions in regards to the guts, because thats all greek to me. The fuse was pulled because i thought it was in the way when I pulled the cover off, was really a screw that was in the way.

 

[Bassin Brandon]

I suggest you contact Spooney asap. He deals with amplifier repairs and is very professional about it.

 

[AATorres28 10+ year member]

Most amps will have some spots that look like that right out of the box. If there is something wrong with the internals odds are more often that not you'd never be able to see physical damage to a component.
A simple enough test would be to put the old sub back in. Kicker has been known to call a 2.8 ohm DCR coil "4 ohm" so could be a high current protect circuit, or as others have suggested, could be weak current suppied to the power input.

I think Im gonna sell the L7 which is in new condition, (used for 3 weeks or so), and gear myself towards an SQ sub or even stick with the W1.

Sorry for the double post lol.

 

[akheathen Premium Member]

ok, did a little research, and the sub section is by the power suppy, the ribbon connects the 2nd part of the 4channel section. the symptoms sopund like the output driver circuit may have a problem, or the outputs themselfs. if you have a dmm do the following tests with it hooked up- first, check the usualls, put the meter on the positive and negative cables with it on, but not playing. compare to battery voltage. next put the positive probe on the remote wire and compare again. the 3 readings should be pretty close. of course, check all the settings, and cycle the switches with it off, in case one has a bad connection. turn it back on not playing, and check for dc output on the speaker terminals. there should not be any. if all passes, then try it with the sub on full range, instead of low pass. bass boost off. and measure ac output with a tone, and no subs hooked up. i would start with posting on the zapco forum about your issue, and whether you still have a valid warranty, since you did open it up. yes, that stuff you saw is normal and verry common. it is just non-corrosive flux, so they don't have to wash the board after assembly. as for spooney, i do also recommend him as a potential repair man. very honest, and has a decent rate. i even use him to take on a few repairs that i do not have time to do, and can attest to the quality of his work.

 

[AATorres28 10+ year member]

ok, did a little research, and the sub section is by the power suppy, the ribbon connects the 2nd part of the 4channel section. the symptoms sopund like the output driver circuit may have a problem, or the outputs themselfs. if you have a dmm do the following tests with it hooked up- first, check the usualls, put the meter on the positive and negative cables with it on, but not playing. compare to battery voltage. next put the positive probe on the remote wire and compare again. the 3 readings should be pretty close. of course, check all the settings, and cycle the switches with it off, in case one has a bad connection. turn it back on not playing, and check for dc output on the speaker terminals. there should not be any. if all passes, then try it with the sub on full range, instead of low pass. bass boost off. and measure ac output with a tone, and no subs hooked up. i would start with posting on the zapco forum about your issue, and whether you still have a valid warranty, since you did open it up. yes, that stuff you saw is normal and verry common. it is just non-corrosive flux, so they don't have to wash the board after assembly. as for spooney, i do also recommend him as a potential repair man. very honest, and has a decent rate. i even use him to take on a few repairs that i do not have time to do, and can attest to the quality of his work.

Thanks Heath. Ill try this when i get free time. In the mean time, I spoke to Steve at amp medics and he told me that what I described to him sounded normal. Since the amp is around 10 years old I should clean the contacts on all the switches with some cleaner and it should be fine. I also talked to Zapco and they said it didn't sound like anything to worry about, but if I wanted a once over, they would do it for $75. If they found anything the max would be around $100-$350 to fix. Since I told them what I was running and that it still worked, they said it might be closer to $100. Is sending it in to Zapco worth it?

 

[akheathen Premium Member]

well, if it was under warrenty, i would say yes, lol, but their rates do seem a bit high, imho.