Is my amp bad or something else... ?

[rizorith 10+ year member]

I have a alpine 5 channel amp hooked up to components up front and coax in the rears.

I took the car into an audio shop to get an estimate on how much it would be for a sub and new Head unit and the guy did some amp adjustments and turned the volume very high while doing so. He said he fixed some adjustments.

Anyways on the way home I noticed the speakers would sort of get staticy once in a while but it wasn't too bad. It only happened on the right speakers. The left are fine.

I went back a week later and he made some more adjustments and the problem got even worse and sometimes the right speakers would totally cut out. he said the amp was bad because the problem got a LOT worse (you could hear tons of static) while he was turning the screw for the gain (or volume) on the amp. He also thought the front speakers were hooked up to channel 1/3 and the rears 2/4 which he said shouldn't be a problem but is strange and would explain why the rights were cutting out like that.

He told me to get a new amp.

So I'm wondering. Could he have done something to cause this problem? I mean it seems like he did but he said that it probably happened because the amp is 4 years old and the screws need to be turned every once in a while or they may cause problems. Does this sound logical?

Also, can I fix a problem like this or should I just get a new amp? He also said that the 5th channel may not even work since it hasn't been used for 4 years.

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[squeak9798 5,000+ posts]

while he was turning the screw for the gain (or volume) on the amp.

The gain IS NOT a volume control. And if the "installer" does not understand that, then find a different installer!!

What exactly was he doing, turning the gain up??

BTW, my amps are approaching 10 years old, and they still work perfectly. So no, just because the amp is old doesn't mean you should kick it to the curb (and 4yrs old isn't "old" at all). That is, unless the installer damaged something.

If he turned the gain up, turn the gain back down to where you had it originally and see if the "problem" is still there.

 

[rizorith 10+ year member]

thanks for responding. No it was the gain and he knew it. Actually he adjusted it and I think he turned it down if anything and he also changed the crossovers saying that I was putting too much bass into my rears and would damage them.

I've done some adjusting and it's a problem that won't go away with a simple adjustment.

I'm hoping to find out if there is something else he could have done to damage them or was it a problem that was bound to happen anyways?

I'm also wondering if setting up the channels incorrectly could cause a problem and if fixing it may solve the problem.