Just installed amp having problems need help

[stylez777 10+ year member]

I ran 4ga wire from the battery to the trunk into a distro block and a 8ga wire from the distro block to the amp (fuse by the battery). Got a 8ga ground wire from the amp to the chasis in the trunk with a ring terminal and zip screwed it. Ran new speaker wire from the amp to the speaker X-over then wire from the x-over to the tweet and woofers.

When i turn the car on it looks like the amp turns on (there is 2 guages on my amp one says volts other is amps) the needle on the volt meter jumps when the car is on up to 13v range but the amp meter never moves and i get no sound at all out of my speakers. I checked the polarity and everything looks to be hooked up right, I messed with the gains, built in x-over on the amp still nothing. I am at a loss as to why I get no sound. Can anyone give me some ideas as to what possibly to check or some test to run to fig it out why i am getting no sound from the speakers? Any help is appreciated since I prefer not to bring my car to a shop to let them check it out rather try to see if i can make it work on my own first.

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[headlesskoopa 10+ year member]

it may sound stupid but have u checked the rca's check the simple things like that make sure they didnt rip or unplug from the back of the hu and if you r useing the sub out on the hu make sure its on .

 

[qkassidyw 10+ year member]

^^^^What he said...also in your post you didn't mention you ran RCA's...I know its stupid but did you run RCA's?

EDIT....NOT TALKING ABOUT SUBS (OOPS)

 

[stylez777 10+ year member]

I am using the the sub out from the HU but haven't put the sub in yet, but the sub is off on the hu as of right now. i'll check the rca connects make sure they didn't fall out from the back of the hu. anything i can check with a multi meter? I do have one it's a crappy analog one though...

 

[stylez777 10+ year member]

^^^^What he said...also in your post you didn't mention you ran RCA's...I know its stupid but did you run RCA's?
My guess it is turning the subwoofer out 'ON' on the deck

Yes I did run RCA's. I ran 2 sets. from the back of the HU i used the front L&R outs to the front L&R ins on the amp, and the sub L&R out on HU to the sub L&R ins on the amp. sorry i ommited it.

 

[qkassidyw 10+ year member]

I am using the the sub out from the HU but haven't put the sub in yet, but the sub is off on the hu as of right now. i'll check the rca connects make sure they didn't fall out from the back of the hu. anything i can check with a multi meter? I do have one it's a crappy analog one though...

Sorry, its early in the morning, I forgot you were running components and not subs.

I'm guessing you amp is Audiobahn? Make sure if there is a switch on the amp for input channel selection that it is set to the right setting. If your RCA's are in channel 1 and 2 then the switch is on 1 and 2. Also, I think with Audiobahn you have to have the speakers hooked up to the corresponding channel (RCA's on channel 1+2--->Speakers on channel 1+2 (not 3 or 4))

 

[stylez777 10+ year member]

Sorry, its early in the morning, I forgot you were running components and not subs.
I'm guessing you amp is Audiobahn? Make sure if there is a switch on the amp for input channel selection that it is set to the right setting. If your RCA's are in channel 1 and 2 then the switch is on 1 and 2. Also, I think with Audiobahn you have to have the speakers hooked up to the corresponding channel (RCA's on channel 1+2--->Speakers on channel 1+2 (not 3 or 4))

Actually the amp is a 5 channel Earthquake 900w.5 model. I am only using the front and sub RCAs and left out the rear ones since i wasn't going to use rear speakers. On the amp iteslf it doesn't label which speaker terminal is channel 1 or 2 or 3 or 4. Actually here is a picture

where the red arrow is (hard to see it cutoff a bit) that is the sub terminal then the one with the black box around it is for the speakers, but again no indication which channel is which. Come to think of it, my speaker wire is in the 2 preceding the sub input those possibly could be the rear channels and that why i'm not getting any sound. I'm gonna switch them around see what happens.

On a side note, if i wanted to bridge the 4 channels would i have to have the rear RCA's hooked up from the HU to the amp for that to work? (just curious)

 

[qkassidyw 10+ year member]

Actually the amp is a 5 channel Earthquake 900w.5 model. I am only using the front and sub RCAs and left out the rear ones since i wasn't going to use rear speakers. On the amp iteslf it doesn't label which speaker terminal is channel 1 or 2 or 3 or 4. Actually here is a picture

where the red arrow is (hard to see it cutoff a bit) that is the sub terminal then the one with the black box around it is for the speakers, but again no indication which channel is which. Come to think of it, my speaker wire is in the 2 preceding the sub input those possibly could be the rear channels and that why i'm not getting any sound. I'm gonna switch them around see what happens. On a side note, if i wanted to bridge the 4 channels would i have to have the rear RCA's hooked up from the HU to the amp for that to work? (just curious)

Some amps yes and some amps no. You could just get some Y Splitters to test it out.

Um on that amp there are no labels? If the ones on the side are the sub outputs then it looks like the way you hook everything up is a top and bottom setup, meaning that the positive output is on the top and the negative output is on the bottom (not like a normal side by side arrangement.) Anyone else agree?

 

[stylez777 10+ year member]

Some amps yes and some amps no. You could just get some Y Splitters to test it out.
Um on that amp there are no labels? If the ones on the side are the sub outputs then it looks like the way you hook everything up is a top and bottom setup, meaning that the positive output is on the top and the negative output is on the bottom (not like a normal side by side arrangement.) Anyone else agree?

Yes it is top and bottom hook up. Like the first terminal is R+ bottom is R- then the next terminal is L- on top and L+ on bottom and so forth.

 

[stylez777 10+ year member]

Ok so i got it working today (the 2 terminals furthest from the sub were channel 1 and 2) stuck the speaker wire in those terminals and waaa-laaa sound //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

It's not as loud as i thought it was going to be though...At 1 point i set the front gain to max and had the volume nob up to 40. It was loud but i thought it woudl be alot louder, maybe my expectations were too high but i've heard other cars sound from blocks away and barely was able to hear my sound from 20 feet away. I guess i'll just be happy with it the way it is, it is louder at 40 with comps then it was before with 4 coax speakers (sounds better too)