Really dumb wiring question, help please

[RoachForLife 10+ year member]

God I feel dumber by the minute. So I wanted to confirm what Alpine just told me on the phone.

First off, I have a PDX 4.100 amp and a set of PG RSD 6.5s. I want to ultimate wire this to get 2x200w (and scale back to not get the full 200w to each side). Heres how he said I need to connect

Inputs

Channel 1 - Left

Channel 2 - Right

Channel 3 - empty

Channel 4 - empty

Speakers

Channel 1 - Left POS

Channel 2 - Left NEG

Channel 3 - Right POS

Channel 4 - Right NEG

Input channel selection (have a choice of 1+3/2+4 , 3/4, and 1/2)

Set to 1/2

Is this correct?

Thanks

Click to read more...

 

[ultimate157 5,000+ posts]

Sounds right to me, but which channels you use will depend on the amp.

 

[RoachForLife 10+ year member]

Will depend on the amp?? Can you clairfy?

Also in looking at the manual again it shows a picture of using a Y splitter on channels 1 and 2, and another on 3 and 4. Is this needed?

 

[RoachForLife 10+ year member]

should I be using those Y adapters? Thanks

 

[BoxdGM 10+ year member]

I have a similar alpine 4ch amp but its not a pdx. I am running 2 polk coax's off a bridged 4 ch. I think the switch let's you use only one set of rca's to feed all 4 channels but I set to the setting that uses all 4 inputs and used Y splitters to split the rcas coming from the "front" rca output. the Left sides splits into the 2 channels you bridge for the left speaker and the right would be the other 2 channels for the right speaker.

 

[qkassidyw 10+ year member]

That setup should work but I think a little clarification is needed:

You have a POS and NEG for each channel:

Channel 1: Connect Left Speaker POS to POS

Channel 2: Connect Left Speaker NEG to NEG

Channel 3: Connect Right Speaker POS to POS

Channel 4: Connect Right Speaker NEG to NEG

And the 1/2 setting should be used if you are just using one set of RCA's (which you are)

 

[RoachForLife 10+ year member]

ok, so if thats right then where do I hook my RCAs to? Alpine said channel 1 and 2. However if you go based on the speaker hookup, channel 1 AND 2 are for the left, and 3 and 4 for the right. So I would actually want to put my left RCA to Channel 1 and right RCA to channel 3?

 

[qkassidyw 10+ year member]

ok, so if thats right then where do I hook my RCAs to? Alpine said channel 1 and 2. However if you go based on the speaker hookup, channel 1 AND 2 are for the left, and 3 and 4 for the right. So I would actually want to put my left RCA to Channel 1 and right RCA to channel 3?

That switch that says 1/2, 3/4 1+2/3+4 is for setting where the RCA's are connected to. Since you are connecting them to channel 1 and 2 then set the switch to 1/2 meaning you are telling the amp that channel 1 and 2 is where to look for the input.

 

[RoachForLife 10+ year member]

Oh I see, so the input for RCA doesnt correspond directly to the speaker inputs, or rather it does, but based on the switch.

 

[RoachForLife 10+ year member]

Oh and it probably doesnt matter but the last mode is 1+3/2+4 (not 1+2/3+4)

 

[qkassidyw 10+ year member]

Oh and it probably doesnt matter but the last mode is 1+3/2+4 (not 1+2/3+4)

Yeah, that pretty much just means to use all inputs.

And yes, it doesn't neccessarily correspond to the output just which input ports to use and as long as there are speakers connected then it will output on those channels. Then the gain/crossover adjustments are made for the corresponding channels.

 

[RoachForLife 10+ year member]

this shit just keeps getting weirder. So I wired exactly how I started in post 1. Heres what happens.

When I plug my Left RCA in to chan 1 rca input on the amp, both the front speakers play. If i take the RCA out and plug into channel 2, 3, or 4, no sound. Same is true for ther Right RCA. Both play while in channel 1 but nothing from others.

So I switched to 1+3/2+4 and the EXACT same as the 1/2

Switched to 3/4 and finally, channel 1 only played my left speakers.

WTF?

Also as soon as I plug an RCA into channel 2 input I here a static sound and then its like the amp dies. I plug it into chan1 right after but no sound. I have to restart my car. I guess the amp went into safety (limp) mode. But what does that mean?

 

[qkassidyw 10+ year member]

this shit just keeps getting weirder. So I wired exactly how I started in post 1. Heres what happens.
When I plug my Left RCA in to chan 1 rca input on the amp, both the front speakers play. If i take the RCA out and plug into channel 2, 3, or 4, no sound. Same is true for ther Right RCA. Both play while in channel 1 but nothing from others.

So I switched to 1+3/2+4 and the EXACT same as the 1/2

Switched to 3/4 and finally, channel 1 only played my left speakers.

WTF?

Also as soon as I plug an RCA into channel 2 input I here a static sound and then its like the amp dies. I plug it into chan1 right after but no sound. I have to restart my car. I guess the amp went into safety (limp) mode. But what does that mean?

CLIFFS at bottom:

My guess is that one of your speakers is grounding out...or you have a bad ground all together.

Take your meter and set it to continuity mode, unplug the speakers from the amp, have one of the test leads connected to a good ground, then touch the other lead to the positive side of the speaker wire (to the speaker) and then touch it to the negative side of the speaker wire, if the meter beeps when you touch either of the wires at all then that wire is getting pinched somewhere to metal.

As far as a good ground...read the first post in the sticky under general discussion then read my post (the last one)

It also could be bad RCA's, or too much load on the amp.

To test for bad RCA's you can do the same test but the RCA's must be unplugged from both the deck and amp, or you could set the meter to continuity and touch one lead to the shield of the RCA and one lead to the male part of the RCA (little rod sticking out) and make sure the RCA's are unplugged from both the amp and the deck. Do this for both right and left channel of RCA's.

To test the input on the amp get a Y-Adapter and plug your ipod/MP3 player into it and play it at 3/4 volume. If the amp is doing the same thing then I would assume either too much load on the amp or just bad amp altogether.

CLIFFS:

Could be bad ground

Could be bad RCA's

Speaker Wire could be grounding out

Plug your iPod into the amp to see if behaves the same.

 

[RoachForLife 10+ year member]

wow thanks for the info.

Tested my ipod like you suggested and I think it works. Well it does however.

1/2

When I put just 1 of the 2 RCAs in ANY of the 4 channels, both speakers play, when I put the 2nd in, they both get louder (ie more power)

3/4

This gave me more what I was looking for. But the loudness was low. RCAs were in Chan 1 and Chan 3 which produced different sounds (left and right)

I then plugged my headunit RCAs in (left on 3/4 setting) and its working, but again, the sound is low. Im about to drive to work and I wont be surprised if it stops working mid way to work. This makes me think a pinched wire or ground like you said, however I find it odd how the input selector seems to work nothing like Alpine told me. At this point Im wondering if I should wire speaker chan1 and 3 together, and 2 and 4 (on the diagram for the rca input, 1 and 3 are lefts and 2 and 4 are rights) plus the whole 1+3/2+4 thing.

Any new thoughts on that?

Thanks again btw.

Oh and heres another dumb one. Which setting is continuity on the meter? I swear one day I need to really learn how to use these things. Thanks!!!