I’m having some issues with my system. The problem started off with no power going to the amps one day for no apparent reason. My system is the following:
Pioneer DEH-6900UB
JL AUDIO 12W3V2 D2's
MB QUART RCE269 6X9
ADS 346CS Components
Alpine MRV-F545
Alpine MRD-M1005
I took a paper clip and connected the power wire and remote wire terminals together, and heard a pop, then removed the paper clip. The amps powered back on but no sound comes from the right front 6.5” ADS speaker, even though sound comes from the right front ADS tweeter. (For the record, my ADS front speakers are hooked up using the supplied ADS crossover) Also, the left driver side MB quart rear 6x9 doesn’t play either.
My F454 amp has the following selector switch options:
a) Setting this switch to “1/2” will send the signal at the inputs of CH-1/2 to CH-3/4 of the MRVF545.
b) Setting this switch to “3/4” will have the inputs of CH-3/4 accept independent input signals. An example of this application would be the use of a head unit with dual pre-amp outputs. (this is what I use)
c) Setting this switch to “1 + 3/ 2 + 4” will sum the CH-1 and CH-3 input and send it to CH-3 while the CH-2 and CH-4 inputs are summed and sent to CH-4.
I keep it at option “b” because the head unit has 3 sets of pre-outs.
For the RCAs,
CH1 = front left
CH2 = front right
CH3 = rear left
CH4 = rear right
All speaker wires are hooked up correctly at the amp terminals when checked using the balance feature on the head unit. When I set the setting to option “a” or option “c”, the rear left (CH3) speaker plays. This tells me that either the RCA going to CH3 is burned out, or the CH3 terminal on the amp or head unit is blown, because the speaker plays when it receives power from another channel. Some testing with a new set of RCA’s should confirm whether it’s the RCA itself. I’m going to run an RCA from CH4 on the amp to CH3 on the head unit, and vice versa. That should tell me if the amp or the head unit is causing the problem.
As for the front right speaker, I’m going to install it on the left side, and see if it plays. If it does then it’s either the speaker wire leading from the speaker to the crossover, or the crossover that controls that speaker is damaged. It can’t be the amp, because CH2 is still letting the front right tweeter play, which means that the tweeter is getting power and the crossover is working properly. One thing to note, is that when I turn the volume up high on certain songs, the speaker does play for a few seconds, then cuts out. Not sure what this means just yet.
Am I going about my diagnosis correctly, or is there a much easier way to find out what’s wrong with the system? If CH3 is burned out on the amp, is it an expensive repair? Right now everything plays fine for the last week except the left rear 6x9 and the right front 6.5” ADS when the 4 channel amp is set to the “B” position. My subs play fine also.
Any info that can be provided as to what caused the condition I'm having is much appreciated.
