Hello. IYou can view my setup here - http://www.j-body.org/forums/read.php?f=4&i=100637&t=100637

Anyways, my probem is that at lower volumes... 14 and under, my speakers play fine. Once I turn it up past that, the front speakers cut out and only the rears play for like 1 second, then they come back up front and play. This repeats. Now I checked the ground, and it is fine. The protect light comes up on my amp when this happens. This happens even if i havent been running my system, so i dont think its overheating. Any suggestions on what could be causing this?

ps The fuse that came with the amp was 60, but the amp is 30, so my friend suggest I a fuse that was 40, so that what I have. No idea if that makes a difference. Thanks for any suggestions.

Wide Body Progress

How are the gains set on your amp? Looking at your pics it looked like the rears are running off your headunit and the fronts are on off the amp. Is it still the same way? If your gains are higher than 1/2 way up turn them down to about 1/4 or 1/3.

There's actually a process of setting the gains with a volt meter. The easier way is to follow these instructions from Crutchfield.

Q: How do I fine-tune my amplifier's gain and bass boost settings?

A: Setting the "gain" or input sensitivity control is an important adjustment common to all amplifier installations. Proper gain setting helps reduce noise and distortion and allows for the widest possible dynamic range. Here's how to do it:

Turn your amplifier's input level controls all the way down.

Put in a tape or CD or tune in a radio station. Turn up your receiver's volume control. You'll begin to hear music at faint levels. (Audiophiles and sound competitors may want to use a dedicated test disc.

When you start hearing distortion, lower your receiver's volume control until the distortion disappears. At this point, you have as much signal as possible passing from your receiver into your amp. (This gives you maximum signal-to-noise ratio, so you'll enjoy clean sound and your system will be less prone to engine noise problems).

Now begin adjusting your amp's input gain. Turn the input level controls up until the system is as loud as you can stand it or until you begin hearing distortion — whichever comes first. If you hear distortion, decrease the gain settings slightly.


By following this procedure, you'll optimize your amp's performance at the receiver's maximum volume level, so you can crank your system almost all the way up without amplifying any distortion, or damaging your speakers. Keep in mind that this adjustment does not affect the power output of the amp — you're simply setting the amount of input signal needed for optimum sound quality from your system.

Car stereo competitors sometimes employ a technique called "gain overlap" to wring some more dBs out of their rigs while keeping distortion out of the audible range. Many amplifiers have a bass boost function. In most cases, it is a variable control — you simply dial in the amount of boost you'd like to hear. Bass boost levels can range from +6dB to +18dB, depending on the amplifier. As you experiment with this adjustment, you'll notice that the boost is centered at a given frequency, so you'll still experience some bass boosting at frequencies above and below that point. Make sure that your system is turned off or operating at low volumes when you engage or turn up your bass boost control — boosting bass at high volumes can damage your speakers.

If your still running the rear speakers off the headunit you'll probably want to disconnect them while adjusting the amp so you only hear the audio from the amp.

josh

Thanks alot josh. I ended up finding the problem. My gain was only set at half,. The problem was caused by not having my tweeters hooked up yet. Once I hooked them up it worked fine. I think there was a problem with the voltage or something without the tweeters hooked up.

Wide Body Progress

What I would guess the problem was is that without the tweeter hooked up, your setup was presenting too small impedence to the amp, causing the amp to go into protection when you tried to play at higher volumes


-Chris

That makes since. Well, either way they work sound and sound great! Thanks for the help.


Wide Body Progress