Recently I've been having some trouble with my sub cutting out. Sometimes when I start my car, my pioneer sub will be on. And other times it wont be. It would usually turn back on within a few minutes of driving. I've got the Pioneer TS-W250R it's a 10 inch. I just got it about month or so ago. I've checked all the wiring, even opened up the sub enclosure and checked that the wiring to the sub was correct. I've got a pioneer head unit, I don't know the model number. It's a single cd player and has built in mosfet. I'm probably going to get a new head unit in the next month or so, so that I can hook an amp to my speakers.
Anyways, my sub is powered by a Rockford amp. It's a 600watt amp. When I turn down my music to a very low volume, I can hear the sub barely. So I know that the sub is receiving the signal from the amp. The amp is new as well. I bought it the day before the sub. The one thing that I can think of, is that my battery is pretty old. And my altenator is kinda weak. It was rebuilt. Is there a reason why poor power would make my sub work properly sometimes and not others? I can always hear the sub, but it's very very quiet, and as soon as I turn the music louder it cuts off. Any suggestions? Thank you...
kaeo
Replies (6)
ttocs on 05/26/2004 16:38:05
does the amp shut off when the sub starts playing?
compvr15s on 05/26/2004 16:50:53
have you made sure your sub is wired right to the amp. is that a mono amp or a class a/b amp multi channel. if its a class d amp more than likey you can wire it down to two ohms without a problem. but if its a 2 channel amp and you have it bridged then you cant go lower than 4 ohms. if your sub is wired at 2 ohms to the bridged 2 channel it will more than likely turn of for a while until it overheats and then go into protect mode . what size power cable do you have runnin to your amp from your battery? it should be no less than 8 awg. but 4 awg would be better. use same gauge wire for the ground that you use for the power. make sure the ground is tight, you may be gettin power to your amp but the ground may be poor so it will power the amp but when it starts to work the amp has insuficient resourceses causing it to shut off.
kaeo on 05/26/2004 20:20:20
I'll check on that, the amp I've got is a class a/b it's bridged @ 4 ohms with max 600watts. My sub is rated at 4 ohms and maxed @ 500 watts. Should I try my sub on one channel, instead of bridging?
kaeo on 05/26/2004 20:24:33
No the amp stays on, I can hear it a little when the volume on the head unit is low. I went out and listened to the sub again, and It sounds like it's getting mostly highs. But the sub will still not play more than a very quiet level. It also produces a sort of tapping sound, high pictched, so it's not a bass note. But it sounds like tapping on a window. And that sound is at similar volume.
thanks
ttocs on 05/26/2004 22:49:51
this is where we get technical........
you need to isolate where the problem is. First try just gently wiggling all the connections. See if it comes on and off. Start easy and gently pull harder until your foot is on the amp and you have all your weight aginst it..... just kidding, but really just see if moving them makes a difference. Check at the amp, ground connection, battery, fuse, ect(maybe shake the box a little). Do this until you are sure the connections are good. If that doesn't work give the amp a technical tap. You do this by gently bumping the amp(with your hand, hammer, sledge er whatever). Just kidding again, but bump it a few times and see if that does anything. You would be suprised how many times that will make a difference(points to internal amp problems).
next we need to test the inputs and outputs. You can disconnect the speaker at the amp and touch a AA - 9v battery to the speaker wires and see if the speaker moves and makes noise. It should make a thump noise when connected and disonnected. Do not leave the battery on for more then a second or two.... To test the input take a walkman/diskman/whatever and with a headphone to rca jack plug your source into the amp. You will need the car/radio on at this time. If you hear your source through the speaker the amp is fine and the deck or rca's are bad......
I have to have a little bit of humor when I type this much.......
kaeo on 05/26/2004 23:19:10
Hey I appreciate the humor. There's no need to justify it. Thanks a bunch for the tips. I'll try the walkman thing tomorrow morning. I've been reading around and I've seen that most problems with Alternators and batteries don't make for amps working sometimes and not others.
If the sub makes noise when I put a nine volt does this mean that my sub isn't broken? I don't think this would be indicative of the problem. I'll try the walkman thing. Thanks so much for the help.
Anyways, my sub is powered by a Rockford amp. It's a 600watt amp. When I turn down my music to a very low volume, I can hear the sub barely. So I know that the sub is receiving the signal from the amp. The amp is new as well. I bought it the day before the sub. The one thing that I can think of, is that my battery is pretty old. And my altenator is kinda weak. It was rebuilt. Is there a reason why poor power would make my sub work properly sometimes and not others? I can always hear the sub, but it's very very quiet, and as soon as I turn the music louder it cuts off. Any suggestions? Thank you...
kaeo
Replies (6)
ttocs on 05/26/2004 16:38:05
does the amp shut off when the sub starts playing?
compvr15s on 05/26/2004 16:50:53
have you made sure your sub is wired right to the amp. is that a mono amp or a class a/b amp multi channel. if its a class d amp more than likey you can wire it down to two ohms without a problem. but if its a 2 channel amp and you have it bridged then you cant go lower than 4 ohms. if your sub is wired at 2 ohms to the bridged 2 channel it will more than likely turn of for a while until it overheats and then go into protect mode . what size power cable do you have runnin to your amp from your battery? it should be no less than 8 awg. but 4 awg would be better. use same gauge wire for the ground that you use for the power. make sure the ground is tight, you may be gettin power to your amp but the ground may be poor so it will power the amp but when it starts to work the amp has insuficient resourceses causing it to shut off.
kaeo on 05/26/2004 20:20:20
I'll check on that, the amp I've got is a class a/b it's bridged @ 4 ohms with max 600watts. My sub is rated at 4 ohms and maxed @ 500 watts. Should I try my sub on one channel, instead of bridging?
kaeo on 05/26/2004 20:24:33
No the amp stays on, I can hear it a little when the volume on the head unit is low. I went out and listened to the sub again, and It sounds like it's getting mostly highs. But the sub will still not play more than a very quiet level. It also produces a sort of tapping sound, high pictched, so it's not a bass note. But it sounds like tapping on a window. And that sound is at similar volume.
thanks
ttocs on 05/26/2004 22:49:51
this is where we get technical........
you need to isolate where the problem is. First try just gently wiggling all the connections. See if it comes on and off. Start easy and gently pull harder until your foot is on the amp and you have all your weight aginst it..... just kidding, but really just see if moving them makes a difference. Check at the amp, ground connection, battery, fuse, ect(maybe shake the box a little). Do this until you are sure the connections are good. If that doesn't work give the amp a technical tap. You do this by gently bumping the amp(with your hand, hammer, sledge er whatever). Just kidding again, but bump it a few times and see if that does anything. You would be suprised how many times that will make a difference(points to internal amp problems).
next we need to test the inputs and outputs. You can disconnect the speaker at the amp and touch a AA - 9v battery to the speaker wires and see if the speaker moves and makes noise. It should make a thump noise when connected and disonnected. Do not leave the battery on for more then a second or two.... To test the input take a walkman/diskman/whatever and with a headphone to rca jack plug your source into the amp. You will need the car/radio on at this time. If you hear your source through the speaker the amp is fine and the deck or rca's are bad......
I have to have a little bit of humor when I type this much.......
kaeo on 05/26/2004 23:19:10
Hey I appreciate the humor. There's no need to justify it. Thanks a bunch for the tips. I'll try the walkman thing tomorrow morning. I've been reading around and I've seen that most problems with Alternators and batteries don't make for amps working sometimes and not others.
If the sub makes noise when I put a nine volt does this mean that my sub isn't broken? I don't think this would be indicative of the problem. I'll try the walkman thing. Thanks so much for the help.
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