Amp Powering Question

abetrman · 5th February 2010, 09:40 PM

Hello all. As mentioned in my Intro, I am fairly a rookie when dealing with car audio. Simple installs I can complete. I have what may seem to be a silly question, but here goes.

Does an amp require a certain amout of power to push a sub? I ask this because I recently installed a alpine mrp-m500 in my car and I am not able to get any sound from the speakers. However, the amp is powering up. I know that the audio line feeding the amp work because I just connected to a speaker just to be sure and that worked as well. I have tried all I can think of to get this thing working so I am resorting to asking questions such as the one above. Very confused at the moment and hope someone can just turn on the light bulb for me. I hope I stated that clear enough, feels like I am talking in circles. Thanks in advance.

wakibaki · 5th February 2010, 10:15 PM

OK put a voltmeter on the power line where it goe into the amp. Between the +ve and -ve, or ground (chassis unless it's a very old car). Put a signal into the amp. Look and see if the voltage is holding up at the input to the amp or if it is collapsing.

w

abetrman · 5th February 2010, 10:27 PM

It is holding up from what I can tell.

abetrman · 6th February 2010, 12:42 AM

Ok, so I retract my recent response. I must have been doing something wrong. Prior to me even powering up the amp, i noticed that I am getting like a 5 am reading on the power from the battery. When powered up, it stays around that and the remote is reading 12v. could this be a problem?

mike49504 · 6th February 2010, 05:54 AM

Check all connections and also check the fuses if there is an inline fuse from the battery check it it could possibly be bad

abetrman · 7th February 2010, 02:27 AM

OK, so, I feel like a real dummy now. I got her working again. It appears the wire at the in-line fuse was loose and was not maintaining the power across it. While I feel bad, I must say I learned a lot in this process. Thanks to all of you for trying to help me out. I really do appreciate it.

abetrman · 8th February 2010, 11:41 PM

Last update on this. Looks like the original amp is working fine as well. the lack of power was keeping it in" protect-mode". Thanks to all for entertaining my newness to this stuff. I am looking forward to learning more as I continue to visit the site.

5th February 2010, 09:40 PM	#1
abetrman diyAudio Member Join Date: Feb 2010	Amp Powering Question Hello all. As mentioned in my Intro, I am fairly a rookie when dealing with car audio. Simple installs I can complete. I have what may seem to be a silly question, but here goes. Does an amp require a certain amout of power to push a sub? I ask this because I recently installed a alpine mrp-m500 in my car and I am not able to get any sound from the speakers. However, the amp is powering up. I know that the audio line feeding the amp work because I just connected to a speaker just to be sure and that worked as well. I have tried all I can think of to get this thing working so I am resorting to asking questions such as the one above. Very confused at the moment and hope someone can just turn on the light bulb for me. I hope I stated that clear enough, feels like I am talking in circles. Thanks in advance.

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5th February 2010, 10:15 PM	#2
wakibaki Banned Join Date: Jan 2008 Blog Entries: 2	OK put a voltmeter on the power line where it goe into the amp. Between the +ve and -ve, or ground (chassis unless it's a very old car). Put a signal into the amp. Look and see if the voltage is holding up at the input to the amp or if it is collapsing. w

5th February 2010, 10:27 PM	#3
abetrman diyAudio Member Join Date: Feb 2010	It is holding up from what I can tell.

6th February 2010, 12:42 AM	#4
abetrman diyAudio Member Join Date: Feb 2010	Ok, so I retract my recent response. I must have been doing something wrong. Prior to me even powering up the amp, i noticed that I am getting like a 5 am reading on the power from the battery. When powered up, it stays around that and the remote is reading 12v. could this be a problem?

6th February 2010, 05:54 AM	#5
mike49504 diyAudio Member Join Date: Sep 2006	Check all connections and also check the fuses if there is an inline fuse from the battery check it it could possibly be bad

7th February 2010, 02:27 AM	#6
abetrman diyAudio Member Join Date: Feb 2010	OK, so, I feel like a real dummy now. I got her working again. It appears the wire at the in-line fuse was loose and was not maintaining the power across it. While I feel bad, I must say I learned a lot in this process. Thanks to all of you for trying to help me out. I really do appreciate it.

8th February 2010, 11:41 PM	#7
abetrman diyAudio Member Join Date: Feb 2010	Last update on this. Looks like the original amp is working fine as well. the lack of power was keeping it in" protect-mode". Thanks to all for entertaining my newness to this stuff. I am looking forward to learning more as I continue to visit the site.

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