My tale of woe:
About 15 years ago I purchased this 500/1 new. Installed it, worked great. That car got totaled and the amp removed about 8 years ago, and the amp has been in a drawer ever since.
I recently decided to install this amp and the 12w6v3-D4 in another vehicle. Hooked it up, no lights of any kind. Found a recommendation to toggle the signal sense switch 5-10 times. Did that, and yay it powers up. No sound though. I turned the LP filter from 12db to Off, and now it plays, but it sounds funny. Not just full range funny, not really distorted, just...not right.
I take the amp to my local car audio place, they have a repair section. The guy acts like I'm a total idiot, has this smirk on his face. Whatever. I explain that the LP filter won't work, and thus the related dials. (Bass Boost, Q, etc) don't work.
He plugs it in to his bench test setup, and, of course, the damn thing won't power on. I leave it in his tender care, he says repair will run $150-$300 if its totally smoked. Fine.
I pick it up, he charges me $160. Apparently he didn't find any failed components but did find a bunch of bad solder joints on the preamp board, gain dial, etc. I hook it up, and guess what. THE DAMN LP FILTER IS STILL INOP.
The sub now plays full range just fine, sounds good, no distortion, as long as LP filter is set to "Off". My current headunit does not have a filter I can turn on, its a junker. I'm planning on replacing it with one that has dedicated sub outs and a built in filter, so maybe its not worth messing around with the amp anymore, but I would like the damn thing to work fully.
After doing a bunch of searching here I pulled off the back cover and lifted the preamp board and pushed it back down 10 times, based on posts here that usually fixes it. It did make a kinda scratching noise the first few times which smoothed out. I put the cover back on and reinstalled it, no change. LP filter on 12db or 24db causes all output to stop. I also rotated the frequency dial fully about 10 times.
I'm already $160 into this thing, and used ones are running $200-$250 on ebay. I'm fully willing to buy a couple and return them until I get one that works. I'm leery of putting any more money in this unit, especially at a repair shop where they didn't bench test the amp for the concern I brought it in for.
So, does anyone have any advice for fixing this myself? Should I just get the better headunit and forget about repairing the amp, as it does work? If I go that route, is it okay to run the sub full range for a while, or could that cause damage? I don't have the gain very loud at all.
I'm hoping Perry Babin might have some input.
About 15 years ago I purchased this 500/1 new. Installed it, worked great. That car got totaled and the amp removed about 8 years ago, and the amp has been in a drawer ever since.
I recently decided to install this amp and the 12w6v3-D4 in another vehicle. Hooked it up, no lights of any kind. Found a recommendation to toggle the signal sense switch 5-10 times. Did that, and yay it powers up. No sound though. I turned the LP filter from 12db to Off, and now it plays, but it sounds funny. Not just full range funny, not really distorted, just...not right.
I take the amp to my local car audio place, they have a repair section. The guy acts like I'm a total idiot, has this smirk on his face. Whatever. I explain that the LP filter won't work, and thus the related dials. (Bass Boost, Q, etc) don't work.
He plugs it in to his bench test setup, and, of course, the damn thing won't power on. I leave it in his tender care, he says repair will run $150-$300 if its totally smoked. Fine.
I pick it up, he charges me $160. Apparently he didn't find any failed components but did find a bunch of bad solder joints on the preamp board, gain dial, etc. I hook it up, and guess what. THE DAMN LP FILTER IS STILL INOP.
The sub now plays full range just fine, sounds good, no distortion, as long as LP filter is set to "Off". My current headunit does not have a filter I can turn on, its a junker. I'm planning on replacing it with one that has dedicated sub outs and a built in filter, so maybe its not worth messing around with the amp anymore, but I would like the damn thing to work fully.
After doing a bunch of searching here I pulled off the back cover and lifted the preamp board and pushed it back down 10 times, based on posts here that usually fixes it. It did make a kinda scratching noise the first few times which smoothed out. I put the cover back on and reinstalled it, no change. LP filter on 12db or 24db causes all output to stop. I also rotated the frequency dial fully about 10 times.
I'm already $160 into this thing, and used ones are running $200-$250 on ebay. I'm fully willing to buy a couple and return them until I get one that works. I'm leery of putting any more money in this unit, especially at a repair shop where they didn't bench test the amp for the concern I brought it in for.
So, does anyone have any advice for fixing this myself? Should I just get the better headunit and forget about repairing the amp, as it does work? If I go that route, is it okay to run the sub full range for a while, or could that cause damage? I don't have the gain very loud at all.
I'm hoping Perry Babin might have some input.
The preamp boards on these amps don't have bad solder connections. I've repaired a LOT of them and have never seen that. You were ripped off by that shop. He probably didn't do anything.
If the amp has comax brand switches, that's the biggest problem. You can sometimes clean them. The signal sense is the worst but all can cause problems.
Do all of the potentiometers feel OK, solid?
If you repeatedly switch the other switches in the area of the 12db switch with the 12db switch in 12 or 24db, does audio or noise ever play through?
If the amp has comax brand switches, that's the biggest problem. You can sometimes clean them. The signal sense is the worst but all can cause problems.
Do all of the potentiometers feel OK, solid?
If you repeatedly switch the other switches in the area of the 12db switch with the 12db switch in 12 or 24db, does audio or noise ever play through?
Looking at the board he did do something with the solder joints, not a bad job either, even if it didn't need to be done. I'm pretty pissed about it though. I may be able to get my cash back, I do quite a bit of work for the owner of the shop (not the repair guy, the repair guy is like a business within a business), and in return he has given me some really smoking deals on speakers and dampening material and so forth. Messing up that relationship isn't worth $160 though, so unless they just roll over immediately I won't press the issue.
The pots feel good. I've played with the switches and dials near the LP switch and other than getting a little thump one time, no audio or other output. I can hook it back up in a bit and play with them some more. How would I clean the switch, hose it with contact cleaner?
The pots feel good. I've played with the switches and dials near the LP switch and other than getting a little thump one time, no audio or other output. I can hook it back up in a bit and play with them some more. How would I clean the switch, hose it with contact cleaner?
Look into the switch slot. Does the dust shield look like screen or does it look like solid plastic?
Tell the owner that the amp is doing precisely the same thing as when you brought it and the problem you sent it in for was not repaired. Ask if they charge for doing nothing useful.
I get angry about stuff like this because I was in the business for more than 30 years and I NEVER ripped anyone off. I didn't even charge to check out an amp or to give an estimate. That's almost unheard of. People that don't do what they're paid to do give all techs a bad name.
Tell the owner that the amp is doing precisely the same thing as when you brought it and the problem you sent it in for was not repaired. Ask if they charge for doing nothing useful.
I get angry about stuff like this because I was in the business for more than 30 years and I NEVER ripped anyone off. I didn't even charge to check out an amp or to give an estimate. That's almost unheard of. People that don't do what they're paid to do give all techs a bad name.
Its hard to say but it looks like a screen. I can see above and below it into the amp. This is a V1 amp, did they go to sealed switches for later versions?
I'm in auto repair, so I know what you mean about other technicians giving my whole profession a bad name. I'm always honest, but the actions of the dishonest and incompetent reflect on me even though I don't deserve it.
I'm in auto repair, so I know what you mean about other technicians giving my whole profession a bad name. I'm always honest, but the actions of the dishonest and incompetent reflect on me even though I don't deserve it.
In the service industry, it's sad to say but honest techs are the exception.
If it's the mesh, you can spray contact cleaner through the screen into the slot on the side of the switch handle/actuator. You will need to work it back and forth about 50 times. Using a pair of thin (wide tipped ones limit travel) tweezers makes it easier. Don't use anything as strong as brake cleaner. DeOxIt D5 is generally a good choice.
If it's the mesh, you can spray contact cleaner through the screen into the slot on the side of the switch handle/actuator. You will need to work it back and forth about 50 times. Using a pair of thin (wide tipped ones limit travel) tweezers makes it easier. Don't use anything as strong as brake cleaner. DeOxIt D5 is generally a good choice.
My local electronics store had a no residue cleaner, Electrosolve contact cleaner. Do I spray right through the mesh? Do I reapply every 10 times I exercise the switch?
A good contact cleaner will run/spread everywhere. Spray what you have on a surface to see how it spreads.
If it's a good contact cleaner, one 1/2 second burst is more than enough. If it doesn't quite get it after 50 cycles, you can spray it once more.
If it's a good contact cleaner, one 1/2 second burst is more than enough. If it doesn't quite get it after 50 cycles, you can spray it once more.
Well, no dice. The cleaner does spread widely. I sprayed it in there, exercised 50 times, no luck, so I sprayed it again. Still no output on 12/24db. While it was hooked up I moved the other dials and switches, no output on 12/24.
There are 3 double-row connectors and one single-row connector. The the 'tech' resolder the pins on those (particularly the single row connector)?
Yes, that is where the majority of the soldering appears to have been done.
I'm fairly proficient with a meter, can l test the switch from these pins?
While listening to the amp in 12 or 24db, move/push on that area of the board/connector. IT's possible to resolder them and not make a good connection.
TooK a while but I rigged up a bench test so I don't have to keep messing about in the car. I pushed and movwd the single row pins on 12/24, no sound of any kind.
I can pick my scope up from work on Monday, and I have a typical DMM here that measures HZ.
Did you try cleaning the infrasonic and the bass eq switches while listening to it to see if the crossover would play through?