Oh, I see. Yes, I did test each tweeter to ensure they work.
I have all 4 6x9's bridged to the rear of the amp. I believe it is positive left rear and negative right rear.
The front channels of the amp is where I tried to bridge the tweeters in the same fashion. However, I only tried series/parallel. I haven't tried any other wiring setup. I will try what you and others have suggested.
Four speakers wired in series/parallel bridged is the same load as two 4 ohms per channel but you lose all stereo separation.
You were right! I had to run all 4 in series. Everything works perfectly now.
Thanks everyone for your help. I’ll be back when I find out where to put a subwoofer 😀
I don’t get why it was wired like This .
The amp is capable of 2 ohms stereo
You could wire 2 6x9’s in parallel to 1 channel and 2 6x9’s to the other channel and still have 2 channels left over to run your tweeters .
Then everything would be in stereo instead of mono .
The amp is capable of 2 ohms stereo
You could wire 2 6x9’s in parallel to 1 channel and 2 6x9’s to the other channel and still have 2 channels left over to run your tweeters .
Then everything would be in stereo instead of mono .
Okay, so I was wrong. The amp works fine when the engine isn't running, but once the engine is running, it shuts off at mid-volume again. I am going to try rewiring everything this way and see how it works.
I just have a question. Even though the speakers are rated at 4-ohms, they should still work in parallel? I swear I tried running 2 in parallel and the amp would shut off, but I'll try it again. This time, I will try this:
left rear: 2 6x9's in parallel
right rear: 2 6x9's in parallel
left front: 2 tweeters in parallel
right front: 2 tweeters in parallel
Also, does bridging them make a different in impedance? Or it should work either way?
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It should work fine, worst case scenario is the amp gets hot or goes into protect.
Is there a reason you wired them mono to begin with (apart from getting the load right for the amp)?
Is there a reason you wired them mono to begin with (apart from getting the load right for the amp)?
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Yes. When I ran two speakers in parallel, the amp would shut off. I contacted the amp manufacturer and they said the speakers and amp are 4-ohms so they suggested I try series/parallel, which worked.
Now, I wanted to add tweeters, and its back to square one. The reason why I joined this forum is for all of your assistance. So, I'm going to give it another try with that setup and see how it works.
When you say "it should be fine", are you referring to bridging the speakers? Or the setup in general?
2 4-ohm speakers in parallel with amp in bridged mode is a problem for the amp.
Since you have a 4 channel amp and 4 ohm speakers, the least stressful configuration would probably be one 6x9 in parallel with one tweeter, run off one amplifier channel in 4-channel stereo mode. That would be 4 ohms in the bass/midrange, and 2 ohms where the additional tweeter is active.
I would look over the power and ground supply for the amp, it sounds like it might not be getting what it requires at higher volumes.
Since you have a 4 channel amp and 4 ohm speakers, the least stressful configuration would probably be one 6x9 in parallel with one tweeter, run off one amplifier channel in 4-channel stereo mode. That would be 4 ohms in the bass/midrange, and 2 ohms where the additional tweeter is active.
I would look over the power and ground supply for the amp, it sounds like it might not be getting what it requires at higher volumes.
Thank you, tsmith. I triple checked the power and ground and everything is good. When I was running just the 4 6x9 speakers, the amp powered them very well and I actually blew a couple of them. Maybe the problem in the beginning was that I bridged the speakers when I had two in parallel?
I wanted to hook up the 6x9's to the rear and the tweeters to the front of the amp, that way I can adjust the gains and crossovers separately.
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No, but when you bridge a pair of amplifier channels to work as a single channel, the output current is doubled for a given impedance.
Because of that, the 2-ohm load created by the 2 x 4-ohms speakers in parallel creates the same demand on the bridged pair of channels as a 1-ohm load would create if they were working independently.
IOW, a 2-ohm load is "seen" by the bridged amp as a 1-ohm load and the amp "works twice as hard" as it would if not bridged. Those are the more common explanations.
Just like you and Flashheart were talking about in post 26+, that's fine.
The fact that your amp works OK up to a moderate volume level makes me suspect the power/ground connections, or the charging system. Severely overdriving the 6 x 9's could possibly shut the amp down, too.
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I spent a few hours wrenching on my bike and used the suggestions given.
Wired 2 6x9's in parallel (not bridged). One set to each channel. Same thing for the tweeters. Checked my ground and power wire (both are 8 gauge going directly to the battery).
I truly appreciate everyone's help with this. Everything ran perfectly until I hit the throttle. It's weird because I can turn the volume up all the way with the engine off and the music plays just fine. Once I'm riding, it starts to cut out. Any suggestions?
Wired 2 6x9's in parallel (not bridged). One set to each channel. Same thing for the tweeters. Checked my ground and power wire (both are 8 gauge going directly to the battery).
I truly appreciate everyone's help with this. Everything ran perfectly until I hit the throttle. It's weird because I can turn the volume up all the way with the engine off and the music plays just fine. Once I'm riding, it starts to cut out. Any suggestions?
Does the voltage increase or decrease when you're riding?
What about with higher revs in neutral?
What about with higher revs in neutral?
The voltmeter on my Harley shows that it increases. However, I’ve heard that the stock voltmeters are highly inaccurate.
Regarding the revs, I actually didn’t try that but great idea. I’ll try that today.
Until I let go of the throttle. Literally cuts out for about a second or two. Just tried revving it and amp stays on. Do you think I should try turning down the gains? I’m gonna reseat the ground and power wire coming from the amp. I used a weird little head that gets crimped onto the wire and you screw it down into the amp. After removing it it looks all distorted from the screw. Doubt that’s the issue but I’ll check it out.