Need Help!! Amp too hot!

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I have a sony xplod 1252gtr 800 watt amp


  • 2-channel car amplifier
  • 125 watts RMS x 2 at 4 ohms (170 watts RMS x 2 at 2 ohms)
  • 340 watts RMS x 1 at 4 ohms (4-ohm stable in bridged mode)
  • low- and high-pass filters (80 Hz, 12 dB/octave)
  • variable bass boost (0-10 dB at 40 Hz)
I hooked up a pair of 12inch kenwood KFC-W3013PS
Subwoofer Specifications

I have the two subs bridged and i believe the settings are around 3to 4 db bass boost, and im not sure what the other dial is but i believe its set to 5v maybe a lil more or a lil less, today was my first major use of them and i had them running for about 20 30 minutes and the amp was burning hot when i checked it

Is this amp capable of handling the subs at all let alone bridging them or do i need a beefed up amp. Would a capacitor help me out at all cuz my lights do dim as well with the system running, any suggestion on how big a capacitor i might need?
 
This is a home audio forum so not sure you'll get many answers.
I've had 3 Sony Explode amps burn up on me. I've also had Sony home products give me nothing but trouble. I will never buy that brand again. I know others who have given up on Sony also.
If you want that amp to last don't stress it, turn down the gain and don't use the bass boost. It won't play as loud but it beats burning up your amp.
 
This belongs more in the car audio forum, but since we're both here:

If each sub is 4 ohms, when you wire them in parallel you get 2 ohms. Bridging effectively halves the impedance, so each amp faces a 1 ohm load. And that appears to be outside the specs, which explains the overheating.

To get the maximum power from that amp, you either need to run it bridged into 4 ohms (one 4 ohm sub or two 8 ohm subs in parallel) or use speakers that load it to 2 ohms on each channel (two 4 ohm in parallel). With what you have, the reasonable choice is to just load each channel at 4 ohms, so one sub per channel. The difference between 170 watts and 125 watts is barely audible (1 dB), and it'll be much kinder to the amplifier.

Any amp can handle any subwoofer, providing the impedance isn't too low. But, you just won't enjoy the full potential of a sub if the amp is grossly undersized. Make do with what you have now, and look out for a more powerful amp. Perhaps a four channel amp that is 2 ohm stable so you run each sub from a bridged pair, or a modern class-D mono amp that is 2 ohm stable.

A capacitor won't help with the dimming. Heavier power cables, or possibly a second battery close to the amp would. But, incandescent lamps are pretty sensitive to fluctuations in voltage (or maybe it's the human eye that's sensitive), so I wouldn't worry about it.
 
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dangus is right. You're loading your amp way past what it is designed for. Back off to one sub per channel and you'll get less heat, less dimming,* less current sucked out of the battery. From many years of experience testing amps, you're likely to get just as much actual power if not more.

What is your wiring like? What size(s) of fuse(s) and where are they physically? (including on the amp). What size of power and ground wire?

Not sure a big cap will help that type of amp, and especially depending on your wiring. A car audio forum could give better answers. But another answer would be that cap $ could be better spent on another amp maybe.
 
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