I have a 2004 Mazda RX-8, with two Sony Xplode amps pushing 500 watts a piece, hooked up to four speakers. I'm having problems with one of the amps kicking off after around 5 minutes. I can turn the car off and start it again right away and the amp works fine. I've checked the wires and fuses, but I can't find the problem. Anyone ever had this happen to them, or have a suggestion on how to fix it? Any help would be appreciated, thanks.
yo, one of my homies had the same problem with his Alpine amp. The problem was that the wires he was using couldnt give the amp enough power. Another thing that comes to my mind is a short somewhere. might be one of your connections or something. i know my amp shuts off if something metal or another wire touches the connections. also try using your other amp with the same connections to see if it will shut off aswell.
only does this after LOUD listenning?
I would first check for overheating (feel if it's really hot). If it overheats, try increasing airflow, or use a fan (computer fans work well, tie them to the remote wire). But if turning them off and then right back on again lets them work for annother 5 minutes, it might not be thermal. If the reset only lets them work a little bit untill they conk out again, it might not be.
Also, what sort of load do you have them on, and can they take it? Did you bridge them into a 2 ohm load when they can only be bridged into 4?
check for shorts in the speaker wires (is the wire rubbing anywhere, and then only shorts when the speaker hits a spec. frequency or you hit a bump?)
what gauge wire are you using (and what are the amps fused at - I don't put any meaning in the fake "watts" that a car amp is "specified" at)? You might do well to take a multimeter (on a digital one you can use max/min if you have it, but on a chepa analog you can watch that needle dip) and connect it from the remote to the ground and the BAT to ground on each amp and watch it. see if it dips too much. If the voltage were droping to 10-11 volts on bass peaks, I'd get a cap or upsize the wiring (but it shouldn'tcut the amp if it stays over 10-11, but if it does this, you should seriously consider fixing the power distribution system)
I would never buy anything called an "XplOd". I do have some old wax paper "BLACK CAT" capacitors on the wall. I also remember fixing an old tube amp (recapping, the molded paper caps were leaking and putting about half a volt on the next stage) where one of the caps to the output tube grids was replaced with a "DURAMITE" that decided to become an 8K resistor and not a capacitor anymore..
I would first check for overheating (feel if it's really hot). If it overheats, try increasing airflow, or use a fan (computer fans work well, tie them to the remote wire). But if turning them off and then right back on again lets them work for annother 5 minutes, it might not be thermal. If the reset only lets them work a little bit untill they conk out again, it might not be.
Also, what sort of load do you have them on, and can they take it? Did you bridge them into a 2 ohm load when they can only be bridged into 4?
check for shorts in the speaker wires (is the wire rubbing anywhere, and then only shorts when the speaker hits a spec. frequency or you hit a bump?)
what gauge wire are you using (and what are the amps fused at - I don't put any meaning in the fake "watts" that a car amp is "specified" at)? You might do well to take a multimeter (on a digital one you can use max/min if you have it, but on a chepa analog you can watch that needle dip) and connect it from the remote to the ground and the BAT to ground on each amp and watch it. see if it dips too much. If the voltage were droping to 10-11 volts on bass peaks, I'd get a cap or upsize the wiring (but it shouldn'tcut the amp if it stays over 10-11, but if it does this, you should seriously consider fixing the power distribution system)
I would never buy anything called an "XplOd". I do have some old wax paper "BLACK CAT" capacitors on the wall. I also remember fixing an old tube amp (recapping, the molded paper caps were leaking and putting about half a volt on the next stage) where one of the caps to the output tube grids was replaced with a "DURAMITE" that decided to become an 8K resistor and not a capacitor anymore..
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