Amplifier Problems

savegoodautonfg · Oct 21, 2006

Ok well i had a thread about 2 weeks ago or so. please read here.

http://forum.sounddomain.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=2;t=047102

Now, i decided to get a new amplifier because united radio (pioneer warranty company) said there is nothing wrong with it. So i just went out today and bought the rockford 450.4 4 channel. i hook it up and nothing. no sound at ALL. i was screwing around with stuff for about 4 hours. the only time i get sound is when i hook up my dads 2 channel amplfier to 2 speakers and a pair of RCA's i get music. it seems my car only wants to play a 2 channel and not a 4 channel.

any ideas guys?

savegoodautonfg · Oct 22, 2006

superhuaman · Oct 22, 2006

could you give us a diagram of how you have it wired, exactly?

savegoodautonfg · Oct 22, 2006

i mean tahts kinda hard, for one im at work now lol. but it's been the same wiring for the last 8 months.

to add: this morning when i woke up and was going to work i started the car adn started driving and i heard my engine going thru the speakers and when i started driving it got louder. i put the volume up loud on the radio and you hear the music from the speakers but obviously u could still hear the engine noise.

also the grounds are good, they have been the same for months. any help is appreciated. im going insane with this.

superhuaman · Oct 22, 2006

what 2-ch amp does your dad have? are you using the same speakers with both? what is your head unit?

i could tell you how to "properly" wire an amp but you probably already know that, i just need to know what you did.

savegoodautonfg · Oct 22, 2006

Yea i know how to properly wire it no problem, iam using the same speakers but obviously only 2 bc its a 2 channel, the head unit is pioneer DEH-7800MP

savegoodautonfg · Oct 22, 2006

I read that the factory ground causes many noises like im having today when i started my car. to do a new ground and not use the factory location all i have to do is use the black wire from the new head unit and ground that to metal right?

superhuaman · Oct 22, 2006

when you hook up the head unit (in the dash) the factory ground should be alright. but for the amp, yes you need to use bare metal. noise comes from crappy rca cables and faulty spark plug wires, more than it does from ground at the head unit, unless of course the ground actually is bad.

when you hook up the 4 channel amp does it come on?
are you using 2 pairs of rca cables (4 channels)?
is the turn on lead connected?
do you have "low" (rca) input selected rather than "high" (speaker) input?
i'm not quite familiar with that amp.

savegoodautonfg · Oct 22, 2006

superhuaman said:
when you hook up the 4 channel amp does it come on? YES ONLY WHEN ENGINE IS RUNNING
are you using 2 pairs of rca cables (4 channels)? YES
is the turn on lead connected? YES
do you have "low" (rca) input selected rather than "high" (speaker) input? NOT SURE ABOUT THAT ONE. IT WOULD BE ON THE SIDE OF THE AMP?
i'm not quite familiar with that amp.

superhuaman · Oct 22, 2006

the amp only comes on when the engine is running? and not key on / engine off? hmm...

i re-read your thread on sounddomain...it sounds like your power/ground wires to the amp aren't big enough. small wires = lower voltage to amp. could be why it wont run...not enough voltage unless you just charged the battery or the alternator is running. that amp should have 8 gauge wire power / ground minimum with a 60 amp fuse. bigger is better though. do you have a capacitor? btw, turn-on wire can be 18 gauge.

here's a pic of the back on your new amp
make sure switch is set to HP (high pass) or normal not LP (low pass)
make sure front / rear gain knobs are turned up (not more than halfway to start, please )
make sure 2/4 channel switch is set to 4 channel
(amp can be set to bridge 4 channels down to 2 for more power)

savegoodautonfg · Oct 22, 2006

superhuaman said:
the amp only comes on when the engine is running? and not key on / engine off? hmm...

i re-read your thread on sounddomain...it sounds like your power/ground wires to the amp aren't big enough. small wires = lower voltage to amp. could be why it wont run...not enough voltage unless you just charged the battery or the alternator is running. that amp should have 8 gauge wire power / ground minimum with a 60 amp fuse. bigger is better though. do you have a capacitor? btw, turn-on wire can be 18 gauge.

here's a pic of the back on your new amp
make sure switch is set to HP (high pass) or normal not LP (low pass)
make sure front / rear gain knobs are turned up (not more than halfway to start, please )
make sure 2/4 channel switch is set to 4 channel
(amp can be set to bridge 4 channels down to 2 for more power)

i HAVE 4 GUAGE EVERYTHING POWER AND GROUND WIRES. Also, you read about how when i use myfathers 2 channel it works fine. thats even weirder. before al these problems started my music would play all the time without the engine running.

savegoodautonfg · Oct 22, 2006

It was my pioneer deh-p7800MP radio. I work at best buy and i got it from there with a service plan so ill bring it there tommorow to get it serviced.

I know its my radio because i tested my old one with the same setup that was'nt working with the 7800 and the old radio worked perfect.

superhuaman · Oct 22, 2006

oh good...i was wondering about how a new amp would be messed up...lol

savegoodautonfg · Oct 25, 2006

Ok now, back to how i bought that new rockford becuase i thought it was my head unit. well like i said I know its my h/u because i tested my old one with the same setup that was'nt working with the 7800 and the old radio worked perfect that was with the rockford 4 channel. So i figured it was definetly my head unit and not the pioneer amp i sent out for service. so i returned the rockford 4 channel.

Then i got my pioneer back yesterday so i put it in today. did'nt work with the same radio that worked with the rockford 4 channel amp. hooked up my dad's 2 channel it worked with no problem at all.

Then i took my 4 channel pioneer and hooked it up as a 2 channel to my dads truck and it also worked perfectly.

So then i was like maybe its the RCA's so i took them out and touched the red RCA to right around where you are suppose to stick the RCA into and some of the times i touched it there without sticking it in, u heard static and such.

I don't know what the hell else i can try. I'm going out of my mind. What should i do?

superhuaman · Oct 25, 2006

so lets recap:

new HU + old AMP = not work
new HU + new AMP = not work
new HU + dad's AMP = work

old HU + new AMP = work
old HU + old AMP = not work
dad's HU + old AMP = work

i really dont know what to say, except that you have a loose connection somewhere. there really arent any patterns to what work and what doesnt. you said you worked at best buy...why not ask one of the installers for help? (sorry if you ARE an installer, im assuming that youre not)

savegoodautonfg · Oct 25, 2006

superhuaman said:
so lets recap:

new HU + old AMP = not work
new HU + new AMP = not work
new HU + dad's AMP = work

old HU + new AMP = work
old HU + old AMP = not work
dad's HU + old AMP = work

i really dont know what to say, except that you have a loose connection somewhere. there really arent any patterns to what work and what doesnt. you said you worked at best buy...why not ask one of the installers for help? (sorry if you ARE an installer, im assuming that youre not)

heres the deal with waht i think.

I would really like to figure it out myself. thats the type of person i am.

It does definetly make sense that myn ew headunit doesnt play 4 channel amps. it seems right that the new h/u is bad.

Next, The RCA's can't be bad because it wouldnt allow the 2 channel to play or the 4 channel to play with old h/u. It doesn't seem to me that it could be any wires.

Should i just rip up all wires and rewire it?

Deleted member 87397 · Oct 25, 2006

Does your new amp even turn on when you start the car? Maybe your remote lead from the deck to the amp is shorted to ground?

savegoodautonfg · Oct 25, 2006

Yes, amp has power. all wires seems to be hooked up fine.

superhuaman · Oct 25, 2006

you must have done something different when you changed stuff around. things dont just happen this way for no reason.

all i can say to you now is...buy alpine! not really helpful though...

savegoodautonfg · Oct 25, 2006

Should i just rip up all the wires and re-wire or what?

Amplifier Problems

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