Gains set too high?

[90blacknight]

I'm having a little problem with my amp. It's a four channel bridged to two and driving two subs. It should have ample power to handle the subs according to the specs. It seems to cut out after a relatively short time and is getting pretty hot. I have the gains (there are two) turned clockwise almost all the way. I have an eq/crossover before the amp which puts out 10V signal strength. After doing some reading I'm beginning the think the gains are not set properly. Gains adjust the sensitivity of the amp and not it's power output (I didn't know this). Could this cause the amp to cut out or get too hot? I believe I have a good ground, I'm running 8 gauge wire (old school ppi's have the wires built in), so I'm sure it's not the wires. Will turning the gains counter clockwise (there is no scale) lower the gains? Is that what I want? Thanks for you help.

 

[05Torch]

what subs are you using? I hope you dont have to low of impedence for the amp. Lowest it should be is 4 ohms.

 

[90blacknight]

The subs are 4 ohm pyles, dual coil. I verified with a multimeter that the impedence is 4 ohms on both speakers. The amp is an old PPI art series from the early nineties capable of running at 2 ohms.

 

[ChingonStang]

Reminds me when I had a Punch 75 pushing two 10's. I would be jammin, pounding bass hard and then....click...nothing but highs and mids. The amp would be hot and shut down to cool off. Annoying.

 

[05Torch]

Are you sure it can run 2 ohms bridged? there isnt many 4 channel amps that do thst. most bridged will only go down to 4 ohms. I have been trying to find out. i would wire the subs in series to get the ohms to 8 and try that. if it stops the shutting down then that might be the problem.

I have been checking and I dont think it will go down to 2 ohms. everything I read says they wont. The people that have done it, the amp went into protection.

 

[Infinity]

The only way that PPI is rated for 3 ohms bridged is if it is an old Art Series ProMos 450. That isn't likely as they were rare even for those of us with dealer discounts at that time. Rewire that poor amp so it sees an 8 ohm load on each bridged channel and that should alleviate most of the problem. Also, your gains shouldn't be much more than minimum if your EQ is truly capable of 10vRMS output.

http://www.edesignaudio.com/site/wiring/1dvcseries.jpg

Wire each channel as shown.

 

[90blacknight]

Well, I did have the speakers wired in the configuration shown in the previous post, however I turned the gains way down to minimum, and so far so good. Have to test over a longer period of time to know for sure. Thanks for all the help until now.

 

[smokin91']

They are PYLE, that is your problem. Any ebay brand like that is garbage. You get what you pay for.