[LMntGuy1982]

Ok so here the deal.

When I crank my stereo up the Amp goes into protect mode until it turns down a little.

I have an Alpine V12 ???wattx4 channel amp.

Kenwood something or other speakers.

Pioneer AVHP4100DVD Head unit.

This happened with my old head unit too so I know thats not the problem.

I'm thinking it could be the driver touching the magnet or something along those lines causing the issue since it's only when it gets turned up loud. Hell it may even be the speaker is bottoming out. I dunno the speakers were some from best buy shortly after I got the E. I'm just spitballing here since I don't have time to work on it right now but would like a few ideas on what to check.

TIA.

 

[Serj22]

THe few things i can think or are the speakers touching metal and causing the protect mode. ANother thing is some amps say "1000 watts" but you can't "turn it up" to that or it will just go into protect mode. Check the fuses on the amp, once it starts doing that "protect" thing, usualy the next thing is for a fuse to go out. MY amp used to do this every time I would swap a new CD in, it would make me turn it down to about volume 5 and then turn the amp back on (I have a 2nd switch so I can reset the amps while driving). My observations of my new amps, would suggest that it only goes into protect when you can cook an egg on the amp (it burns the skin) or if you start up immediate sounds at what it thinks is too loud of a volume.

Mess around with the input source gain, and see if you can drop it a little, and turn the source volume up on the head unit.

 

[Americonium]

I vote for turning the gain down a little as well. Gain isn't a volume knob, it's a way to adjust the amp to match the input to the output. If you have too much gain, you can get a lot of distortion, and distortion is difficult to hear in a sub unless you know what you're listening too. There are several online tutorials for setting up a sub amp, some use a Bass disk and a Multimeter, and that would be the one I would try to find.

Good luck

 

[LMntGuy1982]

The amp isn't for a sub. It's for my other speakers. The gain isn't set too high. I started with the gain all the way down , turned the HU up to about 85% then adjusted the gains up to be about as loud as I'd ever want the speakers to be. This way I have a nice volume ramp. I'll have to check the speakers and see if there's metal touching anywhere.

Is it common for tweeters to blow? I might upgrade the speakers eventually. Just waiting on the money to do so.

 

[Serj22]

Is it common for tweeters to blow? I might upgrade the speakers eventually. Just waiting on the money to do so.

Usually small 1"-2" tweeters will withstand up to 300 watts, and even with a HU and amp, you will probably never push them to the limit, and I've never really heard of one blowing since the cone on them barely moves enough to actually tear the surround.

If you have a SLA on the hU "source level adjust" I'd crank that up a little bit, and turn the gain down on the amp, and maybe mess with your crossover frequency to pick up the range your looking for. Also, if you have a sub on a seperate amp, or elsewhere, you should set the Bass boost on the amp all the way off (I don't know why amps have this control anymore, it's always sucked and causes horrible sound and overheating). Also, set the frequency to high on the front set and flat on the back may give you a little more volume to play with before the amp hits protect.

 

[LMntGuy1982]

Yeah i've got 2 subs. An 8" in the factory location and a 12" in the back. Both on their own amp. I don't have the bass boost up at all on them. Maybe I should try to turn the crossovers up on the amps for the fronts and rears. I guess they could be getting too much mid/low and bottoming out. I'll give it a shot and see what happens. Thanks for the tip.

 

[Americonium]

How's your ground on the amp? Sorry, I'm just using the shotgun approach at this point.

 

[maontayne]

When an amp............

shuts off and/or goes into protection mode something is wrong. The absolute first thing to check is all the speaker wires connected to the amp. They should all measure what the speakers are rated(in ohms DCR) to measure or close and be free of shorts to ground etc .

If you are cranking it up loud and it gets hot it is likely a thermal device is saying too hot, we're shutting off and doing its protection job.

Your amp should be able to ventilate well and be mounted properly with the heat sinks pointing up. No mounting an amp upside down so it can't dissipate its heat.

Also your amp wants a speaker load of a certain load impedance or higher not lower. Make sure you are following the manuals instructions.


Good luck.


ET