Thread: Subs blown... amp fried? which one??

so 2 days ago my subs stopped working, and i cant figure out if it is the subs or the amp that is busted

i dont hear and feedback or weird noise from the subs when they are playing or just on.
the led on the amp turns on, could it still be fried?

could this be the subs and the amp?
it looked like all the conncetions were good, i could be wrong though

any ideas?

check rcas

Check the resistance on the sub's with a multimeter, if they check out ok then you could look at your amp or rca's or even the deck.

On your voltmeter (AC setting) hold it to the output from your amp and see if it spikes any with music playing.

Is the amp on protect?

Originally Posted by whiney

Check the resistance on the sub's with a multimeter, if they check out ok then you could look at your amp or rca's or even the deck.

Take it a step further. Plug an iPod into the AMP(bypassing your head unit) and see how it sounds.

ipod throws alot of volts at it on full tilt so start at 1/4

Originally Posted by matt5112

1.25 is a lot? : \

1.25 what?

ohms? volts?

i just ahad a similar problem. take the subs out of the box and disconnect them and check with a multimeter on the ohms setting (as noted before) and it should be spec/ about 4 ohms depending on what subs you have

i have 2 kenwoods that were supposed to be 4 ohm but i only got .5 ohm on one and 3.0 ohms on the other, i made the mistake of buying the subs used and assuming they were good...

is the multimeter the yellow thing?

could someone get a pic and show me what to set it too?

if its my deck, wouldnt none of the speakers work?

ook what is your setup?

easiest way is to put your amp in some1 elses car and see if it works

i bet your subs are fine

check output of amp with a mulitmeter if you dont wanna take it out

Originally Posted by coreygnar

is the multimeter the yellow thing?
sure, it could be that color
could someone get a pic and show me what to set it too?
you will want to set it to volts ac, set it to like 200vac. Its not going to be any more than like 30 volts anyways
if its my deck, wouldnt none of the speakers work?
could be just the sub output, or the wiring itself, that can also be ohm'd out too if you really feel like it.

so we tested all the stuff i found the my rca's arent putting out anything really. so now im going to check on the head unit, and see whats going on in their....

Originally Posted by coreygnar

so we tested all the stuff i found the my rca's arent putting out anything really. so now im going to check on the head unit, and see whats going on in their....

Typically...even if the head unit says "4V output" it's nowhere near that. Not because it's a "crappy" deck; but because music is DYNAMIC. Set gains and leave it be.

RCA output voltage, nouseforaname


EDIT: Go back and try what I said already...hook up an ipod or something to it and see if the sound is similar or dissimilar. Then you at least know if the problem is upstream or downstream.

Did your battery go dead or anything like that? If your stereo went to defaults make sure your sub outs are on if your stereo has that setting. Some stereos are set to off as a default.

Originally Posted by Deviq

Did your battery go dead or anything like that? If your stereo went to defaults make sure your sub outs are on if your stereo has that setting. Some stereos are set to off as a default.

i was driving when they stopped playing

Corey...how did you have the DMM setup when you were measuring? First...what's your DMM able to handle; 40hz thru 400hz? Play a test tone at one of those frequencies and measure AC voltage. If you were measuring during music then it's dynamic and wouldn't be that great.

However, setting gain with 0 decibel sine wave probably isn't a good way to handle the situation. So don't use the DMM to set your gains. Output from your amp will be pretty low on most music if you do so.

Did you try the ipod idea yet?