Amp Problem!!! pls pls HELP!!!!

[clayparkley]

Yes, I unplugged everything including speaker wires. I also thought it could be a short from speakers causing the amp to shut down because I was taking out one of the speakers to relocate it a little when the sound went out completely. But on the other hand, maybe not because it started to sound weird even before I touched the speaker.

[StereoInstaller1]

You never mentioned if you disconnected the speakers. a bad short could make it shut down, but what you are describing does not sound like that (ever heard an amp squeal? I mean the amp itself!) it sounds like "internal shit" has died.

I say do both. Buy the damn taiwan (be prepared for the PPI to get its ass kicked, BTW) amp, be it Quart or whatever brand name is on it (look at the control layout for a clue: most are the same, as they are the same board) and then get your PPi fixed.

Man...what a bummer. You might wanna take it apart and look around. Some of the old PPIs used an actual ring terminal to connect the main power wire to the circuit board. They only used a screw and a nut with a lockwasher. If that were the case...well, take it apart and look. Look carefully, but don't make anything worse.

Luke

[clayparkley]

ok, I bought a volt meter and checked two points. First the battery itself, lol~, it measured 12.8something. Then I measured power and the ground cable right before it is inserted to the amp and i think it was something around 12.6. I unplugged everything and made a new remote wire straight from the battery plus to the amp remote.
When I plugged in the power...... It does the samething. It tries to turn on like every three seconds, but shuts off immediately.
So now is it safe for me to say the problem is with the amp?
It worked for first 5 minutes or so. Is it possible that I might have caused amp to go wrong? Amp did not felt hot nor did I smell anything burning when it stopped working.
The reason I ask is because I'm afraid I might waist another amp that I buy in the future.

I don't know why but I'm still shopping for an old school amp like ppi or JL Audio. Is it not worth it? It seems like cost is pretty much same with these day's brand new amp.

Stereo Installer1,
should I just go with the MB Quart amp that you mentioned in other threads?

Anyway to go about fixing the amp? I'm keep on thinking it should be a minor problem since it was working in the first place.

[dwvw]

The first step should be to get a meter, and measure what is happening. Anything else is conjecture and can have you randomly replacing stuff that isn't the issue. Do whay Luke said, get a meter and set it for DC voltage, put the ground probe on your negative terminal on the amp, and your positive probe on the main 12V (to the battery) terminal on the amp. You should get a reading of 12.2 Volts or higher. If it isn't reading that much, move to where the fuse is. Ground your negative probe, and measure the power wire right after the fuse, and right before the fuse. Keep going till you find where the voltage drop is happening. If the main power wire checks out, measure your remote turn on wire. do it in the same order, start at the amplifier, and work your way to the front of the car, measuring anywhere a connection is. Then get back to us.

[StereoInstaller1]

ah, I see BMWguy said the same thing...just use the car battery to test.

If you have a voltmeter, make sure you have 12 volts or damn close to it on your power wires.

[StereoInstaller1]

OK, do this: leave nothing but power and ground connected. Disconnect your RCAs adn your speaker wires. Grab a few inches of whatever small wire you have around to make a jumper from +12V to remote and turn the amp on.

IF it powers up properly, grab a speaker...any old known good speaker. Connect it to any of the 4 channels using a short chunk of basic speaker wire.

Now, connect your Ipod or phone or walkman, whatever you have, using an RCA adapter (3.5mm 3 conductor to RCA cable) and see if everything works.

If you get sound (you may have to turn the gains way up) test all 4 channels...then report back here.

Luke

[clayparkley]

One question.
Can I use 12v DC Adapter instead of 12v battery?

[clayparkley]

You can bench test the amp your self. Just get a 12 battery. Some wires. USE a fuse. Wire the amp up to the battery. Then grab your Ipod and get an 3.5mm to RCA wire. (head unit) To turn the amp on just use a wire to the + side of the battery. Oh and you will need a demo speaker too.
This may help to know its nothing in the car.

Ok, that sounds easy. I pretty much have all that you've described except for the battery. I guess I'll just take the battery out from the car.
Thanks for the help.

[bmwguy325is]

You can bench test the amp your self. Just get a 12 battery. Some wires. USE a fuse. Wire the amp up to the battery. Then grab your Ipod and get an 3.5mm to RCA wire. (head unit) To turn the amp on just use a wire to the + side of the battery. Oh and you will need a demo speaker too.
This may help to know its nothing in the car.

[clayparkley]

I have shortend both power & ground cable.
Crimped a new o ring to the ground cable and moved it from back of the trunk to the bottom.
It's still doing the samething.
I don't know what else to do.
I'm thinking about trying to find a local stereo shop who's nice enough to test the amp for me and see if the amp itself has any problem.

[StereoInstaller1]

You sure do, just like with anything.

It would be hard to cause damage, but no sense not knowing, right?

[clayparkley]

sorry, no updates yet. I had a very busy weekend. I'll probably get it done tonight. When I'm drilling a screw throught the bottom of the trunk, do I need to worry about not to drill through something underneath?

[StereoInstaller1]

So how about some updates?

[clayparkley]

go kick its ass!

[StereoInstaller1]

go kick its ass!