well lately, my speakers keep cutting out for brief periods on these hotter days, especially if i turn the music up. after going to my boot and touching my amp, it was red hot, im figuring its an over heating issue.

is there anything i can do/need to do to help this? or is it just something that will happen, and i just need to not work it so hard in the heat?

we used to have this problem with our camry, the amp in the boot used to get red hot and cut in and out in the heat. We moved it to under the passenger seat and the cutouts stopped. Having a bit more airflow really helps.

only 3 options really:
1) Don't listen to music so loud
2) Replace amp with one that can stand the heat more
3) Improve the cooling system.

What I would do is hook up some 12v PC fans to come on when the remote wire does, they should help greatly with cooling if placed correctly.

was considering the pc fans when i first built the install, might give them a shot. cant really afford an amp upgrade and its loud music or bust.
if i dont have my music loud enough, the sub doesnt even seem to do anything, and working in a club, i love my loud music.

Could try upgrading the power wires and turn down the gains
Also make sure the amps in a well ventilated area

Which amp is cutting out, the Monoblock is 400w to a 300w sub so gains set around 3/4 should be good. Winding the gains up past there wont result in much more Db.
And your 4 channel has 60w output each to the splits, rated at 45w I'm guessing. And 85w for the Rear 6x9's.

If you dont turn the volume down, you will be buying a new amp soon anyway as the heat will kill it pretty fast, especially if it cuts out repeatedly.

lower gains to the front splits, or you risk overdriving those too. As for the 6x9's your amp might be a touch underpowered for those, but most people don't crank the rears, with splits up front, as it can sound better that way.

If you could tell us what is cutting out, that would help. And where your gains are set, and the 4 channel amp configuration.

Checking or upgrading the earth cable can result in a cooler running amp, and winding down the gains so you dont over-drive the splits or subs so the resistance on the amp is kept to a minimum, while you still listen a enjoyable volumes. Overdriving a speaker will kill a speaker, and the amp too.

Check the connections at the speakers and the crossovers too.

Some of this you would have done already of course..

the 4ch is cutting out (so the speakers.) sub is going fine, its a better amp than the 4ch though.

currently, my front splits are not connected, the cables are just dangling, as i need to make new mount boards for them. i'll check out the gains etc and get back to you, I have no idea about them and all the knobs and stuff, so i just leave them as they are. i do think however, i've accidently plugged the front wires into the rear of the amp at the moment, which is good so i get more power to them as they're all thats playing.

i dont really want to have to change my install at all if possible, as it took a fair bit of effort and cash, and i honestly cbf messing with all that again. might try leaving the skiport open to try get some cabin air into the boot, although i dont use my aircon anyway, as it is shit.

So wait is there a wire on every speaker wire input? or have you doubled up somewhere?

every spot on the amp is taken up, the wires leading to my front speakers go to the doors, then are just free hanging in the door.

amp - wire - door - nothing

They are not shorting out in the door are they?

They are not shorting out in the door are they?

^^

If they're connected to the amp, and the RCA's run from the HU to the AMP then you'll be feeding a feed through those wires. make sure you've taped up the ends etc.

Also, put your air con on, open your ski port and get one of those 12v fans that plug in to the cig lighter, sit it infront of the ski port and try cool your boot down a bit :P

Im also battling this at present. However its my 2x150wrms (bridged to 500wrms) amp driving the sub that is cutting out. sigh

Might drill some holes into the rear shelf near where the 6x9s are, and run some fans underneath to blow air into boot from main cabin...

I honestly wonder how people get there amps to cut out due to heat - unless they are upside down or something.

I had both my Audison amps, 730WRMS in total and they are not super efficient, running on the back of sub box angled with the rear seat. No air flow what so ever ( the gap was only just wide enough to fit the amps, box was close to sealing the boot ) and it only cut out once due to heat. That was a 40deg day and an hour at full tilt.

I would look at wiring before looking to cool the amp down.

I honestly wonder how people get there amps to cut out due to heat - unless they are upside down or something.

I had both my Audison amps, 730WRMS in total and they are not super efficient, running on the back of sub box angled with the rear seat. No air flow what so ever ( the gap was only just wide enough to fit the amps, box was close to sealing the boot ) and it only cut out once due to heat. That was a 40deg day and an hour at full tilt.

I would look at wiring before looking to cool the amp down.

Probably depends on the sensitive of the amp cutout and the amp in question.

i'll check the hanging wires and see if that helps if theres an issue or ones open or something..its possible.

then will look at trying to get air flow through there, when i touch them they are ridiculously hot..to the point of quite a bit of pain..surely thats bad..

Which amp is cutting out, the Monoblock is 400w to a 300w sub so gains set around 3/4 should be good. Winding the gains up past there wont result in much more Db.
And your 4 channel has 60w output each to the splits, rated at 45w I'm guessing. And 85w for the Rear 6x9's.

If you dont turn the volume down, you will be buying a new amp soon anyway as the heat will kill it pretty fast, especially if it cuts out repeatedly.

3/4 gains to the front splits, or you risk overdriving those too. As for the 6x9's your amp might be a touch underpowered for those, but most people don't crank the rears, with splits up front, as it can sound better that way.

If you could tell us what is cutting out, that would help. And where your gains are set, and the 4 channel amp configuration.

Checking or upgrading the earth cable can result in a cooler running amp, and winding down the gains so you dont over-drive the splits or subs so the resistance on the amp is kept to a minimum, while you still listen a enjoyable volumes. Overdriving a speaker will kill a speaker, and the amp too.

Check the connections at the speakers and the crossovers too.

Some of this you would have done already of course..

kay please dont listen to that.. unless overheating, clipping, and general fail is what you are after.

gains are there to compensate for lack of signal voltage, not to increase dB. 300W speaker on a 400W amp does not mean that the gain should be set at 3/4 as the speaker can only take 3/4 of the power that the amp is capable of producing.

without remembering what head unit you have, i presume its capable of producing half assed rca output voltages. presuming this, i can bet that any more than about 1/4 to 1/3 gain on your sub amp would see clipping, which would be the entire reason for your heating issues.

the problem is that people think they can hear this awesome difference is volume when your keep winding the dial, whereas what you are actually hearing is the clipping signal working its magic on your gear. it may get a touch louder, but its also a much dirtier signal thats harming your components.

this applies to both your sub amp and speaker amp. if you really want to do yourself a favor, go down to your audio store of choice that has a cathode ray oscilloscope and get them to level set your amps. itll cost about $40 and potentially save you hundreds, plus make your daily music listening experience much more pleasant.

running a cde-9872e, with only 2 rca outs, thus using Y cables to split it up. (from memory, been a while)
once i get my front speakers back in, hopefully by the end of the week, will take it down to alberts and get them to do it for me :)

cheers for the help so far guys, i dont understand too much technical stuff, but its getting there.

my amps didnt have cutting out issues but were running mega hot,
i installed a PC 12v fan at one end for air in, then drilled a hole at the other for air out, running much cooler now.
spliced power from the 12V remote wire, and also installed a separe circuit, running off the main power with a thermostat, so on a really hot day, the fans will stay on even when the car is off, untill the amps have cooled down

Thanks Woob, fair point. Perhaps I should have said 3/4 of what he had them too. Actually I should have.

I just wanted the amps turned down a bit to extend there lives.
Until we could find out his set up. It sounded like it was fully cranked.

BTW Gain control and Volume control = Same (http://www.teamrocs.com/technical/pages/gains.htm).

I would spend that money on increasing ( and shortening ) the earth wire on your amps, seeing as distortion and clipping are not your problem.

Apparently, though, IIRC, distortion can start to degrade and shorten the life of your speakers @ 1% THD. the ear can pick distortion at 10% THD.

Shoot: gains are not the same as volume.

In a nut shell, THD adds up. What you should be looking to achieve is minimum THD from the Headunit via the RCA while giving decent volume. This is why they say roughly 3/4 volume is a good place to start. Even with the low level signal, it will still carry distortion if pushed. So once you find that volume on your headunit, it may be 1V, 2V, 6V @ X% THD etc so the gain will act as a safety so the amp only produces max power matched to the headunit output. If you have about 1% THD from the headunit and you run your amp at full tilt ( say 5% THD ), that means you have 6% THD total. When you add in processors, it all adds up.

Lathiat: I have had several amps in different spots and that scenario is the only 1 were one of my amps actually cut out due to heat. Usually I mount them under the front seat, on the rear of a sub box or somewhere in the boot. I have done this for:
Coustic 2ch
Fusion Mono
Pioneer Mono
Audison 2ch
Boss 4ch ( ha ha )
Jaycar 2x 150WRMS
Jaycar 4x 1000WRMS
Clarion 4ch

Big range, none have overheated bar the Audison SRx2s in that tiny opening. In saying that running fans to help the amp run cooler will mean it will perform better for longer.

install:
http://i50.tinypic.com/mkkr3k.jpg

Monoblock to sub:
http://i46.tinypic.com/6zu8mv.jpg

4ch chA:
http://i50.tinypic.com/ri5kw2.jpg

4ch chB:
http://i46.tinypic.com/2rc2zko.jpg

It shouldn't over heat where it is. So judging by the dials you have an Alpine mono which is the one cutting out.....

And the other is a Pioneer 4ch?

alpine mono is fine i believe, only thing i notice is that i have to have the volume a decent level before i hear any mention of sub, dunno if thats normal.

pioneer 4ch is the one eating ass and cutting out, and i have seemed to have been noticing some distortion lately, though dont know if its just been the quality of the music i'm listening to or if i've blown something or what. i should probably just get somebody to look at it all who actually knows their stuff, i know next to nothing about audio.

also, for the record. chA normally runs to fronts, chB normally runs to rears. at the moment i believe chA is into the rears accidently, and chB is just hanging in the doors.

I take it that you've disconnected the front speaker wires from the amp. And turned the 'B' gain down all the way.

If it still cuts out. Run the rears through 'B' and and, of course swap reset the gains.

If a bit of distortion is coming through, you might have cooked it. If its out of warranty, you could look inside and inspect for heat damage and/or blown Caps.

Blown Caps.

http://www.bcae1.com/repairbasicsforbcae1/images/IMG_4846b.jpg

Heat damage can be indicated by massive discoloration of the Circuit board.

bought everything 2nd hand, so no warranty.

no, the wires are still connected to the amp, but nothing at the other end. no knobs have been changed as i know nothing about them. will disconnect the wires and turn it down now. worst comes to worst i'll open her up.

Have you checked if the ohms of the speaker are wired up to match the amp? if they are not set up properly the amp will become unstable and go into protection mode and cut out. and heat up like a mongrel.

you said you have two sets of RCA's running from your headunit, correct me if i'm wrong but my headunit has the same. despite the fact i only run a 4ch to fronts and rears (no sub) i have the option to switch one set of RCA's from either rear or to sub. I thought i had wired them wrong or messed up somehow when i had my rears running off the "sub" option so the reverse effect may be happening with your sub, it may be running off the "rear" option and producing little to no sound.
hope it all works out mate,

~twiggy~

you said you have two sets of RCA's running from your headunit, correct me if i'm wrong but my headunit has the same. despite the fact i only run a 4ch to fronts and rears (no sub) i have the option to switch one set of RCA's from either rear or to sub. I thought i had wired them wrong or messed up somehow when i had my rears running off the "sub" option so the reverse effect may be happening with your sub, it may be running off the "rear" option and producing little to no sound.
hope it all works out mate,

~twiggy~