Jump to content
SAU Community

Sub/Amplifier Problems

blakemcdonnell

By blakemcdonnell,
in Car Audio & Electrical

 Share

Recommended Posts

blakemcdonnell Rookie

blakemcdonnell

Posted
Posted

I recently recieved this sub/amp setup from my uncle for my birthday. 600W MegaVox Competition Amp and 2 x 10" Marathon subs in a Marathon competition sub box. I have a 200W power supply that I used to test them as they are 20-25 years old. When connected to the 200W (12V @ 18A) power supply the subs could play sound (used an RCA to 3.5mm adapter that came with it) but was dropping out, which I assume is to be expected considering I was running a 600W amp off a 200W power supply. After this I installed them in my mates car ( AU Falcon, his wiring was all setup as he has subs of his own) by taking the wiring from his subs and connecting it to mine. When the car was started the amp powered up, but wasn't able to get any sound either from the head unit or the 3.5mm jack adaptor. Checked the voltage running through the power input and it read 14 Volts (normal as AU Falcons charge at 14V apparently). after fiddling around trying to get it to work i took them out and hooked them up to the power supply and it was back to being choppy but could still get sound.

 

Any help or insight into why I can't get sound from the subs in the car but can off a 200W power supply would be greatly appreciated

 

Cheers, Blake

IMG_20211031_223256.jpg

IMG_20211031_223336.jpg

IMG_20211031_223315.jpg

IMG_20211031_223357.jpg

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/482968-subamplifier-problems/
Share on other sites
Ben C34 Grand Master

Ben C34

Posted
Posted
On 10/31/2021 at 10:40 PM, blakemcdonnell said:

I recently recieved this sub/amp setup from my uncle for my birthday. 600W MegaVox Competition Amp and 2 x 10" Marathon subs in a Marathon competition sub box. I have a 200W power supply that I used to test them as they are 20-25 years old. When connected to the 200W (12V @ 18A) power supply the subs could play sound (used an RCA to 3.5mm adapter that came with it) but was dropping out, which I assume is to be expected considering I was running a 600W amp off a 200W power supply. After this I installed them in my mates car ( AU Falcon, his wiring was all setup as he has subs of his own) by taking the wiring from his subs and connecting it to mine. When the car was started the amp powered up, but wasn't able to get any sound either from the head unit or the 3.5mm jack adaptor. Checked the voltage running through the power input and it read 14 Volts (normal as AU Falcons charge at 14V apparently). after fiddling around trying to get it to work i took them out and hooked them up to the power supply and it was back to being choppy but could still get sound.

 

Any help or insight into why I can't get sound from the subs in the car but can off a 200W power supply would be greatly appreciated

 

Cheers, Blake

IMG_20211031_223256.jpg

IMG_20211031_223336.jpg

IMG_20211031_223315.jpg

IMG_20211031_223357.jpg

Not sure why you have bridged the outputs like that.  The actual little wire in the middle isn't needed, and probably causes issues. Take it out and see what happens.

blakemcdonnell Rookie

blakemcdonnell

Posted
  • Author
Posted
On 11/1/2021 at 10:18 AM, Ben C34 said:

Not sure why you have bridged the outputs like that.  The actual little wire in the middle isn't needed, and probably causes issues. Take it out and see what happens.

its the remote/switch input. bridged to power so that it turns on whenever it recieves power. will give it a try soon, just confused as it works fine with power supply but not in the car.

blakemcdonnell Rookie

blakemcdonnell

Posted
  • Author
Posted
On 11/1/2021 at 10:38 AM, blakemcdonnell said:

its the remote/switch input. bridged to power so that it turns on whenever it recieves power. will give it a try soon, just confused as it works fine with power supply but not in the car.

also i thought it could be going into protection mode, but it doesnt make sense to me as the ground works perfectly on his subs and off the power supply both speakers work.

Dose Pipe Sutututu Grand Master

Dose Pipe Sutututu

Posted
Posted

The amp is probably going into protection mode with the outputs bridged like that. That's not how you bridge channels together.

They do not act like AA batteries.

Also using that kind of wiring for power will cause more issues.

Dose Pipe Sutututu Grand Master

Dose Pipe Sutututu

Posted
Posted

Also with the cost of car audio dropping exponentially, you'll be silly not to run a small footprint marine amp. Here's a fantastic one for the price.

The below amp would destroy what you have there in terms of power delivery, SQ, size, heat manage, etc.

https://frankiesautoelectrics.com.au/clarion-xc2410-400w-micro-size-4-3-2-channel-class-d-marine-amplifier/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw_fiLBhDOARIsAF4khR3wzCm4oVysGSSApkJvO81oVKIuGFZln-lEvBhk6526rHRAXp3pV8caAts8EALw_wcB

Clarion XC2410 400W Micro Size 4/3/2 Channel Class D Marine Amplifier

Ben C34 Grand Master

Ben C34

Posted
Posted
On 11/1/2021 at 10:08 AM, blakemcdonnell said:

its the remote/switch input. bridged to power so that it turns on whenever it recieves power. will give it a try soon, just confused as it works fine with power supply but not in the car.

That's not what I am referring to. There is a wire that shouldn't be there on the speaker outputs.

blakemcdonnell Rookie

blakemcdonnell

Posted
  • Author
Posted
On 11/1/2021 at 10:56 AM, Ben C34 said:

That's not what I am referring to. There is a wire that shouldn't be there on the speaker outputs.

Righto man, cheers. Itll still run without that bridge on both outputs? or will i have to run another cable somewhere?

blakemcdonnell Rookie

blakemcdonnell

Posted
  • Author
Posted
On 11/1/2021 at 10:41 AM, Dose Pipe Sutututu said:

The amp is probably going into protection mode with the outputs bridged like that. That's not how you bridge channels together.

They do not act like AA batteries.

Also using that kind of wiring for power will cause more issues.

Yeah, we were running 50amp wiring in the car this was just the setup we used for the power supply to test it as it was a spur of the moment decision. regarding the output bridging do i just remove the cable bridging the negative to positive and leave it? or do i run speaker wire's from both to the respective parts of the speaker?

 

as you can probably tell im very new to this sort of stuff haha, only time ive hooked up subs had a built in amp and just needed power, ground, remote and input. all other wiring seems alright though?

GTSBoy Grand Master

GTSBoy

Posted
Posted
On 11/1/2021 at 1:41 PM, blakemcdonnell said:

so literally just take it out and it should be fine?

As in.....it won't blow up, which we're all surprised that it hasn't already with the way it is wired now?

Yes.

You should do a little google on what it means to bridge an amp, and how it is achieved, so you at least understand, rather than flying blind.

Dose Pipe Sutututu Grand Master

Dose Pipe Sutututu

Posted
Posted

Then the next question, can you even bridge channels with that amp?

There are no physical markings saying you can bridge these channels.

 

Honestly, just buy that Clarion amp I posted up above. Cheaper than a car catching on fire.

blakemcdonnell Rookie

blakemcdonnell

Posted
  • Author
Posted
On 11/1/2021 at 2:33 PM, GTSBoy said:

As in.....it won't blow up, which we're all surprised that it hasn't already with the way it is wired now?

Yes.

You should do a little google on what it means to bridge an amp, and how it is achieved, so you at least understand, rather than flying blind.

 

On 11/1/2021 at 2:39 PM, Dose Pipe Sutututu said:

Then the next question, can you even bridge channels with that amp?

There are no physical markings saying you can bridge these channels.

 

Honestly, just buy that Clarion amp I posted up above. Cheaper than a car catching on fire.

hahaha fair enough, this is just how i recieved them from my uncle. unless hes changed the wiring, this is how he ran it in the 90s. very confused as i cant find anything about the amp on google at all. i will probably end up buying that amp to be honest. what should i be looking for besides on google to see if they can be bridged?

niZmO_Man Grand Master

niZmO_Man

Posted
Posted

Amps probably stuffed, might be a blown capacitor or three. So weird with that wiring setup, I'm surprised it worked haha.

Just get a Class D or mono amp (rated higher than the RMS of the subs, check impedance), save yourself the hassle.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • Duncan
      Who has a Infiniti Q60, Q50 (V37)?

      By Duncan · Posted

      The ATTESSA is functionally identical to R34; there were a bunch of JDM models that continued ATTESSA including Fuga/Q70, Skyline/Q50, Cima etc as an option. All with Auto only and I think mostly for snow regions. AFAIK there were no AWD VR30DDTT sold in Australia - it is on my to do list to check regs for racing a LHD car in Targa/ATR/AASA/CAMS events because if I can get the auto to work it would be interesting to run a 4wd car The Ecuteck TCM tuning is the same model as their ECU tuning, they already have it for R35 and Dose's favourite, BMW. You buy "points" to allow your computer to be tuned, buy either a bluetooth (phone app) or bluetooth+USB+Key (phone and PC) dongle, and pay for a tune that will be locked to your tuner ( ). You can also access the tuning software yourself but 1. it is mega expensive and 2. these computers have a billion parameters that intersect, so how could you ever spend enough time on it to get a decent result.
    • MBS206
      Who has a Infiniti Q60, Q50 (V37)?

      By MBS206 · Posted

      Or, is it a case of what it is like owning an R series Skyline? NFI what the previous owner has done or fiddled with... Ha ha ha After reading through this thread, I went on a bit of a research about the Q50/Q60. Now I'm quite intrigued by them! Is the AWD in them more like a WRX where it's always AWD, or is it more like the ATTESSA in the GTRs? By the sound of this TCU tuning, this sounds like a case of someone has made some real software for it, and you just need the right piece of hardware, and then you license that specific vehicle/TCU. Or is this a case of the software will be really expensive so only a few tuners have it, and you still have to pay a license per vehicle?
    • CF.Panda
      R34 25GT Engine Light 21

      By CF.Panda · Posted

      By popular demand.. it was a coil. Got my hands on 1 new OEM coil, replaced with the one that made the less noise difference when I unplugged it while the car was running and started the car up. No stutter and the engine light was gone. I guess I’ll buy the other 5 they have lol
    • joshuaho96
      R34 25GT Engine Light 21

      By joshuaho96 · Posted

      No, code 21 is very straightforward. It can only be the things described in that diagnostic flow. In fact it has no way of knowing that the spark plug resistance is out of spec.
    • brillo
      Leak from Tokico BM50 Brake Master Cylinder

      By brillo · Posted

      Hi, SteveL Thank you very much for your reply, you seem to be the only person on the net who has come up with a definitive answer for which I am grateful. The "Leak" was more by way of wet bubbles when the pedal was depressed hard by a buddy while trying to gey a decent pedal when bleeding the system having fitted the rebuilt BM50 back in the car, which now makes perfect sense. A bit of a shame having just rebuilt my BM50, I did not touch the proportioning valve side of things, the BM50 was leaking from the primary piston seal and fluid was running down the the Brake booster hence the need to rebuild, I had never noticed any fluid leaking from that hole previously it only started when I refitted it to the car. The brake lines in the photo are "Kunifer" which is a Copper/Nickel alloy brake pipe, but are only the ones I use to bench bleed Master cylinders, they are perfectly legal to use on vehicles here in the UK, however the lines on the car are PVF coated steel. Thanks again for clearing this up for me, a purchase of a new BMC appears to be on the cards, I have been looking at various options in case my BM50 was not repairable and have looked at the HFM BM57 which I understand is manufactured in Australia.  
×
×
  • Create New...