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Peculiar problem - Amp and no sound!

Old May 23, 2001 | 09:46 AM
  #1  
Soulive's Avatar
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I installed a amp to my front speakers but I get no sound.
So far..

Power light comes on.
RCA inputs from the head unit are good (used another amp)
The speaker leads to the fronts are good (tested also).

The remote lead is taped in from the lead to another amp. I have only two amps on the remote lead.

Any ideas?! This is buggin' me out!
Old May 23, 2001 | 09:58 AM
  #2  
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I'm totally at a loss here, but let's try a few more things and figure out if the amp is working at all. You say the speaker wire to the front are good....how did you test them? Did you hook up the other amp that you have? How about some more specifics on the equipment you have. Amps? Subs? Components? Let's say for the sake of getting somewhere in ths post that you have a sub amp and a front stage amp. Well try hooking up your front stage amp to the subs and see if you get some output. If you do, then the channels aren't blown, which is good. You said the wires running to the front aren't the problem, but I'm thinking if your amp is working and playing the subs, then it should work and play the components. Does the power light do anything when it tries to play, ie blink or another light (warning light) comes on?? Get back to me with some more details and we'll try to work this out.
Old May 23, 2001 | 11:05 AM
  #3  
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Originally posted by Dustyroads
I'm totally at a loss here, but let's try a few more things and figure out if the amp is working at all. You say the speaker wire to the front are good....how did you test them? Did you hook up the other amp that you have? How about some more specifics on the equipment you have. Amps? Subs? Components? Let's say for the sake of getting somewhere in ths post that you have a sub amp and a front stage amp. Well try hooking up your front stage amp to the subs and see if you get some output. If you do, then the channels aren't blown, which is good. You said the wires running to the front aren't the problem, but I'm thinking if your amp is working and playing the subs, then it should work and play the components. Does the power light do anything when it tries to play, ie blink or another light (warning light) comes on?? Get back to me with some more details and we'll try to work this out.
Did you check the gain on the amp? how about fader/balance controls? Sometimes, it's the simple things that we overlook... how about crossover settings on amp if any?

Anyways, as Dustyroads says, it'll be more helpful if you give more details as to your setup. Are you running aftermarket components or stock front speakers? Did you tap the speaker wires to the harness at the HU or direct to speakers?
Old May 23, 2001 | 11:20 AM
  #4  
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Here's the scoop. I have a...

Eclipse 4421 Head unit. It has three RCA outs (subwoofer, front, rear)
A 100 watt Kenwood KSC8XX amplified subwoofer.
And a new 50x2 Autotek sx-275 amp.
The front speakers are Pioneer TS-A 50 watt full-range.

My system is designed such as.. I have a 8 guage running (60a fuse) from the battery to a distro block and 8 guage (30a fuse) running to both amps.

I have the subwoofer and the Autotek grounded at different points on the car.

The Autotek and sub share a remote turn on lead.

And finally, the Autotek receives a signal from the front RCA outputs of the head unit.

So far I have tried.
1. Hooking the FRONT outputs of the head unit to the subwoofer. Worked.
2. Hooked the SUB outputs of head unit to the Autotek. No sound.
3. Did a polarity test on both front speaker leads. Worked.
4. Removing the Subwoofer from the overall system. No sound.
5. Removing the Autotek from the system. Sub worked.
6. Ran home speaker from the leads of the Autotek. No sound.

Peculiar.
Old May 23, 2001 | 11:33 AM
  #5  
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jashick you still are the man!! The gains could be something that would cause there to be little or no output, but I don't know. Since it's a powered sub you can't run the output of the sub amp anywhere, but you checked it by running the outputs of the Autotek to some home speakers. Hmmmm, it would appear that there is something wrong with the amp. I mean what else could it be? jashick let's see what else you can come up with. The gains sound like a possibility, what about the crossover, does the amp have a crossover section? If it did and it was set on low pass with a low crossover point, then the output could be very hard to hear. Another idea maybe.
Old May 23, 2001 | 11:41 AM
  #6  
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Yes, I have checked the gain, fader controls and crossover points. The Autotek speaker level outputs go through the wire harness.

Now that I think about it when I hooked up my home speaker to the amp I heard a very very very very minute "hisssssss". I had to hold the speaker to my ear but I heard it. I turned the gain up but it had no effect on the "hissssssss".

I am at a loss. Maybe the amp is bad.
Old May 23, 2001 | 12:20 PM
  #7  
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The last thing I would have you check is the fader control on the head unit. If for some reason the thing was faded all the way to the rear, the output out of the front RCA's would be very weak, possibly inaudible. If it isn't that, then I think you got a dud. Take it back to where ever you bought it and have them try to make it work. Good luck!!
Old May 23, 2001 | 02:54 PM
  #8  
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Originally posted by Dustyroads
The last thing I would have you check is the fader control on the head unit. If for some reason the thing was faded all the way to the rear, the output out of the front RCA's would be very weak, possibly inaudible. If it isn't that, then I think you got a dud. Take it back to where ever you bought it and have them try to make it work. Good luck!!
Out of ideas except...
check the length of the stripped speaker wires. I've seen cases where too much was stripped and jammed into the terminal so far that the back end touched the metal amp casing...so no sound.
Assuming all your wires are good 'n all, the problem sounds like it's
confined to that Autotek amp. If you're not willing to open it up, then I'd agree with Dustyroads and take it back.

good luck.
Old May 23, 2001 | 03:24 PM
  #9  
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I'll try that. Until then I guess I will have to dust off my old/eq booster (if I can find it) until I get a working amp.

Thanks for all your help!
Old May 24, 2001 | 12:31 PM
  #10  
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I had the same problem with a Fosgate 500a2. I blew my old sub with it and when I bought a new Kappa Perfect 12.1, and hooked it up, nothing happened. No sound, nothing. I checked everything, and it all looked fine. Amp turned on, everything was hooked up, so I thought the sub was bad. But it worked with all my other amps so I took the Fosgate to a shop and confirmed it was the amp that went bad.

Originally posted by Soulive
I'll try that. Until then I guess I will have to dust off my old/eq booster (if I can find it) until I get a working amp.

Thanks for all your help!
Old May 24, 2001 | 01:51 PM
  #11  
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I believe the amp is blown also.

Another funky thing is when I first opened the box the fuse for the amp was crooked. Thinking that this happened during shipping I could just pull the fuse out and put in back in straight.

Boy was I wrong.

That mothersucker wouldn't move. Even with considerable force. So I called up Autotek and their first reply was "Is it working?"

Anyhow I am goin' to return this amp. I purchased it from thezeb.com 2 weeks ago so they should exchange it for another.
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