Alright so I have everything wired up properly for my germaniums. I decided to test with a DMM the voltage on my amp according to the CA.com link. I tested it bridged and unbridged. the amp is a kicker ZX 350.4 brand new.
I have a pioneer tv with 4v preouts and volume goes up to 62.
at volume 40 bridged:14.1
unbridged:7

volume 42 bridged:17.8
unbridged:8.7-8.8

volume 45 bridged:25.5
unbridged=12.7

according to kicker I get 175x2@4ohms bridged. (26.4v)Thus, even at volume 45 (25.5) I am still technically under the 175x2. Moreover, at volume 42 taking the voltage(17.8) it calculates to 85x2 @4 ohms bridged. So I wire up the 4 channel as follows:
amp1 bridged=tweeters
amp2 bridged=mids
I put them on reference soft on both xovers...I know I did it correctly because it sounds diferent and according to the manual I would get no output if I did it wrong. Volume 35 sounds decent by no means "loud" and I put it up to volume 38 (playing chamillionare-ridin dirty) and boom: the whole frontstage shuts off. I turn the car off,then back on and everthing works fine. I checked all the xovers and everything is fine. This leads me to believe it is the amp. I have only the kicker amp running. the substage is out of my car. What could be causing this? Kevin did all of the wiring and when I ran my CDT's of my old kicker kx 150.2 I had 0 problems with the frontstage. I am running 4 gauge power/ground and 2 channel RCA's. Thanks guys.

 

your EQs were flat or set to your normal levels when you did this?

 

yes sir. HPF at 80. no bass boost, loudness, etc.

 

It must be those terrible Pyle drivers 6.5 super bass speakers you bought.

 

Oh, didn't I just talk to you?

 

dude these speakers might be fake!!! I'm gonna go do the recommendations you said right now. Let's hope and pray.

 

i still think its user error

i kid i kid, hit you up on AIM.

 

I tried lowering the gain on the tweeters alot and readjusted the germanium xovers to "optimally balanced" ...the red protection light still comes on when it cuts out. it cut out for a second, then the green light came back on and the frontstage came back. I think I may run the 4 channel in stereo instead of bridging it.

 

Sounds to be most likely an amp problem, although I wouldnt rule out wiring. Nothing against Kevin, as I know hes more than capable, but simple mistakes are made everyday.

With that being said, why the H3LL would your bridge your mids and tweets? Can you say frontstage nightmare? Actually you dont even have a stereo frontstage, its now mono.

NooB

 

Once you get that figured out the speakers will put a nice big smile on your face . Why not try bi-amping the set?

 

Manny recommened it. I wanted to bi-amp them but I was told bridge the amp and give the more power. I have a question on the Germanium xovers...is there any chance that the Germs x-overs turn the load into 2 ohms and then when I bridge it the amp is seeing a 2 ohm load? If so the kicker cannot do 2 ohms bridged and this could have caused the protect to come on. I could be full of it thought because I'm a total newb when it comes to practical installation of car audio. any ideas/thoughts on this?

 

I highly doubt that he suggested doing it that way. Maybe bridging to each side? Same power being shared, but still retain a stereo signal.

If your bridging, then your doing a 2Ohm stereo load on the amp. Tweets are 4 in parallel, theyll be 2Ohm. Same goes for mids.

You can either run channels 1&2 biamped into one side, then 3&4 to the other side. OR bridge 1&2 into One input on one side and the same with 3&4.

 

alright well I will just tell you how I had it wired when it started to cut out:
Amp 1( channels 1-2): Both tweets together (Left tweeter (positive) to right tweeter (positive) twisted together accordingly and bridged, left tweeter (negative) to right tweeter (negative) ) twisted together and put into amp1.
amp 2 (chanels 2-4)= same as amp 1 but with both mids. I assume this would make a 2 ohm stereo load like you said?

 

Yes, that would be 2Ohm stereo for the amp, not your car. For each Pair of channels, that would be 2Ohm mono.

Ie: Pretend its a 2 channel amp with your tweets on it, then you would have a 2Ohm mono signal.

 

Yes, that would be 2Ohm stereo for the amp, not your car. For each Pair of channels, that would be 2Ohm mono.

Ie: Pretend its a 2 channel amp with your tweets on it, then you would have a 2Ohm mono signal.

 

oh jesus this explains why it is going into protect when I had them bridged that way...I should never be allowed to touch my caror anyones for that matter. I need the "The Don's" Opinion: How should I wire up the Germs? Amp does 175x2 @4 bridges or 60x4 @4 in stereo. I am not concered with output now that I know why the heck my amp was cutting out. for optimum soundquality, durability what would you do if it were your frontstage? and don't say get an Arc amp because I'm broke as a joke. (although I would love one)

 

Channels 1&2 to biamp one side and 3&4 for the other side.

 

k so just to verify: put the left side (tweeter and mid) on amp1 (channels 1-2), and put right side (tweeter and mid) on amp 2 (channels 3-4)?

 

DISCLAIMER: This is currently not my install, slickrick is DIY right now. They were working perfectly installed temporarily on the Kicker KX150.2, and I told Rich a few days ago that he needed a DMM to check the impedance when he bridged em because I wasnt sure what he would be at, assuming thats the problem.

Just had to put that out there.

 

........

 

if your Arc amps get jacked in FL you know who to come lookin for sucka.

 

Furthermore, no posting for me for a few days. Im off to California tomorrow night. Ill be back hopefully whoring on Monday, if im not passed out from the red-eye flight.

 

A 791xv would sure help that. I wonder who has one waiting to be installed.

 

Most likley because multi amp setups tend to get expensive as hell.

 

good luck getting it out.

no idea who, but i did find these parts laying in my room...

 

Wow what did ya do!? I'm not 100% sure on the crossover from the germs but I'm sure manny meant to run the setup passive with the amp bridged into the inputs. I don't know what possessed you to wire the tweeters and mids in parallel like that. Also when you change the resistance like that the x-over is now cutting off at a different frequency if you're not running 4 ohm. Basically at 2 ohm your getting a 40hz cutoff instead of 80hz at 4 ohm. Someone correct me if I'm wrong but thats what I've learned.

My suggestion would be to ditch the 350.4 and get a bigger amp to power up the germs, or just bi-amp the right way

 

Eh I heard recommendatons of wiring that way from other people. I still take the blame. No bigger amp, once I fix it oday I'm sure it will be fine.

 

Sweet sounds good.

 

The instruction manual for the Germaniums is not very clear on the different wiring setups. It just says how you can bi-amp them, but not what load they will present. For example for a regular setup with 2 channels from an amp they have you make a Y-connection to go to both the tweeter and midrange from the same channel. It does not state what impedance this makes. For bi-amping it tells you to use a seperate amplifier channel for the tweeter and midrance, but again does not tell you what impedange this is. I assumed the first option was a 4ohm load. Either way I am happy with mine .

 

yes the translation did not go perfectly...they also messed up on the tweeter attenuation instructions. check the manual and see. right now I have them wired up as:
channel 1=left tweet
channel 2=left mid
channel 3=right tweet
channel 4=right mid
the tweeters overpower the mids by alot and when I did have them bridged the mids slammed. I'm going to play with the tweeter attenuation because they get loud very easily.

 

noobs with high end equipment scare me...

 

is that not the proper way to bi amp them? I know I am a newb but the manual sure as hell sucks at life along with my 4 channel amp installation capabilities.

 

shoulda just bought a 2 channel amp

 

I actually emailed them regarding that issue .

 

You should wire it so that the mids are using the rear gains, and the tweets are using the front gains. This way you can adjust accordingly so the sound compliments rather than over powers.

 

Thats what I had but changed it to what I posted. Thanks.

 

So what was the verdict?

 

No prob, I wanna know how it sounds this way already!!! lol

Any probs when you had it wired mids ---> rear and tweets ----> front?

 

Well I have it wired up as follows:
channels 1,2 are the tweets and channels 3,4 are the mids.
it sounds fine but at volume 41-42 the left side makes a weird sound, its not quite a pop but like a sharp "electrical" sound. I faded to the front and tested the left and right sides...the right side plays up to 43 with ease and 0 noises. however, the left makes the weird sound, and no its not mechanical noise from the mids being overpowered or anything. any ideas?
edit: I switched the tweets/mids around to get the proper balancing when i change it, and the sound went away. Im going to test it for a day to see if it is gone...let's hope it worked.

 

Hopefully thats the end of that.