Amp issues?

[Wasupdeek]

I just recently wired up my (front) components for my car. My problem is this.

I have power to all speakers however when the volume is turned up the amp goes into protection, and the speakers make a horrid popping sound. I have checked, rechecked, and checked again the polarity for all wires and to make sure they are not accidentally stripped, shorting/or grounding out. My assumption is that my amp which is new has an internal short. Am I correct in assuming this????? How can I test it???

:thumbsdow

I'm not so good with a multimeter yet (I poped a cap in my first one and I don't want to do it again), so I could use some instruction on how to use it to test the amp........

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[pavengmike6 10+ year member]

Do you have a digital, or analog multimeter? Or better yet does it have a digital readout, or a bar that moves across? Different meters have different options. An example is I have 2 different meters. One is analog, and it has 2 different settings for D.C. current 3 for A.C. current, and one for resistance. It all depends on the volt range I am checking to which position I put the switch in.

The problem you are saying could be a number of things. The easy thing is to check your ground. DO NOT GROUND IT TO A SEAT BOLT, or to the body of the car. I ALWAYS do a frame ground. You amp may be getting a good enough ground a low power requirments, but when high power is required the ground, or even the power wire may not be connected good. If you did do a body ground (which means you grounded the amp to the metal body of the car) check to see if your battery has 2 wires comming off the neg terminal. One should go to eng, and one to the body of the car (only about 6 to 12 inches from the battery). If it does not have the second one add it.

Do you know how to check the Ohms with your meter? If so check to see that your component speakers are reading correctly. It should read around 8 Ohms seeing most are wired in series and most are 4 Ohms.

What ga wire are you running to your amp? Ground? what type of amp? Are the gains turned up all the way on the amp? I would not think that the component speakers would cause such a big power draw that most amps could not keep up. But check those things and let us know

 

[Wasupdeek]

Thanks for the ideas, but I've narrowed it down to a problem with the x-over on the driverside it seems to have a resistor that shorts/works whenever it wants. Now I need to decide wheather or not to fix it or buy new x-overs..... Anyone know where I can get replacement resistors, capacitors, and other parts for amp/xover repair, at a decent price??