Jl Audio Amp And Subs

i jsut started having problems with my amp.. it works fine till i raise it up or hit a good note and just shut off the sound but not the amp then the bass comes back
i have 500/1 slash series and two jlaudio 12ae
http://mobile.jlaudio.com/pdfs/10_12W6AE_MAN.pdf
http://mobile.jlaudio.com/products_amps.php?amp_id=252

[turtles_ride]

sounds like you need a cap.

never needed one b4 use to hit hard. but now i got to keep it low just to hear the bass

[sound_xtreme]

Originally posted by turtles_ride@Aug 16 2005, 02:40 AM
sounds like you need a cap.

Quoted post

you're so full of poop. caps are the biggest waste of money that you can spend on car audio.

anyways, check all the grounds. check for corrosion on all connections. get a multimeter and test to make sure the ohms reading is correct(depends on what subs you are running). if they are DVC a voice coil may have came unhooked or something. never know.

[wrightie]

sounds to me like a loose connection somewhere. It could be inside the amp so you cannot see it. when the bass hits I am sure everything vibtates in your car pretty bad. when this happens it could possibly vibrate the connection enough to cause this problem. I am sure that this is probably it, as the amp does not go into protection mode.

Good luck
Love these amps, I got One a few months ago. Powerfull as hell

Wrightie

it must be a power problem it hard to day then after a bit it when down again im going to check my ground and alt and batt.

[mikegett]

Sounds like a odd problem. The JL amps are pretty robust but wrightie may be right about the vibrating. However, before ripping the amp out of the car try a few other suggestions. Soundxtreme mentioned the ohm of your speakers. He has a good point. Check to ensure all your wires on the subs are secure. Eliminate any possibility of your HU or connections. Your amp has a switch for selecting your input voltage. Ensure you have the correct setting. If you are overpowering the input it may shut it off until you turn the volume or voltage down. It is possible that your HU preout is overheating at higher volumes as well. Mark your amp gain and turn it all of the way down or at least until the subs barely hit. Turn up the volume. If the bass cuts out again your HU outputs are the cause. Just to ensure that you have checked your manual. There are three lights that indicate protection stats of the amp. One is green, red and amber. Are you certain that all of these were off when the bass cuts out?

[mikegett]

Sorry, I had a premature post. :P If you believe the wiring is a problem, start at the factory wiring between the battery and altenator. If you have the OEM wires, they are pretty small for a amp of that size. As they get hot corrosion will form on there terminals. For some reason ( I have no clue as to why) ground wires are even more prone to this.

1. i have a brand new HU alpine 9853 just got a week ago from today
2.there is no change in the light color of the amp ive looked
green.
3.is the voltage thing u talking about is the remote turn on right

voltage set to low

[mikegett]

If your lights are staying off, there is a good chance the problem is not in the amp. I wouldn't be so quick as to rule out a HU. Do a poll and you will find that many people here have had at least one occasion with a defective product. The HU was a recent addition and the problem started soon after. Swap your sub rca with a front or rear pair and try it out. It can't hurt. Remember that if you have your sub control at max, then it can easily hit clipping before your front or rear rca's. The voltage input I was refering to was the gain. Your amp has a nice feature on it. You select via a switch low or high voltage input for your preouts. Then you adjust the gain to tailor it. The switch should be set to 200mv and 2volt. It won't hurt to check this, but I doubt it is your problem. This would have been more likely to be the problem if your HU was a over 2 volts preouts.

Originally posted by mikegett@Aug 16 2005, 09:23 PM
If your lights are staying off, there is a good chance the problem is not in the amp.Â;-) Â;-) I wouldn'tÂ;-) be so quick as to rule out a HU.Â;-) Â;-) Do a poll and you will find that many people here have had at least one occasion with a defective product.Â;-) Â;-) Â;-) The HU was a recent addition and the problem started soon after.Â;-) Â;-) Â;-) Swap your sub rca with a frontÂ;-) or rear pair and try it out.Â;-) Â;-) It can't hurt.Â;-) Â;-) Â;-) Remember that if you have your sub control at max, then it can easily hit clipping before your front or rear rca's.Â;-) Â;-) Â;-) The voltage input I was refering to was the gain.Â;-) Â;-) Â;-) Your amp has a nice feature on it.Â;-) Â;-) You select via a switch low or high voltage input for your preouts.Â;-) Â;-) Then you adjust the gain to tailor it.Â;-) Â;-) The switch should be set to 200mv and 2volt.Â;-) Â;-) Â;-) It won't hurt to check this, but I doubt it is your problem.Â;-) Â;-) This would have been more likely to be the problem if your HU was a over 2 volts preouts.

Quoted post

sorry about that i meant that lights are dimming.and it didnt start after the installation of the HU.the clipping started before that.im wondering if my amp or speakers are damaged. Ive check the ohms on the speakers its reading 5ohms on each dvc i know there rated as 6 but dont think that would have anything to do with it?im almost thinking im checking it wrong way

[mikegett]

When checking the ohm, you are only concerned with what your amp is seeing. This means that you will leave your speakers wired and check the ohm on the positive and negative of your amps speaker terminal. I am a bit confused on the light issue. Is it your car lights that are dimming or the light on the amp? If you car lights are dimming then eilther your battery, wires or altenator are failing. Autozone can do a quick check of the battery and alt for free.

Originally posted by mikegett@Aug 17 2005, 12:01 AM
When checking the ohm, you are only concerned with what your amp is seeing. This means that you will leave your speakers wired and check the ohm on the positive and negative of your amps speaker terminal. I am a bit confused on the light issue. Is it your car lights that are dimming or the light on the amp? If you car lights are dimming then eilther your battery, wires or altenator are failing. Autozone can do a quick check of the battery and alt for free.

Quoted post

yes car lights

[mikegett]

You should realy concider having the electrical checked out then. There is a good chance that your altenator or battery is about to poop out. Keep your subs turned off until you get it checked. A bad battery can cause your altenator to work harder and fail prematurly. If your altenator dies, it will almost always damage the battery.

so then what my system is doing is called cliping?
what causes it?

[mikegett]

It is all speculation until you get some facts behind the cause. Your dimming headlights are a indication that your altenator is being stressed beyond its limitations. This is a common problem when amplifiers requiring extreme amperage are installed into a car. In some cases the stock altenator is simply too small for powering the amp or amps. Since your system ran for a while without dimming, the stock is probably big enough for your needs. The new dimming of the lights and low bass are most likely from a battery or altenator failing from age. In my own experience, delco altenators and batteries fail within three to four years. I bought my car new in 03 and have replaced the battery twice. Out of four GM cars in 15 years, only one altenator lasted to five years. If you do find out that the altenator is failing, you might think of purchasing a 200 amp altenator in its place. If the battery is at fault, go with a different brand from GM. Sears batteries have always been good to me. Even though my car was still under warranty I went ahead and bought my own this last time.
Sorry about the long post. Clipping is when a electronic power source is driven beyond its limitations. You hear about it more in audio. While setting the gain on your HU and amplifiers you are simply prohibiting them from reaching a clipping state. Normaly, this is about 80 percent of there max value. When pressed beyond this point the signal becomes irratic causing distortion. In your case, the entire electrical system is probably becoming starved for voltage. this is'nt realy clipping. More of a underpowering.

im going to try the yellow top battery and c if that makes any diffrents..

i had this problem where the bass would clip out when i turned it up, this happened with two mistakes.....one i had the + and - backwards on one sub and since they are bridged it messed them both up, another time the vibration knocked off a connector in the box and was grounding out the other wire.......shutting the amp down........id ohm out the wires from your subs to make sure everythings ok inside the box.......then if that checks out go down to an autostore and have them check your battery and alternator.....they usually do it for free at autozone, kragen, pepboys.......

then check cabling.......after that id say ur equipment is going out

i changed the fuse box i hade for the amps to new stinger and now it hit harder but still clips i check the ohms on them there fine so next thing im going to do is change the bat then maybe have the alt rebuild to 150amps should do