I used a 12 gauge wire for a Pioneer 200 watt amp to power the front speakers. I only ran speaker wires from the amp to the wiring harness behind my head unit, not behind door panel to the actual speakers.

Everything works fine when the volume is low. When I pump up the volume, speaker shuts off until I lower the volume again. It sounds like a bad ground but I've tried to ground it directly to the battery and I still have the same problem

Any help?

 

try runing the wire directly to the speaker from the amp. you head unit might not be able to handle all of the power you are pumping.

 

i disconnected the headunit's speak outs wires to the speakers. I highly doubt that is the problem, all that is doing is using a thinner speaker wire to power the speakers. Any other suggestions?

 

well I would sugest that you call local stero shops and ask how much it will cost to see whats wrong with it. they will usuly do it for free becuase they want you to spend money there to fix it. or simply ask them.

 

swap speaker outputs off the amp. if the problem is still in hte same speaker:

the speaker may be cooked.

pull it off and measure continuity (sp?), and impedance between the two terminals.

if it's a 4 ohm speker it should read between 3 and 6 ohms ( approx.) if it jumps around alot, or measures really really REALLY high, or nothing, its cooked.

if the problem changes sides when you swap outputs, then start looking at the amp, rcas fromthe deck etc...

 

the problem is on the amp side (i really believe it's the wiring). When I pump up the volume, it stops all of a sudden like it's out of juice, then music pulses on and off like it's recharging or something...

 

The problem could be caused by different reasons.
Start a check up step by step.

Check your main power wires to the amp. Check for bad connections.

A defective amp? Maybe.

Check the colors of the factory wires behind your head unit and compare with the wires at each speaker in each door. Some manufacturers make different circuits to couple specific in car factory speakers with an specific OEM radio output. This unusual type of impedance or load might be affecting your amp's output and cuts off.

Wires looks all normal? Check for short circuits. They can make your amp overheat and cut off. (get into protection mode).

Check for speakers conditions. About to fry? Wrong inpedance? Crossover not hooked up right?

I guess when you connected the wires from the amp output to the wire harness behind your head unit, you left the speaker output wires from the head unit alone?...

 

Yeah, I disconnected the speaker wires from the head unit side and wrapped them up hanging out. I'm starting to believe it's a defective amp, since I bought it on eBay used.

I will try what you said tomorrow, hopefully it's just the wiring, a short somewhere...

Thanks

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MooseHead R &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The problem could be caused by different reasons.
Start a check up step by step.

Check your main power wires to the amp. Check for bad connections.

A defective amp? Maybe.

Check the colors of the factory wires behind your head unit and compare with the wires at each speaker in each door. Some manufacturers make different circuits to couple specific in car factory speakers with an specific OEM radio output. This unusual type of impedance or load might be affecting your amp's output and cuts off.

Wires looks all normal? Check for short circuits. They can make your amp overheat and cut off. (get into protection mode).

Check for speakers conditions. About to fry? Wrong inpedance? Crossover not hooked up right?

I guess when you connected the wires from the amp output to the wire harness behind your head unit, you left the speaker output wires from the head unit alone?...</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

Are you using 12 guage power wire? I'd up that to 8 awg for starters.

 

did the amp ever work normally?

 

the subs are in the wrong type of box. the subs are being forced to play twice as hard , draining more power from the amp thats why when you turn it up it shuts off you need to try another box , or check the way you have them wired up . like match up the ohm load

 

It sounds like he's running speakers, not a sub and a box can't make subs play twice as hard.
It really sounds like a power/grounding problem

 

well if im reading this right.

connect your speaker wires to the amp. nothing should go to the headunit except the remote turn on wire.

thats wut i did to my front speakers and they work great.

i wired up the amp using 4 gauge wire. ground to ground. remote turn on wire was the only wire to connect to my headunit. then ran the speaker wires to the amp that was it.

 

I think he means he connected the speaker wires from the amp to the wires behind the head unit, not to the head unit itself, so he didn't have to run more wires into the doors.