I did the install last night and followed all the instruction. I got the wireing harness to my deck, pwr, wires ect. I hooked it all up. The deck worked but the amp didnt not power on. Could it be blown?
I'm worried that I might have a bad amp. My subs wont come on. I have the deck wired seperately to the two fron and two back speakers in my car then I wired the amp to go to the subs in back. The thing is I'm not getting pwr. Is there something else I'm missing? What do I need to do to test this amp to see if it actually works?


[Modified by Fooser, 4:43 PM 3/7/2002]

 

Did you connect the remote turn on lead? If you did and it still isn't working use a meter to test voltage at + and - power lead *and* the turn on lead. Sometimes the thin turn on lead can get sliced when you're replacing panels.

 

Hmm I did plug in that lead. I wasnt sure what wire to hook it to so I found the power antenna wire and spliced it into that. Is that the right wire? it was blue. I would think since then radio is activated that way it would activate the amp. guess I should test the new wire as well for connection.

I will take your suggestions and work on that today. if I'm still stuck with no response from the amp I'm going to have to take it into a shop. I'm sure that I installed everything correctly tho.


If you know I didnt plug the remote turn on lead let me know cause that would save me alot of troubles. just let me know if theres a specific wire to tap into.

 

The power antenna wire should work. Follow the above directions and test for 12v at the amp. Test the remote wire as well it should be 12v when the stereo is on.

 

Ok I will do that when I get home.

 

If worse comes to worse, just run a wire straight from the battery. Your subs will pop whenever you turn the car on, but other than that its fine. IMO its beetter than being raped at the shop. But yeah, just test for 12v, amps arent really complicated to wire up, so you just *might* have a bad one if everyhing checks out OK. BTW what amp is it?

 

But I got a amp installation kit and I ran the power straight from the battery. the pwr goes from the battery to the amp. The amp has a ground and the auto start wire. then I have the other two rca wires going to the amp from the deck. the speaker wires run to the subs. the other 4 speakers are wired to the deck. So basically I'm trying to run the sub woofers off the amp and thats it.

I'm pissed off that my friend probably blew my amp when he tried to connect it in his car. Saw a little smoke from the wire. I thought the amp would be fine cause it was only for a split second and it came from the wire. He probably crossed the connection or something. Probably have a useless amp now.
Just venting my frustration. Worst comes to worst I will have a friend bring over another amp tonight and test it, while I send the other amp to be fixed. bahhhh

Oh ya the amp is a: GM-x344 4 channel 800w amp 200 x 4
Funny thing is I cant find it online anywhere. It has a display in the middle as well.


[Modified by Fooser, 11:16 PM 3/4/2002]

 

That's the funny thing about electronics as long as you keep the smoke inside them they work, if you let it get out they don't work anymore.

1 sec is a very very long time for electronics. Usually time is mesured down to the microsecond. 1x10^-6 sec or .000001 sec

Test your connections before you hook up another amp. Not just check them, test them.


[Modified by nsxxtreme, 6:28 PM 3/4/2002]

 

You wanna test to see if the amp is good or not? Well, I'll tell you what ya do. Take your amp to the front of the car. Connect a wire to the remote, another wire to the +12V, and one last wire to your -12V. Next, Twist your +12V and your remote wires together. Touch your twisted pair of wires to the positive terminal of your battery and then touch the -12V to the negative terminal of your battery. If you see the power LED light up when you do this, your amp is fine and you need to test the wiring coming from the radio. It may sound ghetto, but it won't hurt anything and it's a quick way to find out if your amp is blown or not. Let us know how it goes.

 

Ok I will give that a try when I get home. Let you know the outcome today.

If by chance the amp is blown how could I get it fixed? I have heard that I can send it in for like $100 plus parts and labor. Is this true?

 

Well, not sure about getting it fixed man. You might just be better off buying a new one. Getting an older model amp repaired will USUALLY cost almost, if not more, than the worth of the amp. You can call the manufacturer and tell them that you need it looked at, but they may tell you no. Someone else may be able to point you in the right direction to getting it fixed elsewhere.

 

Well I'm going to be bummed if this amp is blown because it was a $300+ amp.
Live and learn I guess. Next time I'm not letting anyone touch my equipment.


[Modified by Fooser, 10:06 PM 3/5/2002]

 

Did you get a chance to test it out? It should only take you a minute or two. The long part is actually getting a couple of short wires connected to the amp so you can test it out. Let us know. L8r!

 

Ok So I'm even more pissed then before. I did that test right with the battery and the auto on lead. hooked those up and put the negative on the car. Light lit up perfectly. Plugged it in. My box is not hitting. I'm like WTF is going on. the light is on. So I open the box up and it was ****** guttless with two chips and a wire connecting them. From my experience amps should have coils inside them right?

Damn I got took for $100 by a friend of a friend. ya if your listening you better not show your face in the Scramento area or your in a world of hurt. I will post pics of this guttless wonder.

Good new is I got a lil 400watt amp from a friend so I'm not too crazy right now cause all my wireing works great. hooked up a on and off switch to the auto on relay and now I'm bumpin. Not as loud as I would like but its decent. Learn from my mistake dont just plug in the amp, test it out with some subs before you buy it. The shiet was decieving. Wont happen again tho.


[Modified by Fooser, 3:24 PM 3/6/2002]

 

ur friends friend jacked you for $100? thats messed up!!!

 

I wouldnt call them friends. it was an acquaintance of someone I knew. I guess you just cant trust anyone now a days. I was also dark out when I got this amp so that added to the confusion. All I got to say is dont buy a amp from someone without testing it. This amp came with instructions and everything. was very accurate on what was suppost to be hooked up and wired. There is obviously a buisness behind this because they went to alot of trouble to get this amp made.

I guess you should look for Serial #'s on the amp as well as a do not remove or warranty will be voided sticker. After closer inspections this amp had none of these markers. Just trying to help out future buyers. Now I might think twice about buying anything like this online considering you cant even test the amp out before it is recieved.

 

that is SOO messed up.. man i hate to hear about people getting ripped off.. Im sorry to hear that... i guess thats another reason why i dont like buying things used.. you never know how they treated it before.. and you never know if their ripping you off..

this is not car related.. but oh well.. i got ripped off.. so ill share.. i bought a used modem (external) off this guy .. this was back in the day (like 95 or so) when 56K's were like FAST hahah (dsl and cable werent out yet)... freakin bastard swapped 28.8 internals into a 56K external modem box so looking at the model number and everything on the external modem.. it looked like it was a 56K.. that sucked because i paid like $200 (it was like $300 or so retail back then) to UPGRADE my 28.8 to 56K.. and this foo swapped the internals .. so i pretty much paid $200 to get a 56K outer box/cover for the modem.. but the electronics was 28.8.. so i went from 28.8 to 28.8.. and was out $200

sum1 got an *** beating.. and i got my money back tho

anyway sorry for the off topic crap.. but gettin ripped off sux.. i kno how u feel


[Modified by GSRaCeRbOI, 4:40 PM 3/6/2002]

 

damn that sux to. the thing is this amp was brand new in the box lol. guess I get what I pay for. $100 for a 800watt amp is kind of cheap ehh

 

next time also do some reasearch on rms ratings (see my rantings and ravings in your other post)

it'll help even out the playing field a little...especially if they are correct ratings. Remember that most manufactures over-rate their wattages or rate them at like 14.4 volts driven completly to 1% thd (gives high ratings)..

go brand name, and expect to at LEAST .75 a watt (in canada, we use 1.10 a watt, so i'm guessing on this .75 thing..)

 

Hey man, post the make of the amp. You know, you could look them up on-line and give them a call. It may be defective. If you tell them what happened and then show them the pics, they may swap it out for a good one. If you DO have the box, they should have their contact information listed on it if they're a legit company. It might have been in a messed up line and accidentally got through the system without being detected. You may come out in the end anyway.

 

Na I'm sure its a fake. I will post pics of the insides. theres two little circuit boards on each end. The center of the amp where there is suppost to be a LED diplay has a metal plate there so the lense looks black. When you plug the amp into a power source the light comes on. Well it did until I fried it. But anyways I will get you a pic so you can look yourself. I dont think they would mess up like that. If the coil was missing nothing should turn on.


[Modified by Fooser, 5:37 AM 3/7/2002]

 

? weird...so theres no wiring going to the output channels or anything? just the board that looks like it powers the led?

That's so messed, especially if it's not brand name...

post pics soon, so we can help you get to the bottom of this

 

Ummmm, how did you fry it?!

 

Ok I got the pics. Take a look at this.
Pretty nice Amp Ehhh. See the writing on it with the numbers. Oh ya I really like the LED display in the middle check it out. I will sell it for $100.00 if anyone want it. j/k


Ok here comes the ends. Check out that fuse, pwr, auto start, neg, and speaker inserts.


Take a look at the RCA plugs they look nice.


Looks good so far. Lets take the back off. Oh my a Circuit board?

Wait another Circuit board. WTF.


Hmm thats odd. Looks like two circuit boards with a wire connecting them. Interesting. Very interesting.




[Modified by Fooser, 5:59 AM 3/7/2002]

 

Pioneer has never made "Great" amps, but that is surely not the right internals for that casing. That is a real shame that people do ish like that and get away with it.

Sorry man