Here is my situation. About 2 weeks ago my subs started cutting out. At first I thought that my amplifier was broken so I switched it out for an older one that I had. The problem persisited so reinstalled the old amp. I then borrowed a friends sub and hooked it up thinking that the subs were broken. The same thing happened. Then I deduced that it was the headunit. I replaced the head unit and the same problem happens. I have checked all connections and nothing seems to be shorting out or broken. Please help.
I have a pioneer DEH 6700 mp head unit. Two Pioneer 12 inch 1000W max subs. and the Kenwood KAC 9152D 1800 Watt Amplifier.
dude its gotta be somthing in the wiring if the subs,hu and amp are not the prolem then the only thing left is the wiring...check your conections on the terminals subs and conections to the amp itself...and you could replace the speaker wire....not needed
Use a DMM and measure the voltage going to the amp. Normally when an amp cuts out, it's either from lack of voltage/current or a short on the speaker wires. You might also want to check the gain/level setting on the amp. Set incorrectly can and will lead to amp protection.
One thing you could do to test your amp out (to see if it's your wiring that's causing the lack of voltage) is simply open up your hood, and sit the amp someplace safe, and use very short lengths of the biggest wire you have to hook it up. Run your RCA's from your deck outside your car (17' RCAs are more than enough for this) then just sit your sub box beside your car, and plug in the speaker wire.
If this solves the problem, triple check your existing wiring, making sure there's no smashed wire, or rubbed/cut wire etc.
Make sure your ground wire is attached to a clean BARE METAL surface, preferrably on the floorpan of the vehicle, and that all terminals are very well crimped, if not soldered.
If this dosnt solve the problem, you might want to have a buddy pull up his ride, and attach the power wires to his battery, leaving the RCA's from your HU attached to the input. If this still dosnt solve it, sounds like your RCA's are faulty.
If you try another set of RCA's, and this dosnt solve the problem, you might want to try to use the high level input on your amp (assuming it has one) you can do this by using the normally included plug, and basically splicing it into your factory speaker wiring. (Some inputs require all four outputs, others just two.)
Hey thanks for the advice guys. This morning in the pouring rain I had an apiffany that the problem had to be with the grounding cable. Don't ask how or why that would take pages of explanation. So I opened up some side panels and checked the connection for my ground again. The cable was still attatched but it had come partially lose and it wasn't making a really strong connection. That seems to have fixed the problem for now. Hopefully another one won't creep up.