Hey, i'm 16 and new to car audio so i dont know that much yet. I purchased 2 12" alpine type e subwoofers, and a kenwood class D mono 1000 watt amplifier for my nissan pathfinder. The guy at best buy said 8 gauge wires would be fine so i bought a cheap pair off ebay to save money..(probably a bad idea). Anyways 2 months after i got it all installed one day my subs just stopped working. They come back on every now and then, but when i try to turn it up it just shuts off again? Anyone know what the problem is? I'm guessing the wiring. And if so what should i get to replace it? Thanks for your help.
A 1000 watt amp that only uses 8 ga wires? That doesn't sound right. Kenwood amps are questionable anyways. Just do the basics like checking the gain on the amp to see it aint turned up too high and make sure all the connections on everything are secure. You listened to a guy from Best Buy? Yeah and those are the same people that say the Sony stuff they sell is top of the line. Dude, you just gotta do research on this stuff. I've been learning what's good and bad and how to install this stuff for maybe 4 years now. But it's only been within the past year that I've installed all of my system myself and I've had judges ask me if I've had my install done professionally and I say no that I just read and learn and watch how to do stuff right. I'm only 17 but I have a passion for this stuff so I know a little bit. Just a rule of thumb dude, never buy the cheap stuff. I'm sure others on here will agree with me on that one.
"They come back on every now and then, but when i try to turn it up it just shuts off again?"
Is the amplifier getting hot?It's probably going into thermal protection mode.What is the exact model of your amp?That 1,000 watts that you stated is most likely peak or max power.
Take it back to get back your money and save up maybe 100 bucks or so more for a decent amp. Remember, if you are going to get good subs, why hurt them with a cheap amp? People spend hundreds even thousands on subs but when it comes to powering them people try to take the cheap way out by only spending maybe $200. I'm not dissin Kenwood at all because I got their XDC-791 headunit and I can't complain about it. But then again, Kenwood headunits are good but everything else of theirs really aint that good.
ok ignore max power ratings. it's a 500 watt amp @ 2 ohms. turn down the gain or input sensitivity on the amplifier. if its set too high, the amp will clip and shut off. It should be maybe a quarter of the way up from "min" or "0"
Finally got it fixed. My friend check it out and the best buy guy didnt turn down the input sensitivity on the amp so i blew my amp. I took it back and got another one. Except its not as loud so i think im going to buy another Kenwood KAC-8103D and hook it up aswell as get 4 gauge wires. What do you guys think?