Thread: Having problem with AMP, need HELP!!

AMP is hooked up to battery and ACC. I checked that so many times
so I think AMP is connected fine.

A) I assume you have the amplifier grounded also.
B) Do you know if the amp is turning on? Is there any kind of an LED that would indicate it is on?
C) Are the output levels so drastically low on your sound card and the gain so low on your amp that you just can't hear any sound (essentially like having the volume all the way off).

D) What is the amp model number so we can see if we can discover any other problems.
E) Such as, if it is a 4 channel amp, it might be possible to set it in a way that it only needs input from 2 of the channels and you have the cables connected to the wrong inputs.

Originally Posted by MrPerfectionest

A) I assume you have the amplifier grounded also.
B) Do you know if the amp is turning on? Is there any kind of an LED that would indicate it is on?
C) Are the output levels so drastically low on your sound card and the gain so low on your amp that you just can't hear any sound (essentially like having the volume all the way off).

D) What is the amp model number so we can see if we can discover any other problems.
E) Such as, if it is a 4 channel amp, it might be possible to set it in a way that it only needs input from 2 of the channels and you have the cables connected to the wrong inputs.

Thanks for quik reply ,
A) It is grounded
B) AMP is on. I can see LED's turn on when I try both AMP
C) I have to check that. But should be set somewhere in middle.
D) First AMP is Pioneer GM-X374.
Second test AMP is Sony AMP (I can't remember the model number)

Thank for your help.

Can you take a pic of your connections? That would help cancel out some of the troubleshooting if those connections are set up properly.

Also this may be a stupid question but I don't know your car audio knowledge. Did you run the speaker wires from the car speakers to the amp?

If the amp is powering up and no sound has ever been produced from it then I wouldn't think it's blown so it would have to be the speaker connections. There could be a possibility that the speaker wires are connected properly but either the ground, power, and acc wires are not and the amp is going into safe/protect mode.

Have you tried taking a bare speaker so that you know for certain you have a connection from your amp to the speaker?

If two different amps aren't doing anything, and they are both powered on, then the last link is certainly the speaker.

What kind of car is it? Is there a factory amplification system you are dealing with that could be causing the trouble?

Do you have your crossover accidentally turned on which would exacerbate the gain problem I mentioned earlier. The best debugging step is definitely to take the speaker to the amp and wire it directly so that you can see for yourself if there is a connection.

Thanks guy for your input.
I am at work now, so I will try to work on this tonight and let you know
what I find.

Originally Posted by falconey

Can you take a pic of your connections? That would help cancel out some of the troubleshooting if those connections are set up properly.

Also this may be a stupid question but I don't know your car audio knowledge. Did you run the speaker wires from the car speakers to the amp?

If the amp is powering up and no sound has ever been produced from it then I wouldn't think it's blown so it would have to be the speaker connections. There could be a possibility that the speaker wires are connected properly but either the ground, power, and acc wires are not and the amp is going into safe/protect mode.

My car audio knowledge is very minimal. I only know the basics.

When I connect my headunit to the car stereo (basically the factory setup)
everything works. So every componets are in working condition.

Do I need to do anything special on ACC? I just got it from the fuse box.
What is the safe/protect mode? How do I check that?

Originally Posted by ryuandwings

My car audio knowledge is very minimal. I only know the basics.

When I connect my headunit to the car stereo (basically the factory setup)
everything works. So every componets are in working condition.

Do I need to do anything special on ACC? I just got it from the fuse box.
What is the safe/protect mode? How do I check that?

Ok based on this info I'm thinking you don't have your setup properly installed. Not a flame or anything I just think you've missed a step somewhere. First off you may want to tell what type of car this is, because someone may know if there's a factory amp which could be the problem. Aslo based on the comment about the head unit and car stereo it seems your saying when you connect the head unit back up you get sound from the speakers. I say it seems like that's what you're saying because you say 'head unit to car stereo'....the head unit is apart of the car stereo so I just have to guess what you mean there. If you are saying that without any modification you can hook the head unit back up to its original harness and you get sound from the speakers then we already know your problem. You haven't rerouted the speaker wires to the amp. Or have you? If you have I'll keep trying to help you, if you haven't then that's your problem.

Sorry forgot to mention I really don't think it's an amp issue or a power issue so I wouldn't worry about that too much unless it ends up not being a speaker issue. ACC only needs to be connected to a source that will only produce power when the key is turned to acc...that's the special thing about it.

Originally Posted by falconey

Ok based on this info I'm thinking you don't have your setup properly installed. Not a flame or anything I just think you've missed a step somewhere. First off you may want to tell what type of car this is, because someone may know if there's a factory amp which could be the problem. Aslo based on the comment about the head unit and car stereo it seems your saying when you connect the head unit back up you get sound from the speakers. I say it seems like that's what you're saying because you say 'head unit to car stereo'....the head unit is apart of the car stereo so I just have to guess what you mean there. If you are saying that without any modification you can hook the head unit back up to its original harness and you get sound from the speakers then we already know your problem. You haven't rerouted the speaker wires to the amp. Or have you? If you have I'll keep trying to help you, if you haven't then that's your problem.

Sorry for the confusing statements.

What I was saying about headunit is that, if I do not use the AMP and plug my headunit back into the harness I get sound comes from speakers. This is the original setup just as it came from factory.

When I was test the AMP, I pulled out one of the speaker from the door and connected it to the AMP. I used laptop->sound card->AMP->speaker setup to test.
Does that make sense?

My car is 1997 Subaru Outback Sport, and I don't think there is a factory AMP. But I really don't know.