Kick amp

[ahicken]

I ment Kicker amp. I want to start by saying I know very little about stereo equipment.

The sound of my system has gone bad. There is no power or depth and if I turn it up the speakers start cracking. I have a kicker zx700.5 amp running my stereo. I have checked to see if there is enough power coming from the battery and even charged the battery to be sure. Still bad sound. I think maybe there is something wrong with the amp. The system is two years old and is on an 08 RZ4. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[chpthril]

My first thought is maybe the settings got bumped and are out of whack.

Also make sure that the EQ setting in the head unit are at or close so 0, especially the bass. Inspect the RCA connection on the back of the head unit for a loose RCA cable going to the amp.

Start there and let us know!

*EDIT* Guess I could have shared with you where I would set the settings.

Set the Gains about at the mid point, this seems to be dead on for the Clarion CMD headunit. The "Bas Boost for the sub portion of the amp at 9, and the X-over at 50Hz's. For cabin speakers (Amp 1 and Amp2) set the Bass Boost to 0 and the X-over's at 80Hz's to 100Hz's. On the speaker wire end of the amp, make sure the 2 small slide switches are set to "Hi-Pass".

[ahicken]

Thanks chpthril. I have checked the settings and connections. The switches on the HiPass were set to off. I don't know if that is the way they have always been, but they would have been hard to bump and change. I set them to HiPass but now the stereo just flashes on for a second and then quits. No sound at all. Almost seems like a power problem, but the batteries seem fine.

[chpthril]

Sounds like it's going into protect mode. I hate to ask, but double check those 2 switches, they are a 3 position switch with OFF-LOW-HI and its very easy to get it in low and think it's in high. This could very easily send it into protect mode as it's sending all low notes to the mids and tweeters.

[ahicken]

I checked the switch and it is definately all the way up on HI. It only gives HI and Off as options. I tried turning the system on in both modes and the amp starts to turn on and then the red light comes on like it is in protect mode.

[philwsailz]

Check to make sure you do not have speaker wires grounding to anything metal, or grounding to each other. It only takes one loose strand to really give you a big headache...

You say the batteries seem fine, but you want to get a meter on the system and measure the voltage right at the amplifier's opwer terminals. if the voltage is 10.5 or lower, the amp will not (or should not) turn on. Measure it to be totally sure you have good electrical connections and a good battery.

Are your speakers in good condition? It happens occasionally that speakers blow. When they do, sometimes they will create a dead-short that will make the amplifier go into protect mode. It is easy to blow speakers with bass boost turned too high. It is also easy to blow speakers with the head unit EQ settings maxed out. If you have bass and treble turned all the way up, with the loudness switch turned on, it is easy to cause the speakers to literally jump oout of their basket frames. A little EQ helps, but maxing out frequency contour tools just shortens speaker life.

A way to test for bad speakers and/or bad speaker wiring is to disconnect all speaker wires from the amp. Mark them so you can remember which ones went where... Turn the system on. Does it stay on? If so, you probably have issues in the speakers or speakear wiring. If it goes into protect with no speakers connected, it might be bad, (so having a good battery voltage measured at teh amp will remove this possibility).

So if the system stayed on, start connecting one speaker wire set up at a time. Does connecting a speaker wire cause the system to shut down? That points to a problem in the speaker or wiring. Connect, test, then disconnect, until you can maybe isolate the issue to a single speaker and wire combo.

There certainly is a possibility that there is something wrong with your amp, but a logical methodical dignosis procedure will allow you to isolate and identify the problem. With luck, it will even help you fix it!

Let us know!

Phil
Kicker

[ahicken]

I was looking at the subwoofer and noticed through the hole in the floor where the wires run, there is a lot of water. The wires are just laying in the water. Could this cause the short? We were at powell a couple of weeks ago and it rained alot. I thought I got the water out but I must not have. This might also explain why the Harmon Kardon Play and Drive was not working. The wires for that are also laying in the water.

[dogbert]

I was looking at the subwoofer and noticed through the hole in the floor where the wires run, there is a lot of water. The wires are just laying in the water. Could this cause the short? We were at powell a couple of weeks ago and it rained alot. I thought I got the water out but I must not have. This might also explain why the Harmon Kardon Play and Drive was not working. The wires for that are also laying in the water.

Never a good sign...did any of the electronics get wet?

[ahicken]

Never a good sign...did any of the electronics get wet?

Just the wireing.

[philwsailz]

Lots of rain is never good; did the stereo stary sounding funny about the same time the rain nailed ya?

Ducks and fish like water. Boats and electronics do not...

[ahicken]

Lots of rain is never good; did the stereo stary sounding funny about the same time the rain nailed ya?

Ducks and fish like water. Boats and electronics do not...

YES

[da.bell]

Lots of rain is never good; did the stereo stary sounding funny about the same time the rain nailed ya?

Ducks and fish like water. Boats and electronics do not...

YES

BINGO!!!!!!!!!!

[philwsailz]

Okay, which one of you is the u-boat commander?

[philwsailz]

Sorry; I know it is not funny...

Go with the test procedure I shared... See what happens. I still have to bet that you got water in the amp. If you did, you will need to call our customer service department and get an RMA number... (800) 256-0808 You will want to send the amp in for diagnosis and repair.

That being said, if you got that much water, you may have soaked your radio too. You might want to check it as well...


Let us know, cool?

Phil
Kicker

[ahicken]

I have taken it to a stereo shop. They have gotten as far as testing the amp and it tests Ok. Must be some kind of the a short in the speaker wires. I will let you know.