Clarion Amp Troubles

[apexrig1]

Alright, I added another amp to run my in boats, run the subs of the smaller amp and run the towers off the 4ch 480w. For some reason the amp shuts cuts out for some reason when its turned up. I have tried changing the wires around on the amp. Tried it bridged. But it was best on one seperate channel. Does a guy have to run 1 separate wire to each speaker( I have the 4 factory towers ) right now there is one wire per 2 speakers. Any ideas, suggestions would be great. Thanks

[Mikeski]

RE: Clarion Amp Troubles

Check to see if any of the wires are shorted to the tower.

I would save the wire and run the speakers in series to the bridged amp, neither amp nor speakers will notice the difference. The amp already has that connection internally anyway so it's just a waste of wire to run individual runs to the speakers.

[Andrew]

RE: Clarion Amp Troubles

you need to check the resistance in the speaker wire circuit and make sure that it is appropriate for the amp. if that checks out, then your gain is probably set too high.... hard to troubleshoot online though

[AirTool]

RE: Clarion Amp Troubles

Q: in general, how hot do those Clarion amps get when loaded up for a while.

How long should I be able to hold my tender hands on the cover?

[apexrig1]

RE: Clarion Amp Troubles

Its almost instantly when you turn them up to a good volume, and as soon as you turn it back down they kick in and will play turned down. The gain is pretty well off on the amp, it runs through the ws 420, and it is at half.

[Andrew]

RE: Clarion Amp Troubles

my 280 is powering 4 polk 6.5's and doesn't ever get too hot to hold a hand to...... even at full blast for extended time

[apexrig1]

RE: Clarion Amp Troubles

Alright so I rewired the tower hoping there might be a short. I do not wish doing that upon anyone! Anyways, I tested it out in the garage and it would still cut out if I turned them way up. So I turned them down, still sounded fairly loud. And was working good. So I get it in the water and its working for a bit. And starts cutting out again. so you can barely hear them. So today I try it in the garage again. about a half hour straight they went cranked no problem. The amp was hot but not enough to burn. All the amps were. So what does a guy do here????

[AuMDLST]

RE: Clarion Amp Troubles

Did you add new power and negative wiring for the new amp? What did you use?
What is the exact configuration of wiring on the amps ( which speakers on which channels?)
Do all of the amps cut out (how many amps) when this happens?

[apexrig1]

RE: Clarion Amp Troubles

Only the 480w 4 channel amp cuts out it runs the tower spealers, jl 6 channel amp runs the boats, and the other factpry amp runs the sub. The JL has its own separate power wire running right to the battery and the rest is left factory and everything runs through the ws 420. I used 4 guage on the new amp.

[rsharp2000]

Re: RE: Clarion Amp Troubles

my 280 is powering 4 polk 6.5's and doesn't ever get too hot to hold a hand to...... even at full blast for extended time

Andrew - how are your 6.5's wired to your 280? I was trying to wire my tower's 4 Polk MM651um's (100W continuous/200W max) to my Clarion APX480M and ended up running 2 pair in series and bridging amp into 2 channels 230W RMS/4ohms each (=115W/spkr). Not sure if this is best way - but is what I am trying now.

[nauty220]

RE: Re: RE: Clarion Amp Troubles

I had a similar issue and it was due to power supply. Wiring connections shouldnt be effected by volume should they??? I purchased optima batteries and problem was solved.

[nms1991]

RE: Re: RE: Clarion Amp Troubles

Do you have the bass boost turned up or down ? Check your power connections and speaker connections. Did you have a problem with the amp before you put in your other amp?

[Andrew]

RE: Re: RE: Clarion Amp Troubles

Sharp, I mis-spoke. I forgot that I am now powering them with an audiobahn amp... I have the 280 on a 10" sub now. I would recommend that you wire your speakers in parallel though. The amp will handle 2ohms with no problem, but this will still be less power than one would like for the 651's. This setup will power each speaker at about 10w less than their rms specs......

[ttocs]

Make sure you have enough current available for the amps. Check the voltage when it cranked up, if the voltage drops to low, the amp will shut down. You may need to replace or add more batterys. Also, check the alternator and make sure its charging the battery properly.