Noobie stereo question of the day

[supmet]

I have a 700W blaupunkt VA2200 running a 300W(maybe 400, I don't really remember) digital audio 12" sub. I have a 1.5 farad cap(no clue what brand). The cap and amp are mounted on the back of the seats.

I was playing with the gain on the amp a little after driving around and listening to it for maybe 30 minutes. The gain was set a little under 1.0 Hz(i think it was hertz anyways.. lol). When I went to turn the gain up, I noticed the top of the amp was pretty hot. I could barely hold my hand on it, and if it were any hotter, it would have burned me.

Is it normal for amps to get this hot?? Especially when the sub shouldn't be taxing it that much?(or so I thought?)

[beeheartsyou]

typically, heat is really bad for any amp. some amps do run very hot though. you could fry an egg on older rockford and that stuff still rocks. check your grounds. bad ground means hot amp. also, location of the amp is important. no air means hot amp.

[sqcomp]

Post some pictures of the amplifier and it's settings as you have it now. That will help us a bit more.

...remember, that gain is NOT supposed to be a volume control!

[supmet]

Originally Posted by sqcomp

Post some pictures of the amplifier and it's settings as you have it now. That will help us a bit more.

...remember, that gain is NOT supposed to be a volume control!

I will post some pictures later tonight hopefully. The LP filter is set around 100(and yes its on LP), and the gain is right around 1.0.

Can you explain your last sentence a little more?? I sort of understand, but well, it does make it louder and quieter I'm not trying to be a smart ass, I'm just a noob with stereo stuff. Right now I just adjust it up, and then push it down til the sub isn't distorted at all.

Like I said I'll try to get some pictures tonight, but I was just wondering if it is normal for amps to get that hot, or if something is going wrong.

[Arkhangel]

Well the amps will get hot since the mosfets are placed right against the amp shell, the shell of the amp is basically a heat sink. I have 2 Power Acoustic amps and just by being on they get relatively hot. Make sure nothing leans against them.

[supmet]

Originally Posted by Arkhangel

Well the amps will get hot since the mosfets are placed right against the amp shell, the shell of the amp is basically a heat sink. I have 2 Power Acoustic amps and just by being on they get relatively hot. Make sure nothing leans against them.

Nothing leans on the amp, its just mounted on the back of the seat.

Here's some pictures. Sorry they suck, they're off my cell phone.





And here's another of the first one, that I edited so you can tell what it says and where(about) its positioned



and yes I know the connector for the 6x9 is off. it kept on coming loose so I had to pinch it down some more.

[sqcomp]

Oh wow! Your gains are up WAY too high. Do we have a level matching sticky somewhere? I'll look really quick. If we don't I'll pull it in from Sounddomain, You'll see it on the board. Read it and apply what you've read.

[talnlnky]

you should have that gain probably set at 4volts... not 1volt.... 4volt actually will mean it will do less amplifying of the signal.... You'll still be able to get the same volume out of your amp... you just have to turn the deck up higher to reach full volume... it may sound like a bad thing... but its actually a really good thing.

You can either have 4 clicks to full volume... or 16... which sounds better? 16 gives you more tweaking ability... also... if you get full volume at 4 clicks.. but then go up to 5 clicks... you then get a big taste of distortion with no added volume.

Distortion from incorrect gain matching can cause increased heat in the voice coils... which then can lead to premature death of your speakers due to the negative effects of built up heat.

[sqcomp]

Here's a JL tutorial link:

http://mobile.jlaudio.com/pdfs/gainSetting.pdf

[supmet]

Originally Posted by talnlnky

you should have that gain probably set at 4volts... not 1volt.... 4volt actually will mean it will do less amplifying of the signal.... You'll still be able to get the same volume out of your amp... you just have to turn the deck up higher to reach full volume... it may sound like a bad thing... but its actually a really good thing.

You can either have 4 clicks to full volume... or 16... which sounds better? 16 gives you more tweaking ability... also... if you get full volume at 4 clicks.. but then go up to 5 clicks... you then get a big taste of distortion with no added volume.

Distortion from incorrect gain matching can cause increased heat in the voice coils... which then can lead to premature death of your speakers due to the negative effects of built up heat.

Well the thing with that is, the bass control on the head unit controls the bass for all the speakers. If I have the gain even on 2.0V the sub is almost inaudible, or I have to turn the bass so high it distorts the other speakers. I think I need to get an amp for the 6.5s and the 6x9s, and set them to high pass - that way I can turn the bass up without distortion from the small speakers. Then I think I will be able to do what you are saying and turn the bass up on the head unit.

Does running it under 1.0V hurt the amp or the sub? Or is it just a matter of less adjustability up front? The sub I have now is a piece of crap, and I found 2 blaupunkt subs in a box for 100 bucks online, which I plan on getting soon(along with an amp for the other speakers so hopefully I can run the subs at 4.0V like you're saying)