Car Stereos: No power to amp, aftermarket stereo, best buy

Question
I have an 04 silverado that I bought with an aftermarket stereo system. The amp stopped working the other day. Went to best buy to test it, they think it's bad. Bought new amp installed it, and it does not work either. It is not getting power to it. Fuses are fine. What am I missing?

Answer
Hi Frank,

You could be dealing with all kinds of different issues here.  I'll cover the more common ones.

The first and simplest thing to do is test with a multimeter. Are you seeing 12V of power at the -/+ terminals on the amp?  If not, find where the fuse you missed, or broken connection is.

If you are, make sure you're getting 12V between the ground and the remote wire when the deck is on.  If you aren't, find out where the break in that wire is.

Then, disconnect all the speaker wires and see if the amp turns on.  If it turns out, but didn't before, find out where your blown speaker or shorted speaker wire is causing the amp to put itself in protect mode.

Justin