QuestionQUESTION: Hey Scott, I just asked this same question with another expert but I wanted to get two opinions... I am having a problem when I turn the volume and bass up. My amp switches over to "protect" and that kicks off the subwoofer. It seems to do it only at higher volumes. I already went through and checked all of the wires and connections and even replaced the ground wire with a new one. could you help me troubleshoot this? I appreciate it.
My setup is:
Stereo - Pioneer DEH-P4000UB
Amp - Jensen KA-2
Sub - Pioneer TS-W302R (brand new)
Thank you!
-Blake
ANSWER: Blake, Your amp is a fairly inexpensive model, and it is not going to perform perfectly. If you turn it up and play it for a while, then it cuts out and says protect, feel it and see if it is really hot. If it is really hot, you are not going to get much more out of it. You can move it to a more ventilated spot and put some air across it to keep it cooler longer. If the problem is instantaneous, there may be many problems. The Ohm load may be too low. If ohms are too low, the amp will become unstable and shutdown. If there is a shorted wire somewhere, it will cause it to go into protect mode. The ground wire should be as large as or larger than the power wire and as short as possible. Without a good ground outlet, this will cause excessive overheating as I mentioned earlier. I am sorry I do not have a definite answer for you. If the amp plays loud for a while, it is definitely a ventilation/quality issue. Hope this helps, Scott
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Thanks Scott, that does help give me more of an idea of how to diagnose the problem. My ground wire is probably about as thick as the power wire, but I didn't know that was important to be as big or bigger; obviously a thin ground wire wouldn't be good, but I didn't know it should be as big or bigger.
oh, and I had this setup before only with a different sub - it was an old MTX Thunder 5000 - an awful sub to amp match, but it was given to me so I didn't look too closely at things. (the MTX sounded muddy -- my new sub is punchy and hits clean notes) but I had that old setup for approximately 3 years without a problem but then there was a wire on the sub that started to fray and finally broke, so I just replaced it (never a problem before that) ..it could just be bad timing that the amp is goin out as well.
Which that makes me wonder if there isn't a short somewhere internally of the amp. If there were a short, would it go into protect when its turned up, or just at any volume? I only assume it's not a ventilation thing because I didnt change the setup at all from when I used the previous sub.
Thanks again, I appreciate all the help I can get.
-Blake
AnswerSorry for the delay. I did a little research into your old setup to see if there is any difference that would cause your problem. If the amp goes into protect mode as soon as you turn it up, there is a bad connection or internal short (or bad capacitor). If the amp takes a little while to go into protect mode after you turn it up, then the problem would be more of a compatibility problem. I don't think you have a compatibility problem. If all connections have been checked, then I would say it is probably an internal amp problem. You can check this by borrowing someone's amp and hooking it up and see if it works correctly. If it messes up, then you know it may not be the amp. Good Luck, Scott
