Audio Systems: radio, chevrolet cavalier z24, 1996 chevrolet cavalier

Question
i have 1996 Chevrolet cavalier z24 and i have an after market alpine radio in my car and a system and i have 10 inch type r or type s sub and alpine amp to power sub and when i get to turn volume up loud sometimes it shuts radio off my friend who knows audio said i will have to  take ground wire from radio and disconnect  it from car harness  and put it somewhere behind radio and  have it screwed to the frame using a screw behind the radio on car and also would have  splice in the power wire from radio to something with a hire fuse i was wonder what you thought and if you new where i could splice the power wire into so i can have this power so it doesn't happen anymore thanks

Answer
Hi Paul,

Unfortunately, I cannot use your pals' diagnosis to assist you.
We have to start from scratch since all I know is that your radio is 'sometimes shutting off at high volumes'.

Questions:
1) Are you using deck power for any of the speakers?
If so, you may have too low of an impedance load on the headunit's power amp. This will indeed cause it to shut down to prevent overheating.
Fix such a problem by using proper wiring to attain the correct load (or you could use an external amp to power them which supports the load you are demanding as wired now).

Troubleshooting notes:
1) If you are already using the correct radio fuse which Alpine suggests, do NOT install a larger inline fuse for it. You will only 'bypass' the protection for the headunit by doing so. The inline fuse they recommend is there for a very good reason.
  If the radio is NOT blowing any fuses (inline or from the vehicle source), there is no need to re-route the power wire for it.

2) It if IS blowing a fuse from where you got power in the vehicle harness, that vehicle fuse may be a smaller rated amperage than there one in the radio harness. In this case you will need to find a higher rated, fused source for the radio 'switched power' lead (usually a RED wire).
Example: If the headunit has a 7 amp fuse, try to find a switched vehicle source with at least a 15 amp fuse.
"12v Switched" source means that power is only available when the key is in the 'on' position.
"12v Constant" means that power is available anytime (no matter which key position is selected).
Use a 12v test light (or a multi-meter) to determine which wires are switched/constant and choose the one you want to use according to the previous statements.
*Do NOT put a larger fuse into the vehicle harness than is written on its' fuse holder!!!

Grounding
Do check all of the grounds (be sure they are tight, as short as possible and ran to bare metal on the vehicle chassis). You could run the radio ground to the vehicle chassis. That is not a bad thing to do.
Check the amplifier ground.
Check the vehicle ground where the battery for the car goes to the chassis. These can become loose and/or corroded.
Check the RCA jacks with a new pair. I have seen this problem occur due to bad RCA grounds.
This could also be a situation where the alternator is not large enough to provide the amperage needed, especially at night or when you have other loads running (A/C for instance).

If these suggestions do not get you going properly, let me know and [please provide more data on how you have the midrange and tweeters wired up].
JM