QuestionI have a LEgacy LA580 800 watt amp. I hooked it up yesterday to a 100 watt 12 inch sub, and it powered up, and worked for several minutes, but then the amp shut off and the red protection light came on. I took off the speaker connections and reset the amp, and the red protection light came on. Does it seem as if the amp is no good, or am I missing something? How do I troubleshoot this issue, becuase I know very little about car stereo installation. BTW. The speaker wires are regular home stereo wires, is that ok as well>?
AnswerThe wires are okey so long as there are no shorts with the connections. Check them carefully to make sure no strands are sticking out and shorting to something else.
Also, you must check the impedance for proper matching. If, for example, the impedance of the sub you connected is lower than the rating of the amplifier output it could cause the protection light to come on.
The specs on this amp state it should drive a 2 ohm load okey.
Also, the amp is stereo unit with bridgeable feature. You did not say how you connected it.
But, do this to find out if the amp is unharmed:
ONE: Disconnect any and all speaker wires from the speaker terminals on the amp.
TWO: Disconnect all power wires from the amp - 12v, remote and grnd - for at least 15 minutes - which will do a reset on the protection circuit inside the amp.
THREE: Now connect the ground wire first, then the 12v battery line; then the remote in that order. Do not connect any speaker wires yet. Make sure the amp is set for normal 2 channel operation.
FOUR: Then turn it on and see if it is okey (no protection light comes on). If okey, carefully connect the sub to only one speaker output. If okey, turn the amp off and connect to sub over to the other amp for test - it is possible one channel is good and one is bad, for example.
Of course, if the protection lamp stays on it could mean the amp is damaged goods.
Let me know how it goes. Hopefully this will get you up and running.
C
