yes. checking for continuity to ground means checking if the speaker terminals are shorting to ground (car chassis).

if you had a short on a speaker lead to body ground, you could cause the amp to jump into protect mode and/or have burned it out. it could also be part of the reason you have noise from the amp chassis being bolted to the body (a non typical ground path and thus ground loop source.)

so, getting a new amp isn't a bad thing, but if there is a lot of noise, don't use it for days or anything... just turn it off till your next troubleshooting session.

to check for it (continuity = continuous path from point to point) --
-get your meter.
-set it to measure resitance ohms. if it isn't auto scaling, set it to measure 30 ohms.
-disconnect the speaker leads and make sure they are not touching anything conductive (metal)
-first, verify the meter is working properly. put the black lead on - and the red on + for one speaker. it should read ~ 4 ohms.
-then put the black lead on the amp's ground connection, then touch the red lead to a speaker wire... it should remain at a infinite value or a value where the meter's screen flashes or something. (the manual should tell you what the infinite/out of range value looks like.)
-repeat this and keep track of what readings you get. you should get all infinites.

 

btw -- here's a couple really brief multimeter tutorials...

http://mechatronics.mech.northwestern.edu/...multimeter.html

http://arts.ucsc.edu/EMS/Music/tech_backgr...ring_Audio.html

 

New update, I just got my enclosre from wlaurent today. It fits so snug in there, I can't wait to hear how it sounds after i test the terminals and hook up the new amp tomorrow. Thx for all the help phil, I'll check that tomorrow when I get that meter.

 

i'm deeply hoping you find infinite values all around. honestly, i'm also expecting it... but i'm just having you check to make sure we don't have something that would cause greater issues hiding on us...

 

Ajkweler,

After you're done checking your new amp for shorts with voltmeter as PJK3 instructed, when you're ready to re-connect your system with the new amp, to reduce potential problem(s), please follow these steps:

Place your amp on MDP board to prevent it from possible contact with car chassis.
Turn the amp gain(s) counter-clockwise to minimum.
Turn the volume of the HU to minimum.
Re-connect door speaker wires, power wire, ground wire, remote turn-on wire and RCA cables to the amp. Do not connect subwoofer wires.
Re-connect battery cables if it had been disconnect to install the amp.

Turn you key to position "I" or "II", do not start engine, turn on stereo and slowly turn up the volume until you hear music, keep turning up the volume to about 1/4 to 1/3 of maximum setting.

If you hear no noise, keep the volume setting at that position, slowly turn up the gain on your amp to 1/4 to 1/3 of the maximum setting or until you hear music at fairly loud level, but not too loud.

If you hear no noise, turn down the volume is minimum, turn off the stereo, start engine, turn on the stereo, turn up the volume to about 1/4 to 1/3 of maximum, if you hear no noise then rev engine up to about 4k to 5k and listen for the noise problem, you may want to turn up the volume a little to be able to listen to music and/or noise. If you hear no noise at this step, your system is good now. The next step is tunning your system, specially your amp, to get the most optimal performance for your system, after you're installed the subwoofer.

If you hear similar noise with new amp at any step above. Turn off your stereo and let us know which step you started hearing the same noise as before. What I am trying to tell you is to be very careful, you do not know for sure if the old amp was defected or not, and you do not like to destroy other components.

 

Just went to exchange the amp, and they ran out of soundstream amps The guy told me that he would give me a visonik instead and told me that they were as good as audiobahn. Since they don't have anymore soundstreams, can anyone recommend a 4 channel amp?

Since it took so long there, I don't think I'll have time to check the continuity on the speaker terminals today, probably tomorrow. Sorry for the wait, I'll let you guys know as soon as I find out.

 

Thx tr-s2k, I'll try that as soon as I get the amp, I'm heading there tomorrow to pick up a replacement.

 

um... don't take a Visonik or Audiobahn in place of the Soundstream. the Edge may not be top of the line Soundstream, but it surely isn't Visonik...

what other options do they sell?

 

Just whatever they have on millionbuy.com. I can't seem to find another amp on there with about the same power output for about the same price as the edge I had. =/

 

How are the boss amps? does anyone know? I called them and told then that I'll come in tomorrow instead since I can't decide on a amp yet.

*edit*

The pyle amps look like it has sufficent power, but then again I havn't heard of their amps before, any opinoins on this Phil?