Yeah, that's why I was thinking that maybe there is a short that gets triggered somehow and the amp just shuts off completely.

It's just weird... it hit SO hard in my Prelude and the amp NEVER shut off. I even bumped up the gain a good bit from where Tweeter set it at after they installed it in the Lude. Maybe something happened in the transition from car to car that screwed it up...

 

Is the car a huge limitation? Since the sub is sitting in the floor aiming up instead of being aimed towards the rear of the trunk, is that cause a lot of bass loss?

 

Read this from the 250/1 Manual:

STATUS INDICATOR LIGHTS /
PROTECTION CIRCUITRY
There are three status indicator lights on the top
of the amplifier. These are as follows:
1) "Power" (Green): lights to indicate that the
amplifier is turned on and operating normally.
2) "Thermal" (Red): lights to indicate that the
amplifier has exceeded its safe operating
temperature, putting the amplifier into a self-
protection mode, which reduces the power output
of the amplifier. The red light will shut off and the
amplifier will return to normal, full-power operating
mode if the heat sink temperature drops back to a
safe level.
3) "Low " (Amber): lights to indicate that the
impedance of the speaker load connected to the
amplifier is lower than the optimum load impedance
range for the amplifier.When this light is on, a
protection circuit engages and reduces the power
output of the amplifier.The amber indicator will also
light when a short-circuit is detected in the speaker
wiring (this can be a short between the positive and
negative speaker wires or between either speaker
wire and the vehicle chassis).

There is only one condition that will shut
down an undamaged 250/1 completely...
If battery voltage drops below 10 volts, the entire
amplifier will shut itself off.The green "Power"
indicator on the top of the amplifier will turn off
when this occurs.The amplifier will turn back on
when voltage climbs back above 10 volts.This may
happen in a rapid cycle when bass-heavy program
material causes a weak charging system to dip
below 10 volts momentarily. If this is happening in
your system, have your charging system inspected to
make sure it is working properly. A 0.5 or 1.0 Farad
rapid-discharge capacitor connected in parallel to
the amplifier power connections may minimize
these short duration voltage dips in many systems
that are having this problem.

My amp is shutting down completely! It seems as if it's overheating or something strange is going on, one of the 2 lights mentioned above will be lit. How can I test what they're suggesting above?

 

I wonder if that Punch will fit in the current stealth box I have. It's a custom stealth box that sits in the well, but it's built to the specs of the JL Audio stealthbox as well. If I get a new sub, I'm hoping I can fit it in the current stealthbox I have so I don't have to dish out for a new one.

 

Steve WOULD know what a JL amp in protect mode looks like...



if this is the case, you've bought the wrong sub and the wrong amp. a 10W3v2 isn't a monster sub, and a 250/1 isn't a monster amp. you've got a nice 'bass reinforcement' setup here...

regardless of the malfunction, i don't think this setup is going to give you the output you're looking for...

now, assuming we've all been wrong about overheating (which may be true at this point...)
if it's completely shutting down, (based on the info you posted) you need to verify all your wiring is good. what gauge is your power and ground? have you checked and/or replaced all fuses? even fuses that 'look' ok?

sorry, if i'm sending you back to do things you've already done, i just can't keep track (w/o re-reading the thread everytime) on what we've already done.



and, if you want monster bass out of your system, imo, you need at a minimum 500+ Wrms to your sub, and something on the order of a 10W6v2, 12W6v2, some of the more extreme Alphasoniks, Brahmas, RF or some other much more serious high excursion high output sub. there are a bunch of options out there, but you're looking at a lot more money than what you've spent. with what you have now? you're never going to get vision blurring output...

if you have a true Stealthbox size volume, then we should be able to find you a sub that will work in that enclosure. do you know how much volume you have in the enclosure? about 1 cu ft iirc.


either way... to get the kind of output i'm understanding you to want... heck, i don't you can do it with a 'punch' sub and 250 Wrms.

 

PJK3,
The guys at hifi buys checked the fuses and such on the amp. Said everything looked ok. They also went over their wiring twice (on two seperate occasions). I looked at everything during lunch since the amp is absolutely shut off now. No lights are on. It's been off for the entire day and the amp isn't hot at all. I've given up on this amp and I'm going to buy a new one today or tomorrow, so yours and everyone's help here is going to be very great.

I don't want to spend the money on a 10W6v2. It will not fit in my current box. I don't want to have the guys build a new box for a new sub either. Not now anyway... It would be too expensive and I've already put enough money into this setup so far. I'm willing to move away from JL Audio. I'm going to get pretty much everything on eBay to save some cash. What do you guys suggest? I have about $400 I can put down on this thing. I know some of the amps that have been suggested on here are on eBay brand new for about $150 and the Rockford subs are on ebay for about $150 too... I can MAYBE extend myself into $500, but I'm a stickler for trying to remain in my budget. If you guys can convince me that I'm going to get my money's worth by extending the budget a little (keep in mind, i'm buying off of eBay, not retailers), I'll do it.

Right now I'm thinking of getting one of the Alpine amps and a Rockford sub... I'm not sure what would be best for what I'm trying to do (keep the current sub box!). So lay it on me. What should I do?

 

Phil knows his stuff when it comes to wattage and outputs....if he says you need 500WRMS, I would go pretty close to that. I suggested the Pioneer amp, because it was on sale and had decent output.

I think the JL box is roughly 1.1 CF....there abouts. The JL 10w6 is overpriced (IMO). I am kinda partial to Rockford, through, I had 2 10" RF XLC's in a bandpass box in my past car (Celica GT conv.). At only 300WRMS, it THUMPED!

Convertibles are substantially more difficult to get bass out of due to the design. They have basically another firewall between the trunk and the cabin (not actual firewall, but a lot of metal). Bass is pretty difficult to directionalize....below a certain HTZ (60 I think), it is almost impossible.

If you want a good quality amp, I would go with Rockford Fosgatte, Alpine, or Infinity. I like all of the above. The Stage 3 Punch subs are amazing....good excursion with VERY powerful bass. Go to Hi-Fi Buys and ask to listen to them...

John

 

John,
Thanks man. I think I will take your advice and give the Stage 3 Rockford sub a try. I can get this at Best Buy for LESS than what I can get it on eBay for. $209 at best buy, $198 on eBay but add shipping to that and it's more. The problem I'm seeing though is that this sub needs 400W RMS and most of the Rockford amps are like 300W RMS or lower... What amp should I go with?

 

Take a look at Boston Acoustics GT-24 specs:

Dual-Mono Power @ 4-ohm(12.6VDC): 1x440W

Dual-Mono Power @ 2-ohm (12.6VDC): 1x650W

At 14 VDC (engine running), it produces more than the rated powers above.

I bought mine for $280 shipped on Ebay about a month ago.

 

Boston Accoustic amps are good....The Alpine MRD-M605 is 400WRMS (12V). Peak is over the peak rating of the sub, but you should never get peak power out of it. Peak power is usually attained in lab conditions, and just before the amp fries itself.

The recommended sealed enclosure size is only .625CF, so you may want to cut down on the interior volume of the box a bit (adding 2x4 blocks works well). Call Hi-Fi Buys and ask them the exact volume of your box, they should have it off hand.

If you want to stick to Rockford Fosgate for the amp, the P8002 is a 2-channel that is good for 400x1 @ 2-ohm stability.

You could also get the P310D4 stage 3 (SVC version and 4-ohm impediance), this would let you get a smaller amp because of the higher impediance. You could get the P4002 2-channel that puts out 400WRMS at 4-ohms. Not sure if best buy carries this one....might want to check into the sub as well. If they do not have it, they can probably get it ordered.

here is the P4002 link.

http://www.rockfordfosgate.com/products/ez...ch%20Amplifiers

here is the punch stage 3 SVC link

http://www.rockfordfosgate.com/products/ez...ch%20Subwoofers

John