Car Audio Troubleshooting: In desperate need of CP Braintrust

[Pierre "Monster" McGuire]

Alright, so for two months I've been trying to figure out what's wrong with my truck's stereo system and I'm too cheap to get it checked out by a professional. So, before I go to a pro, I'll try here first.

The problem: My subs have completely quit working (I have two 12" Clarions if it matters).

What I've checked:

- There is power to the amp because the light comes on and the fan is blowing.
- The speaker wires are connected going INTO the sub box and INTO the subs.
- I've checked the fuses in the amp and the power wire fuse near the battery. They're both fine.
- My current deck works fine, but just for fun I tried an older one I had laying around and it didn't make any difference.

Any help will be very appreciated.

Thanks, CP.

[Bill Bumface]

Can you confirm there is power coming out of the amp? Any crappy speakers lying around that you can check it with? I'm guessing your amp is toast.

[Pierre "Monster" McGuire]

True. I suppose I can't confirm it. The only thing I know for sure is that the light and the fan come on. I have crappy spare amp that I could hook up and try.

[MickMcGeough]

Have you verified the line-level signal going into the amp? I know you tried another deck but did you try another input cable?

I don't suppose you've got a multimeter?

[Pierre "Monster" McGuire]

Originally Posted by MickMcGeough

Have you verified the line-level signal going into the amp? I know you tried another deck but did you try another input cable?

I don't suppose you've got a multimeter?

By input cable, do mean the power cable coming from the battery? Or do you mean the remote cable coming from the deck?

I do have a multimeter, but would have no idea how to use it in this case.

[Nage Waza]

Check all cables going in and all cables going out, backtrack from there.

[PsnaP]

You need to make sure signal is getting to the amp. there could be a setting on your deck to turn it off/on. to test your speakers, disconnect them and put your multimeter across the wires. your meter should be on ohms. you should see about 2-8 ohms.

[MickMcGeough]

Originally Posted by Pierre "Monster" McGuire

By input cable, do mean the power cable coming from the battery? Or do you mean the remote cable coming from the deck?

Neither - if your amp is turning on both of those are probably fine. I mean the RCA style (probably) cables running the audio from your deck to your amp.

[Pierre "Monster" McGuire]

Thanks everyone,

So just to clarify, I should check all of the wires with the multimeter, which would tell me if the wires are getting electricity.

If all of the wires are getting electricity, then my amp is toast?

Thanks again.

[GreatWhiteEbola]

http://www.ehow.com/video_5112413_tr...mplifiers.html

[PsnaP]

If the signal is good, and your speakers are good then chances are your amp is toast. The purpose of my test was to check the speaker.

[northcrunk]

Check the fuse in your amp, it might be blown. Or there might be an internal problem in your amp and you might need to get it fixed. This happened to me once a long time ago and the issue was the amp.

[TheyCallMeBruce]

is your deck a pre-amp deck? Do you have more than one amp? you can probably test by using another amp on the speakers. But yeah, I agree with most, I think your amp might be toast.