uh oh...what's going on w/ my stereo???
 

So I was driving around today and for about an hour I was cranking the stereo pretty loudly...the first time I've done this...I usually listen to a song or two loudly, then turn it down for a while...this time I was alone and cruising and just had it blasting for a while...

The equipment: RF P3001 amp, Pioneer TS-SW301 12" sub.

Anyways...all of the sudden the sound from the sub stopped. I turned it off and let it be...when I turned it on once or twice after (I had about 40 mins before having to leave the truck and come to work)...the sub DID work, but it was very quiet...it would sound more or less normal at low volumes, but as soon as I turned it up, it either wouldn't keep pace with the volume or would completely stop...what's going on? (I've only had the setup in for a week)

Any indicator lights on the amp? Did the amp go into protection mode? Was the amp really hot?

How do I know if it's gone into protection mode?

I'm thinking it may have gotten hot, though it didn't feel very hot to the touch...I took my Suzuki to work, so it'll be a few hrs before I get to check on the truck...I'm not sure on the lights, the amp is mounted under the seat, so I can't really see...if it's gone into protection mode, will it automatically come out of it once it's cooled down?

It could many reasons why that is happening

-Maybe one of the subwoofer ones came loose inside the box
-short in the wiring
-semi/fully blown voice coil
-bad ground on amp
-issue with the amp

I haven't had very many good experiences with the newer RF stuff.

Did you break in the sub properly? If you blew a voice coil, you could end ruining the amp too. So get it checked out and unplug the sub for now.

thanks man...I'll check those tomorrow...ugh...chasing those shorts is gonna be hell, most of the wiring is hidden under the carpet and the amp is under the seat...

As for the sub...yeah, I played it at 1/2 to 3/4 volume for about 5 hrs before letting it rip...

From working in car audio. What i've seen in the past is some amps can over heat under seats over say 30 minutes. If the amp isn't tuned properly or the deck you could have cooked a voice coil thats for sure.

yeah, I figured the amp could have used a break...if it was the amp overheating...will it bounce back once it rests for a while?

How do I check if it's a cooked VC? I'm thinking of just dropping by a stereo shop and hooking up another sub to my system and/or hooking my sub up to another system...

I'm HOPING it's the VC 'cuz I bought warranty that'll cover anything short of a screwdriver being put through the cone :) The amp, on the other hand, is on loan from my friend haha

Amps usually shutdown when they overheat, so it should be okay. Time to install some cooling! You can probably check the VC with a mulitmeter, and see if it reads close to the rated impedence.

I think the amp's fine...when I checked it (right after cranking it for a while and blowing the sub), it was lukewarm...definitely nothing out of the ordinary.

Anyways, so I checked and the sub's blown...the store's giving me the run-around for replacing it (it was an open box item, so it was cheaper...now they want me to pay the difference to have it replaced with an identical item)...so I'm kinda choked. (Despite telling me this would not happen when I bought the sub).

Right now I'm using my friend's RF P3002 amp (not P3001 as I posted earlier, sorry) and thinking of switching to an MTX Thunder Thin 6512 sub...should I get the 2 ohm or the 4 ohm version???

Get them to refund you money, and then go visit one of our sponsors!

I got my money back for both the sub and the box and got a decent deal ($130 off retail) an MTX shallow-mount and a Bassworx box combo.

The sponsors are a good idea, but hard to visit from Edmonton ;)

Awwww come on....it's only like half a day drive. ;)

I'll safely assume you bought from Futureshop or Visions. They'll tell you anything to sell you the warranty. Then when it comes to using the warranty it's always the run around. You should NOT need to pay to get the replacement subwoofer. BUT because your purchase was under 30 days it's a different story.

MTX shallow sub is a very solid performer for the price. Make sure you don't max all the gain settings and stuff.