I was driving today and noticed that my subs weren't hitting, so i took a look and saw that there was no power going into the amp. I took the car to the shop where I got it done, and they said the fuse box is a goner. So they put in a new one and tested it out and the subs still won't work.

Then all of a sudden, the amp started smoking and then it was fried. they told me that it was because my 2gauge power and ground wires were too thin and overheated too easily. So now i'm stuck with a fried amp, and 2gauge wiring that i'll need to replace in order to power my system correctly.

So they gave me 2 choices:
They said they'll send the amp back to the factory to get it fixed, but i'll have to pay for shipping to and from, which is 70$ total. And I will have to upgrade to 4gauge wiring and 100+amp fuse box. coming out to about 150$, labor included.

The other option is to buy an upgrade amp, cuss they dont' have mine in stock, and pay the difference which is 150$. I'll still have to upgrade the wiring and fuse.

I spent so much money on this system, and i dont' really know if i want to spend that much more. I dont know if I should go with their options, or try to sell my subs. I don't know if anyone would want to buy it cuss i can't test it out w/o the amp. any advice/insight appreciated. thanks.

The setup i'm running is 3x10" K7 subs pumping 600w rms each. My old amp was a 2400watt MD 2channel amp. The amp the shop is offering for upgrade is a 2400watt MD mono channel amp.

 

mines started smoking too one day, went on craigslist and bought a new sony xplode for 75bucks and called it a day
good luck

 

you could tesat the subs with an Ohm meter(multimeter). Check the voice coils to see if they're within spec. So if you have 2ohm subs, the meter should read 2ohms when you test it on the two wires going into the cone. You might have dual voice coils in which case you can test each one. I would check to make sure you didnt chafe the power wire somewhere or have a bad ground.

btw 4gauge wire is smaller than 2gauge. 2 gauge is pretty freakin big.
I find this hard to believe, what happened? did the wires melt? I'm not seeing an answer as to how this happened. I'm running about 450rms, using a 50amp fuse and 8gauge wire. A bigger fuse is definitely not the answer, that means less protection. Fuses are meant to blow, so you save the components. I'd seriously get a second opinion from another shop.

 

I think this shop is just blowing smoke up your ass... Especially the wiring part. If they say the 2 awg wasn't big enough, you should go to 1/0 awg, which is absolutely monstrous, not 4 awg, which would be smaller than what you have... Werd about checking the ohm load that your subs are showing the amp. Take an ohm meter, and measure across the speaker wire that's plugging into your amp. Check to make sure this is 2-4 ohms, depending on how you're running the amp. If you had links to your amp and subs, that would be a huge help, since I can't find anything about either one of them.

 

Did the shop do the install?

 

well the thing is..this shop installed my system. So they don't make pay me for another amp. but i have to pay shipping, which is almost half of the gawdam amp. If i keep my system, the cheapest amp for me would be from them.

So you are saying the problem is not the wires or the fuse? what caused the smoke and i do i fix it ahah.

 

Something isn't right here. They installed the system with the wrong wiring (according to them), and you have to pay for shipping or a new amp? No way. Besides, there's no reason for the shipping to cost $70 unless it's a huge ass amp.

I know how it is, you're 19 and they're trying to screw you. Take your dad or someone down there with you. According to them, they caused the problem, now make them fix it.

 

Do you have any links to your amp and subs? Just trying to figure out how it should be hooked up...

 

well, at first i had them install only 1 10" kicker. and then i upgraded to the 3 10's. So they just took the kicker out and put in the 3 10's with a new amp.

heres the amp I had:


its 2400watt 2channels and 2ohm stable.

 

Do you have a model number, brand, website that sells them or something for the amp or subs? I can't find anything when i search for them...

 

i don't know anything else about them, and i can't find them either. I'll ask the shop first thing tomorrow. I can only find pictures for the 2400watt MD Sound amp. but nothing for the audiotek K7 subs. i'll try to get some info for you tomorrow. thanks a lot.

 

Well, knowing what the deal is somewhat. I'd test the subs and then go down there and say "hey you guys installed this with the wrong wire(which imo is bs but anyway) and you expect me to pay for shipping?" Then if that doesn't work just pay the shipping let them install it. Then after maybe testing it once I'd take the car to another shop to find the problem with the setup. Or if you're camera savvy, get them to install and take tons of pics and maybe we can help you on here. There's definitely something fishy about this, but I wouldnt go giving up on the whole thing, they screwed something up and it has to be fixable, assuming the subs aren't damaged.

 

on 2 guage being too small

 

I use 4 AWG and that shit is huge. I can't imagine 2 AWG. You're getting ripped off so hard.

 

Lol yeah... they are yanking your chain. Never heard of "MD Sound" so I highly doubt it's a true 2400 RMS where you would anything near 2awg or 1/0awg. What size fuses are in the side of the amp?

 

^^tehvine is right. I will tell you right now what happened. You didnt put a fuse right before the like your supposed to. There was nothing to keep your amp from shorting out like it did. Also 4 gauge is more than enough unless your powering 4000 watt RMS setup in an escalade ext. Ive never heard of audiotek or md sound. not bashing on the companies but i will make the basic assumption theyre not very good quality. That being said if you paid this shop to do the "install" and it blew up on you because 4 gauge isnt big enough (which is bullshit i run over 3000 watts RMS on 4 gauge and its plenty) then its their own rookie mistake and they should pay to replace it. Long story short you now know to put a fuse right at the battery and right at the amp now. PS that amp is def not 2400 watts rms its most likely, and this is a real strech more in the neighborhood of 1000-1200 watts rms. i also have trouble believing those subs are also 600 watts rms. IMHO throw it all out buy some quality stuff and install everything yourself its very simple and i can walk you through anything. For about $500 you could have a nice loud quality setup.

 

I've run upwards of 2000 watts on 4 guage with no problems, sounds like u needed a fuse or circuit breaker, however sometimes amps just blow, just sounds like they did a shitty install, I'd also question the quality of the ground if they installed it, cuz there's next to nowhere good to ground to in our trunk aside from the shock towers.

 

Holy hell...2 awg can handle about 2000 rms...I'm guessing the 2400 watts you quoted are max watts (useless number)?. They are completely screwing you...either that amp is complete trash, which is possible (i've def. never heard of it), or they completely bs'ed your install.

 

same thing happened to my amp. I had warranty on my amp so I just replaced it with a different one since they couldnt repair it. I gotta Sony Xplod 800W amp now.

 

If said amp is anything like the Pyle and Legacy amps that are around... the fuses are usually 1/3 of the advertised rating. Guessing 100% efficiency (which it is not), I would think you are lucky to see 650rms out of a no name "2400 watt" amp. Just like blindshooter said, get some real stuff and make sure everything is fused properly. If you get some stuff, feel free to post up pics and I will give you a quick once over and make sure it is all there.

Just a quick easy way to see how much the rating of an amp is lying... Simply take the total Amperes of the fuses ON the amp, Ie: the ones plugged into the side of it, and multiply that by 14.6. That will give you your MAX electrical power that could be pumped through without those fuses popping. Example: I have a "1200 watt" legacy amp in my garage with a 25A fuse in it. 14.6 x 25 = 365 Max electrical power. That amp is definitely not 100% efficient and it will not be able to do it continuously, I would guess the legacy puts out more around 180 rms or so.

 

we could be here all nite giving him advice on how to do what and what he should get. i will give you some important life advice: stop trusting people just because they SOUND like they know what theyre talking about doesnt mean they actually do. Do the research yourself and read, read, read. You be amazed at the wealth of info about stereos in general on the internet. Although not everything your read is true. But we can always keep your head on right. like i said before $500 these days buys you a hell of a system for cheap.

 

LOLS, just to tell you straight up the store ripped you off... the brands you listed seems like they are from the flee market. that amp is probably pushing 600 watts rms at the most. do things right and go out and buy a jl audio 500/1 with a 10 inch w7 and i bet you will like the quality much better.

 

sorry guys, i had my info wrong. the power and ground wires in my car are actually 8gauge wires that was used for my 1x 10"kicker. thats why the shop told me to upgrade to a 4gauge. sorry again about the misfeed.
And yes, the MDSound amp is not the best amp quality-wise, but it is pushing out more than enough to power my subs for sure. As for the subs, they are AudioTek K7's that pushes 600rms each.
Funny thing is that I asked the shop about the specs for the subs today, and they spent 10minute just searching for it online. They can't find it so they told me that they will call the guy they bought it from, who is in china right now for a tradeshow so they can't call him till next week, fishy? lol.

 

you are right and wrong. he did get ripped off, i cant find any info on your subs at all. BUT you are wrong when you tell him to get jl audio. thats like saying you drive a civic you will find mercedes to be much better quality. well duh, your like a sheep that follows whats popular and spits it back out for more people to hear, jl audio isnt the end all of audio equipment, IMHO its WAAAY overpriced for what you get and there is better quality and better sound quality equipment for waaaay less. BTW w6's sound better for sq than the w7's because thats the niche they fill in JL's line. not to pick on you or anything but i do agree he would be better off with JL audio equipment than audiotek and the other brands. but he doesnt need to be a sheep and buy jl audio because its a name hes heard before. BTW a JL 500.1 costs more than his entire system did before so that was not only stupid advice its not even cost effective or wise. most likely you have a jl setup or your "friend" did and now you will tell the world about how jl audio is better than anything else. i highly doubt your an installer so dont make monkey ass remarks telling him to buy overexpensive overhyped audio equipment. btw go listen to some more subs like JBL, mtx, idq, re audio, adire audio, alpine, diamond audio, digital designs, eclipse, elemental designs, FI, Focal, Image Dynamics, and then tell him to go out and buy jl audio. and last but not least the installer is what ultimately makes the best sounding system. /rant

Newbee this is for you. basically you got fucked over. bring your dad in and see how far you can bend them over now for their improper install. You should have had a warranty on the amp but thats another story. i would expect them to rewire the car free of charge. look i worked at a very large high quality stereo shop for years, and they did this crap all the time and got away with it because no kid is willing to get a lawyer to scare them. we made hella money on kids not knowing their shit. like telling them to buy a bunch of jl audio because its expensive and i made commision on it. or telling them one thing knowing it will have to be redone in a few weeks so i make even more money. in fact that store still sells capacitors in bulk to the local retards who come back in a few weeks needing a new battery or alternator. its how they operate. you learned an expensive lesson the hard way, now pull up your pants and demand they fix their errors or see what compromise you can come to.

EDIT: cvschoolboy209 im glad you can read and retell him what we already said multiple times