AcuraX2

Well, I got an email from JL about my 300/4 shutting down and they suggested that I need bigger power wire. I am running 4 awg from the battery into a distribution block and then 8 awg to the amps. I run 8 awg from each amp to a common ground point. How big are you all using for power. I thought 4 awg was more than enough. Thing is, when the 300/4 is shutting down, it is the only amp hooked up. Also, it seems to do worse shutting down bridged to 150 x 2 than run at 75 x 2.


On another note, I took my 500/1 to a local repair place and he said he really did not think there was anything wrong with the amp from what I described. He said it had to be on the power lines or something. I talked to JL and they want $115 plus shipping to fix. Not to mention 3-4 weeks. So, I am going to try the 500/1 in my MDX and see what it does in there.

dnd2984

iTrader: (6)

hmmm your power wire is fine. JL recommends 8 gauge input. So are u at the ripping out the whole system point yet. Take both TL amps and put them in the MDX for couple of days. See what happens and do vice versa. retrace your power and ground wire and also double, triple or quadruple check all the wires. Do any lights stay on, or do all 3 lights turn off to. Your system worked fine all this time and just now it decides to do?

fsttyms1

make sure you have a REALLY good ground. its just as important as the power. 4 gauge should be fine, but how far is the 8 gauge having to travel from the dist block to the amp? make sure your battery and alternator are good also!

AcuraX2

dnd....not at the entire ripping out but, the amps have been out and the 500/1 is sitting in my back seat now. I am going to put the 500/1 in the MDX tonight and see if it makes the humming noise. That should finally decide if its the amp or not. The only light that comes on is the power light on the amp. Why would JL tell me 8 gauge is not big enough. It was pretty much a short email saying 4 gauge on the 300/4 should fix the problem. And no, I did not have this problem when I had the Chameleons and the pair of ID12 subs. Something happened I guess after switching.

fsttyms1....ground should be good. i have moved it twice already and makes no difference. the 8 gauge wires only run from under the rear seats. That is where the distribution block is.

AcuraX2

Well, as far as I can tell, all my components are in good shape. I have swapped both amps and used RCA's to run both head units with both sets of amps. I am pretty much back to square one. I still have hum and the JL 300/4 will still shut off. I checked the voltage while the amp was pounding away and it never got below 10 like they say it has to before shutting off. They also say the power light will go off and mine stays on. The only other thing I know to try is running new speaker wire to the Diamonds. I bought some new wire and I think I will just run it outside the vehicle to see if it makes a difference or not. Other than that...????

dnd2984

iTrader: (6)

so the 500/1 didnt make a hum in the MDX. all it can now be is your speaker wire, like u said.

AcuraX2

I put the 500/1 in the MDX and I had to jam my ear against the tweeter to hear a slight hum. Sitting in the seats with any music playing, I do not think you would ever hear it. In the TL, you can for sure hear it. In between tracks or any quiet passage. I will try the new wire tonight.

shawhite

the 500/1 is a mono block amp.... why put it on tweeters... most tweeters have a crossover on them that will not let them produce the sound coming out of the 500/1... just my $.02... have you considered that it might be your headunit... do you have you amp set on high input or low input... more than likely it should be on low.. a good way to test this is to get a volt meter and disconnect the positive and negitive lead of the speaker.. turn the headunit up 3/4 the way and put a 50hz sig thru for sub and 1000hz thru for highs and make sure you have the correct voltage coming thru... but if the you are getting noise that is that loud i would have to say it is coming before the amp since the amp is probably amplifing it and making it even more audible... as for the amp shutting down i think you have a bad connection somewhere... i am running 4 ga from the front to my 5 farad cap and then i am running 8 ga to each amp... i drive 1hr each way to work and usually crank it like 3/4 of the time.. and mine has never shut down once... they have gotten pretty hot but never shut down on me....

AcuraX2

Shawhite.....I need to clear up a couple of things for you. The 500/1 does not run the tweeters, only the subs. However, it is not until I hook the 500/1 into the system, that the hum takes place. And it takes place in the tweeters.

I can set the amps on High or Low input and it does the same thing. I can use the JL method for setting gains or I can set it by ear and it does the same thing. The Eclipse is supposed to be 5 volt and should be set on high. But, if I set it on high, I can turn the gain all the way up and it will not hit the target voltage.

I also hooked ran RCA's from my Alpine IVA-C800 in the MDX into my amps that are in the TL. The noise is still there.

JL insists my power wires are not big enough but, everyone here, including you, are using the same thing I am. I may have to hook my cap up and see if it makes any difference. I bought one about a year ago and never have even tried it. I think it is a 1 farad Lightning Audio w/digital top.

AcuraX2

Progress at last. For some reason, I was having a major voltage drop with my power or ground wires. At JL's suggestion, I ran a new 4 gauge power and ground wire, even made a new ground point, and it made a huge difference. This in only on the 300/4. I do not have the 500/1 hooked up right now but, before with just the 300/4, it was low. Last night, I was measuring voltages of 10's to 13 volts with the engine running. Tonight, with the new cables, and cranked way up, it never dropped below 14 volts. I am not sure where the loss was. I noticed that my two 8 gauge ground wires were like 5-6 feet long each. Could that be any problems. Now I have to decide how to wire the 500/1. If I want to stick with 4 gauge, I have to either run another 4 gauge from battery to trunk or run new 0/1 gauge and split it. It would be cheaper to run another 4 gauge. Please give me some thoughts people. If 4 gauge split into two 8 gauges is enough, why is mine not. Thanks guys for all your help. I am on the road to recovery. Now, to figure out the hum.