Been having a problem with my new system. FYI My head unit is a JVC not sure on the output,KS350 in front dash,KS690 in front door, and DS5250 in rear doors. This setup has good sound quality as far as not getting distorted at high volume. My problem is with my amp and subwoofer setup. I have 2- Kicker CVX 2 ohm 12's and an AP3000d Planet Audio amp, i was told my speakers are wired at 2 ohms. I have burned my amp up before and had to replace the amp. The speakers hit really hard but i could smell the voice coils smoking so i turned the amp down. My problem is that i am in way over my head and i dont know what i need to provide power to this amp. I am use to running a hot wire from the battery to the amp and thats it, ive never had this much power pushed in a vehicle. Also i have a bed cut and my box is in the bed. I have pics but not sure how to post them... any help would be appreciated.

If your subs are 2 ohm then they are either running at 1 ohm if wired paralell (both + to the + terminal on the amp and both - to the - terminal of the amp) or 4 ohm of wired in series (+ on amp to + on speaker 1, - on speaker 1 to + on speaker 2, - on speaker 2 to - on amp). My guess is they are paralell and that amp is running at 1 ohm and that is why it is burning up.
I don't know much about this company. I have worked in the home/car audio industry for about 20 years off and on. I would recommend the following:
4 gauge power and ground wire to the amp with an 80 amp fuse at the battery.
Sell your subs and buy 2 4 ohm subs, run them paralell so the amp sees a 2 ohm load.

My guess is that amp is putting out about 240-300 watts of realistic power. A lot of amps will post their ratings in 'music power' and not RMS which is continuious power.

I would suggest bringing the truck to a local audio store (A good one, not Best Buy) and let them look over the system and see how it it wired and make suggestions. Just don't let them sell you crap you don't need.

I agree with Snowdog. That amp will need air to circulate around it too. That smell is the amp.

Ive only "burned up" one speaker in my life and that was because we hooked it to a car battery to see what would happen.

I just read about those amps on a car audio forum and it seems a few people have smoked those amps. Mostly trying to run it at 2 to 1/2 an ohm which makes any amp run HOT!. I would go 2 or 4 ohms and save my truck from fire.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Hemiguy05,

Yep, you have to match up your ohm load to your stable load on your amp. If your amp is 4ohm stable, then you need your subs wired to 4 ohm. 2ohm subs have to be wired like said....up to 4ohm or down to 1 ohm. If you have 4ohm DVC subs wired down to 2ohm but your amp is 4ohm stable, that is a problem as well. That is where you are likely having issues. Find out what your amp is stable at, and then match up the subs to it. CVX's are extremely high output subs. I am sure could burn up an amp in a hearbeat wired wrong.

The shop i got the amp at told me my speakers were running at 2 ohms. Meaning they are dual voice coil 2 ohm speakers wired up to a 4ohm. They are wired together to make 2 ohms at the amp. The amp is a class D monoblock 1 ohm stable amp. The Planet Audio website shows that RMS power is 1600W X 1 at 2ohms and 2400W RMS at 1ohm with a max power of 3000W X 1 at 1ohm. I read a warning on this website talking a bout the class D wiring sying that these amps produce a lot of power and that you have to beef up the electrical system. Does anybody have any ideas on how to provide the electrical power to this amp? My hot wire is a 4ga with a 80 amp fuse. Ive heard of higher output alternators, batt caps, capacitors, and even more batteries; ive never had anything that required som many "EXTRAS" i think my amp burned up because i did not have enough juice goin to it and i was wondering what to install for this reason?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: RealMenDriveTrucks,

that amp will smoke does kickers without braking a sweat, it produces 3 times the power your subs can handle
you should start by upgrading the alternator to a 160 amp the one that comes in the Durango or some Ram 2500 you also need a 01 gage power and ground wire and that 80 amp fuse ain't cutting it you need twice that much, you don't burn an amp from being low on power but from a bad ground you can.
Go easy on the amp gains that amp has allot of power, i couldn't find the board specs but i believe it's the same as this one, and i had one before:
http://ampguts.realmofexcursio.../Solid_Audio_F2500D/

This message has been edited. Last edited by: sppb,

Thanks sppb thats sounds like a plan on the 01 gage wire, ill see what kind of alternator i can get my hands on but im not sure about the fuse stuff? The radio shop was trying to get me to buy a yellow top optima to put in the bed of my truck. They said it would feed the amp pretty good and they told me to get my alternator worked over so it would put out more amps... Now i just wish i knew how to resize my pics so i can post them on here.

sppb what size alt do we hav and what size is the 2500?
Physical and amps?
Id like to upgrade as well.

What size and how many fuses are on the amp chassis? You should make your inline fuse the same rating as these totaled. For example I have a 4 channel Eclipse Amp that has 4 - 20 amp fuses on it. I have an 80 amp fuse at the battery. The system is protected and I am getting sufficient current to the amp. Adding a higher amp fuse will not allow the amp to perform any better. If you have a fuse that is rated lower than what the amplifier is drawing it will usually melt the connection at the end of the fuse. I had a 70 amp on my system and it lasted about 7 months and the end did melt enough to loosen the connection at one end. I changed to an 80 amp and it lasted 4+ years.
On the subject of power, how many amps do you have? Just the one for the subs or any others running the rest of your system? Adding the 1 gauge power wire to a distribution block is a very good idea. Then shorter 4 gauge wire can be used to the amps. Again add all the fuse values on all the amps and put that size fuse at the battery if you have multiple amps.

Running at 2 ohms your amp should be fine. I agree that one possible reason it burned up is because of the ground. Keep your ground wire as short as possible, make sure you are grounding to a body panel and that the ground point is completely free of paint and primer. Also check the ground strap from the firewall to the engine to make sure it isn't loose.
Another thing is since your subs are in the bed and ported into the cab you may have a sub that is going bad and you can't hear that it is. If the voice coil is shorting against the magnet that is causing a short the amp is seeing. The speaker will still work but will be very scratchy.

Dan O has a very good point, taking it to a high end shop is a good idea. Since we can't see the entire installation or hear the system makes it tough to diagnose. Also the alternator from a 2500 with the snow plow package has the highest output I believe.

quote:

Originally posted by Hemiguy05:
sppb what size alt do we hav and what size is the 2500?
Physical and amps?
Id like to upgrade as well.

the stock alternator is 136A the one that comes in the Hemi Durango and the one in the Ram with plow package is 160 but there are bigger ones they're just pricey
http://www.nationsautoelectric.com/bosch.html

normally we use a rule that is 10 Amps per 100 watts of power for a class D amp but technically the fuse at the battery is just to protect the power wire, the way he has it with a 4 gage wire he he shouldn't use bigger than 120 amp fuse ( the wire could catch on fire before the fuse blow) and that's not enough for that "amplifryer" since he can't use all the power from the amp he can get away with a 200 Amp fuse and a 2 gage wire

Thanks for the ALT info. I just have so many things that the kids run in the back seat it may help. I havent had any trouble but I do want to add a few things. I did switch to LEDs on most everything so that may help too.