stereo help

I know everyone is sick of stereo questions but I have a small problem with an amp and need some help. I have one Kenwood 800 watt 2 channel amp running 2 B-70's and 2 B-530's on my tower. When the amp gets hot, somewhere between an hour or two it will cut out all the speakers to the tower when you turn the music up. I am pretty sure it is because of the amp getting too hot because when you touch the amp it is burning hot to the touch. So do I need a bigger amp? If so can you recommend something?

You may need to change the mounting location of the amp. Make sure you have enough air space around the amp to allow it to cool properly.

Also, check how you have the speakers wired. If you have the positives of each speaker to the positive on the amp, you have it wired at 2 ohms. This is fine if your amp is 2 ohm stable. If it's not, it will overheat. Go to this article to learn how to wire your speakers so that you're running at a higher ohm load: http://www.termpro.com/articles/spkrz.html

Hope this helps.

- Scott

where is the gain set? My guess is near max if not at max. I bet your amp is just overheating....your proabbly runnning near full volume to squeeze every bit of sound out of them? right? there proabbly wired down to 2ohms which shoudl be ok on that amp, but not for extenede periods at high volumes. tune the gain down...it won't be as loud, so you'll proabbly want a bigger amp. there could be a few other problems but not very likely.

Thnaks for the help guys. I really don't know how they're wired, I have no idea about stereo stuff. I'm gonna look at how I have it wired but if I do get a new and bigger amp, What should I look for as in ohms, channels, and wattage? Should I be worried about blowing the speakers with a new and bigger amp?

I just bought a Diamond Audio D3400.4 amp off of ubid.com for 139 bucks. This is an awesome price on a great amp. The amp puts out 55w x 4 channels at 4 ohms and 100w x 4 at 2 ohms. I have it powering 6 speakers and it rocks. Go to www.diamondaudio.com and look at the specs. It retails for around 250 - 275.....last I checked ubid.com still had 2 left. It came sealed in the original factory box. I think this would be a great amp for what you're trying to do.

Please keep in mind it is in your boat. If the temp gets clear up there, and the amp is sitting in the hot sun, and it's a dark color then you will overheat. Put it somewhere in the shade, where adequate air flow can get to it. Also, check the wiring.

I have an 03 VLX, and the amp is mounted in the passenger area where there is plenty of room and it is shaded. The old amp even had a fan on it and it would still get hot.

Hey scott
That sounds good. The only thing I'm worried about is losing sound. Its really loud right now and I don't want to lose that. Do you think an amp like would still push it as hard?

by the way, When the stereo was all hooked up the guys hooked the speakers together, so actually theres only two positive wires hooked up to the amp.

put an auxillary fan on it. just wire it to the remote wire and ground. amp on = fan on. off-off. you get the idea. they make fans for computers that run on really low voltage. just make sure it works w/ 12

I found a phoenix gold on ebay http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=79824&item=5765120 820&rd=1

it too is an 800 watt so would it be any different than the one i have already?

Nacho
the one i currently have already has a built in fan, is that what you're talking about? I proably would srew it all up if I tried to put another fan on that one.

Phoenix Gold are pretty good amps. The one you found on ebay is rated at 75w X 4 channels which should be pretty loud. I really wouldn't pay much attention to the 800w claim on a Kenwood or Phoenix Gold amp. That refers to the peak power of the amp and not the continuous output. The RMS (75w X 4 for the Phoenix Gold) is a better indicator of the true power of the amp. It doesn't say whether it's 2 ohm stable. If it is, you can basically double the RMS rating and that's the output you'll get at 2 ohms.

The diamond audio amp I mentioned is 2 ohm stable and you'll get around 100w x 4 if you wire the speakers in parallel (2 ohm wiring). Either amp should be as good or better than what you're getting from the Kenwood. Kenwood is a good brand, but they tend to put their peak power ratings on their amps to make them appear more powerful than they really are. You can go to www.crutchfield.com and do some research on RMS vs. peak power and find some more information on wiring your speakers correctly to maximize your amp output.