On a car trip a few weeks ago, i had the windows down so of course i turned the music up a bit. After about an hour or so I could start to smell a burning odor. I tried to find where it was coming from and I finally realized it was my amp. My audio system is only speakers because I'm still saving up for subs. I have about 400 watts coming from a kicker amp to four kicker component speakers, and i even have the amp turned down to not cause these problems. Is it a bad quality amp? wiring problems? I really have no idea, any help would be great

 

The burning was probably the speakers, not the amp.

 

well when i reached back to feel the amp it was so hot that i couldn't keep my finger on it for long. So even if it is the speakers, should my amp be getting this hot? Is it just not able to perform at that volume?

 

anybody got anything?

 

amps shouldnt be getting that hot, some things that cause that, clipping, voltage drops, location with no air movement, etc.

 

Class A/B amps are very inefficient, theoretical max is around 50% efficiency for Class A and 75% for class B. This is why class A/B amps get significantly hotter than a Class D sub amp (~80%+ real world efficient). Try getting some more airflow to the amp when you play it loud and long (flip up the seat bottom if it's under the seat). Fans are an option, but most are noisy.

 

We generally dont hear of any over heating issues with the trucks, my amps are behind the seat with very little space to vent. They are ok.

 

thanks for the input guys. I'll defiantly start flipping my seat up to help cool it down. It's never happened so soon but recently I was trying to do some testing with it to see what was causing it to overheat. Very quickly, like real quick, i smelled that burning smell, that had to be the speakers. I just can't see the amp getting that hot that quick. Should I buy a class b amp? are class d only for subs?

 

While most 4 channel amps are class A/B nowadays (switches between A and B circuits). More manufacturers are starting to offer D class multi channel amps. D channel amps are extremely (in comparison) efficient and shouldn't get very hot, but you sacrifice with distortion, which is why they're popular as sub amps where distortion is less of an issue.

Which amp and components are you running?

 

I've got a kicker zx 350.4 and the components are kicker as well, I forgot what specific type they are though. I know it's not the best stuff but it's what I got.

 

Yea my Kennwood 4 channel did that right at the speaker AMP connection. The wire just bubbled up were the isolation starts next to the amp. Not allot, just enough to tell they got hot. I figure I need heavier speaker wire, - mines an old 400 as well.

 

The zx350.4 is a class A/B amp.

Depending on the component series, you may be overpowering the components, the Kicker DS series RMS power handling is under 50 W.

What head unit are you using, depending on its output voltage, you may need your gain set fairly low anyways. How did you set your gain?

 

Beyond the advice above....

Did you run new wiring to the speakers, or did you just splice into the factory wiring? The harder the amp needs to work to push the energy to the speakers, the hotter the amp will get. Also, is the input from the head unit via RCA cables, or does your amp have a line level converter (speaker wire inputs). Line level converters also put a load on the amp. Finally, how is the amp mounted? I have an oldschool zr460 that used to overheat, but that was because I had it under a seat on carpeting. I cut a piece of MDF and screwed it down just to get it off the floor, and it was better.

 

No they don't. By definition a load is on the output. An LOC is on the input.
Speaker level inputs are the same as an LOC just built into the amp. Some LOCs offer more flexibility with things like level adjustments.

 

TX, you probably damaged one of the speakers during your open window blasting session and it is now placing too much of a load on the amp. When voice coils overheat adjacent windings can become shorted which lowers the impedance of that driver. Lower Impedance = higher current which = hotter amp.