I recently installed my amp sub combo. Today I checked the amp and it was very hot. I could only hold my hand on it for about one second. Is this just a bad amp or did I do something wrong? I havnt mounted the amp yet so its just sitting on the floor in the back, not even under the seat yet. I ran 4 gauge power wire and 16 gauge speaker wire (prob not big enough but thats all they had available at Best Buy.

I have this amp...
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-vq9YLlJ...-GM-7300M.html
powering this sub
http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_...-SW3001S2.html

Any help would be well appreciated.

 

If you've been cranking it, it will get hot. Heavy Bass will keep it quite hot. If it is getting hot when its on low then something might be wrong. Amps get hot and that is why it is a good idea to give them plenty of room for air to circulate.

 

I usually dont have it too loud. Today I just ran to the post office (about 5 miles round trip) at normal listening volume, not cranked up at all. Air space should be no problem at the moment seeing that its sitting open on the floor (not under the seat). Could just be a bad amp, I bought it used for a cheap price.

 

If it sounds okay it should be fine. 4 gauge is heavy enough but by no means overkill. I would eventually get some heavier speaker wire for that sub just to be sure but that's not going to heat the amp until you're near max volume.

 

Well for one thing your sub is want's about 400rms and your amp is only putting out 360 (if that) at two ohms. So what to you is not cranking it is really pushing that amp to keep it at normal listening volume. On a side note however, I hope you didn't pay too much for that amp, I had one and it always got way too hot to the touch because the power ratings are way over what it actually puts out and it died in like 2 months on a sub that did 300rms.

Your power and ground is definitely big enough for what little that amp takes, you could have gotten away with 8 gauge on that and been fine. And 16 gauge speaker wire is also plenty big for the little amount going through it.

 

if you lift it up off the floor so it gets air to the bottom it will cool MUCH better, you need to get air all around the amp. if you mount it to a hard flat surface the feet should hold it up a bit off the surface allowing air to flow under it. when it sits on carpet it will sink down and not let any air flow under it. I even suggest spacing amps even farther up with some spacers to get more air flow under it. Problem solved

 

While that well help, I did everything possible to cool that amp when I had one, it just always ran hot.

 

So I want an amp that puts out more RMS watts than the subs RMS watts? I always thought that if the amp was within 70% the subs watts it was ok? I dont know a whole lot about car audio so I'm still learning.

Thanks for all the help. I plan on mounting the amp under the passenger side back seal on some legs (spacers) to lift it maybe about 3/4" or so.

 

A general rule is you want about 200 more rms than what the sub is rated for so you can have the abillity to cut back the amp some while giving the sub full power to eliminate clipping. And yea either mount some feet to it, or get a sheet of plywood or something else flat and mount it to that, or even do both. It'll help promote cooling opposed to the carpet just trapping heat underneath it.

 

hey. i have a 760 pioneer of the same style and its a 2 channel. i have 1 500W pioneer premier flat cone 8" sub in a pioneer made box for the sub. also my head unit is a pioneer 200W cd player. my amp just cuts out sometimes on its own. it will do it for 1 to 5 seconds...but all my connections are fine and the amp is not even turned half way up. the cd player is at SLA +2 and bass +2 and some other stuff. loudness is MID. and when it happens i feel the amp and its usually only slightly warm...sometimes it happens when the amp is still cold. i used the amp in my last truck with a 12" pioneer sub and it never did it. i may have to re check my connections later...but it has been doing it since i put it in in december. also my last truck i attached a little brushless fan to move the air around it. most car audio places will have one and you just use the remote wire for positive and ground it. it helps keep it cooler. in both my trucks i had mine mounted to the back wall of the cab standing on its side and they never get hot to the touch. but it still cuts out sometimes...it could be connection or it could be something weird in the amp...i donno for sure

 

Not all amps are made to function properly on there side. And go recheck your ground, my amp started doing that about a week ago and it was because the ground had started to oxidize. Basically I just cut the end of the wire off and regrounded it with fresh wire then threw some vasoline over it to help keep it from oxidizing again.

 

yeah i cut the ground wire before installing it in my newer truck because the ends were corroded. i just cut an inch off both sides just for the heck of it. also the amp was working great on its side in my last truck and it was on the same side as it is now. and the wires are still shiny and not corroded since i installed it. plus it did it right after the install. and i used everything i had in my older truck. all wires i used were the same ones and they were stored in a rubbermaid tote in my closet for a year. none of the amp's terminals are corroded either. im thinking either head unit or remote wire or RCAs. ill recheck when i have time but it is definitely not from overheating.

 

By all means im no pro at this but i know my way around stereos.

As far as an amp getting very hot its like others who have posted have said. You are trying to push a 400 watt sub with a 360 watt amp. Regardless of whether or not you listen to it loud the amp is having to work hard then its rated for.

On issues like cutting out theres normally a very simple culprit. Corrosion on grounds, loose connections etc. The issue i just had is the fuse hold under my hood (which is recommended) was about 7 years old had melted slightly and the connections had shifted. Any hard hitting bass would break the connection and i would lose my sound. Replaced it for 12 bucks and now i have no issues what so ever.

Just think simple and odds are youll save yourself alot of unneccasary stress.

And yes good airflow is a good idea too but i have my amps mounted flat on my board for all my stereo equipment and i havent had an issue. Still doesnt hurt

 

No and no. The sub is rated for 400 RMS max. That is at full volume. Same with amp 360 output RMS max output clean.

At normal listening levels as OP claims is much less.

I would use 12 for woofer myself. 16 is small. The lower the resistance the less amp has to work. Work = heat.

 

No, See above. Think of your volume control as if it were a dimmer switch on a light bulb. If you have a 100 watt light bulb and turn the dimmer down to the brightness of a 25 watt bulb it will be consuming about 25 watts.