Cockpit speakers & sub not working / Clarion apx480m settings?

[factive]

Cockpit speakers and sub not working. The amp has power, checked the fuses and they're ok, everything looks like it's connected properly. Anyone know what the amp settings should be so I can double check to make sure those are ok as well. Any other suggestions on why they wouldn't be working?

[nautiques4life]

First guess is that the amp got wet or has gone bad. Just because an amp's power light is on doesn't necessarily mean it is working.
You're asking about the settings but if it was working previously and no one changed settings like gain etc; those settings wouldn't change on their own.
Do you have 2 amps in the boat? ...if so I'd swap some things around to isolate the issue.

[swatguy]

Check the RCA Cables and aux cables on the head unit.

[MLA]

Cockpit speakers and sub not working. The amp has power, checked the fuses and they're ok, everything looks like it's connected properly. Anyone know what the amp settings should be so I can double check to make sure those are ok as well. Any other suggestions on why they wouldn't be working?

Was the amp previously working? When you say "amp has power", how was this determined? Voltage meter - whats the voltage and is there also voltage on the turn-on lead? Or is the amps normal power light on or id the protect light on?

[factive]

Was the amp previously working? When you say "amp has power", how was this determined? Voltage meter - whats the voltage and is there also voltage on the turn-on lead? Or is the amps normal power light on or id the protect light on?

I just bought the boat two days ago and I didn't notice that the cockpit speakers weren't working because the front & tower speakers are working. In hindsight I should've got down next to each speaker to listen. I am determining that the amp has power by the the power light on the amp.

[MLA]

Ok good. IIRC, that amp has a gree power light, which would indicate its on and in normal mode. I cant think of a single amp setting that would prevent the amp from playing music at least to some degree. Someone would had to have turned down boat gains, but even then, I would suspect that there would be a little output once the head-unit was turned up.

How many RCA cables are connected? Make sure the fade is centered. Fallow the RCAs to the back of the head-unit and make sure they are plugged in to an output, not an input.

[a0128]

I had that amp. If the power light is flashing blue (as mine was) then the amp has a fault and needs to be replaced.

[factive]

Light is solid blue. The sub is working as well though not as much power as I would expect from a sub. Looks like it's just the cockpit speakers that aren't working.

I ran through all the wiring again and it looks good. There is one (red + white) RCA cable connected to this amp in channel 1 & 2, another to the other amp, and another to the aux hook up. I'm going to try hooking the cockpit speakers to the other amp and see what happens.

[factive]

Speakers work when connected to other amp

[swatguy]

What amp make and model is the other Amp? The Clarion APX only has two inputs. Not too many amps have an output channel back in that time period with the Apx480M. Your bow speakers most likely work because they are running off the head unit not the amp.


There is also an input switch to select the source. Which inputs are going to where. Seeing as how your amp is daisy chained the output channel on the other amp might be bad. Try swapping rcas and running directly to head unit. See if they get power.

Here is the board for the experts
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[factive]

What amp make and model is the other Amp? The Clarion APX only has two inputs. Not too many amps have an output channel back in that time period with the Apx480M. Your bow speakers most likely work because they are running off the head unit not the amp.


There is also an input switch to select the source. Which inputs are going to where. Seeing as how your amp is daisy chained the output channel on the other amp might be bad. Try swapping rcas and running directly to head unit. See if they get power.

Sorry for the confusion. All RCA cables are coming directly from the head unit. No daisy chains.

Bow speakers work fine. As you mentioned they are directly connected to head unit.
Tower speakers work fine as they're connected to the Clarion apx280m amp.
Sub is working but IMO it's way underpowered. Cockpit speakers not working at all unless I connect them to the other amp.

[a0128]

Just curious - what head unit do you have?

[factive]

Just curious - what head unit do you have?

Not sure on the model, all I can see is Clarion Marine. I'm sure whatever came stock on this boat

[MLA]

Most likely the sub is bridged on chnls 1 and 2, which has the RCA inputs. Knowing that the sub works, is a good thing. First check the source select switch. needs to be in 2 chnl mode if only using a single pair of RCAs. If in 4 chnl mode, only speakers wired to chnl 1 and 2 will play. One thing you can do as a test. With the system off, move the RCAs to the other two ports. The cabin speakers will likely play.

[swatguy]

As MLA stated the sub working is a good thing. Have you checked the fade or balance settings on the head unit? Make sure they are all "centered". This is just a guess here, but being that the boat has towers and interiors, the previous owner in an attempt to keep passengers in the cockpit happy might have "faded" the interior speakers out of the equation via the head unit settings in order to keep their ears happy. Very very common way of adjusting your system. This would allow you to crank the tunes on the tower to the rider yet still keep your ears happy inside the boat. This would also give you a weak sub signal because some of the "power" to it when faded would be missing.

Another place to check is in the head unit menu. We need to get your exact head unit narrowed down. Need the colors of the RCA jacks running from the head unit that the attached RCA's go into. Depending on your head unit you could have a front channel, rear channel, and fixed channel option coming from head unit.