tower speakers cutting out at loud volumes

[bmh2208]

I have some tower speakers that are roughly based off of the nvs addictions, so they can take alot of power (400W+ apiece). We I turn the volume all the way up, they cut in and out.

Normally I would think that the amp is clipping at the top of it's output range. However, I originally had my RF Power series amp 350Wx2 and it was doing the same thing. I then hooked up a smaller RF amp 150X2 and it still does it just not as bad.

I then decided to run another large gauge power cable from the second battery in the bow directly to the amp but the problem still continued.

So I am still thinking that it is a power problem not an amp or speaker issue. When I first built the speakers I powered them off of my denon home receiver 150W per channel and had no cutting out. My big RF amp is of the old school variety and is built like a tank.

The boat is a '03 SANTE with the stock alternator and dual batteries. Do you guys think that I need a cap or something else? What about the ground? The original ground wire was run between battery to the ground distribution block. In my old days of car audio I would use the shortest possible ground..usually less than a foot.

Thanks in advance.

[Mikeski]

RE: tower speakers cutting out at loud volumes

my guess would be that the amp is getting hot and going into thermal cutout

[bmh2208]

RE: tower speakers cutting out at loud volumes

Mikeski...I was starting to think the same thing, however, it will do it right when I start it up at the beginning of the day. What's weird though is that it seems to get worse as time progresses both during the day at the lake, and then everytime we go out, the next day is worse than the first. I will start to check connections.

Keep em coming guys.....I am usually good about troubleshooting stuff like this but this one has got me stumped.

[bowvan]

RE: tower speakers cutting out at loud volumes

Sounds like it could be a low voltage issue with your remote turn on lead. Try using a relay.

[MinnesotaNautique]

RE: tower speakers cutting out at loud volumes

BMH,

I have the same issue with my tower speakers...however it does not happen when I disconnect the remote. I have been told that my amp (phoneix gold xenon) causes some interfernece which then resets the stereo "mode". I have basically given up, as it has been an issue now for the past 2 summer's! I have had 2 different shops try to trouble shoot the problem...but no luck! I wish you well, and would be interested to hear if you did find a solution!

[joelhern2]

i had the same problem and the solution was to program the head unit's internal amp gain to "high". if not turned to high the head unit would shut off in order to protect the speakers from blowing.

[NAUTIQUEjunky]

I would check the input power at the amps terminal. You can do this with a digital volt/ohm meter. Make sure your engine is running and you have the volume turned up to where it normaly starts to cut out . If the amp is not seeing the voltage it needs at that volume, Then it will shut down, Some amps can deal with 12.5v some need as much as 14.4v. Check your amps specs to see what power requirments it needs. This would be a good time to check your alternator output as well. Hope this helps?

[bmh2208]

So I think I have narrowed it down to two possible things...

1) Gain not matching/adjusted correctly between the head unit and my amp. Not sure what the preamp output is on the XMD1 but will find out tomorrow with an oscilloscope. Also gotta look up what the spec on the amp is for input level.

2) The original way it is wired is using a very long ground. I have the 12V+ hooked up to the bow battery and the ground is still off of the back battery. This makes for an extremely long path for return power since it is basically making the trip all the way around the boat. I will try to fix this by running a short ground <3' from the bow to the amp.

[Mikeski]

BMH,

Clean up that wiring! It scares me to read what you posted in #2. ;-)

M

[bmh2208]

That's Correct Craft for you. It's like they took the longest route to wire the amps, and they didn't even put a fuse in.

[bmh2208]

So I have eliminated #2 in my list of problems. I reran power and ground cables using 1 Gauge wiring that was only 4' long directly from the front battery. This has seemed to lessen the problem. I have now been able to hook my 700W RF amp and have it at about 3/8 Gain without any clipping. I will have to wait until I get my oscilloscope from work to tweak it. It's kind of hard to adjust it without really pissing off the neighbors.

Anyone think that I might be suffering from insufficient power supply that would be fixed from using a capacitor? Again, thanks for all the help.

[Hollywood]

Anyone think that I might be suffering from insufficient power supply that would be fixed from using a capacitor?

Yes

[Mikeski]

The capacitor will help in a transient situation but this sounds more like a constant problem, maybe not in this situation as described?

This is beginning to sound like a signal issue? Or a partial short between the speaker wires, try running some temporary speaker wires outside of the tower?

[clayk]

i also made some pro-audio speakers , thanks mikeski, and when i first hooked them up it would shut the amp down , and after 2 days of trying different things , i started hooking the speakers up one at a time and found one to be bad. i have a clarion 480 bridged running a pair of 8's with horns, and it still does not seem like i have the volume that i should have. but i have never heard any others to compare them to. i was running 4 polk momos 6.5 and they are not much louder than them. what kind of speakers and crossovers are you using.

[Nautique4Ever]

The cap is more for subs rather than speakers... All a cap really does is send a constant power supply to the battery rather than the pulsing that would be caused from the subs hitting. This would save your alternator in the long run..