stereo cutting out after adding amp and sub

[93Euro]

I think it's my head unit getting too hot. It's too hot to touch.
Originally I was running 4 polk db 650's off of the Sony CDX GT 400.

I add a Kicker KX 500.3 (3 channel amp) to power a Kicker L5 10", and 2 more DB 650's on the tower. I was going to leave the cabin speakers on the head unit for now.

While testing, and after running for a while, I'll crank it up and the entire system will shut down for a quick second, then come right back. If I turn the volume down, everything is ok. If I leave it cranked, it will come back for a second, then shut down again.

Since the head unit seems to be the hottest, and it turns off also (not just the amp) I'm assuming that's the problem.

Is there a way to wire all my speakers to this amp for now?

Thanks
Steven

[93Euro]

could I do something like this? Does this keep everything at 4ohms?




thanks

[Mikeski]

The combination of low voltage and high load can cause the deck to get hot. Are you testing off the battery with the boat on the trailer? Try charging the battery, leave the charger connected and test again.

In general power speakers in boats off the deck power is asking too much from the deck (high-power or not). Even a small amp would be better than powering off the deck.

[93Euro]

I wired the stereo today like the drawing above (series/parrallel?). Sounds fine, but I haven't got to run it long enough to test it yet.

[Mikeski]

There is no way to get a balanced or optimized load the way you have it wired. Car amps do not like 8 ohm loads on a single channel (as your tower is shown). The best way to wire your existing gear is series two boat speakers in parallel with one tower speaker for each high pass amp output (left or right).

[93Euro]

thanks mike
I haven't actually hooked up the tower yet, but it sounds like it would be a lot easier to just get another amp for the 4 boat speakers and run the tower and sub off the three channel amp.

Since I don't care about fading the boat speakers, do you recommend a 4 ch or just a 2 ch amp?

Another thing I noticed, when I switched over the boat speaks to the amp, was that I lost the built in eq settings in the head unit. I guess now I'm looking for an eq.

thanks again Mike

[Mikeski]

Here's a better idea...

Get a 4 channel for the tower and run the boat off the three. As you stated, you don't need fading in the boat so load up that amp. For the tower you can bridge your speakers so that amp will run at optimum load too. I have heard that Kicker amps do not like the high consistent full range load of tower speakers. Grab a Clarion APX off e-bay, they are only about $150, they will push those Polk tower speakers to their max. Can you fit the Polk db675's? Don't forget to run the tower in highpass.