this is seriously gay.

Okay, I'll just get right to the point. I have an 800watt kenwood amp, and a 1230w infinity sub, w an alpine deck. I installed it all myself w a install kit from walmart, with 8 gauge wire and a 40 amp blade fuse.

This all worked perfectly with no problems ( i could turn it all the way up w no problems) until; about 3 weeks ago when i was knocking w my friend for awhile when my sub just quits. I found the fuse from the battery was blown so i replaced it (the fuse holder was a little melted) and then i started going thru 40 amp fuses daily. I took it to a stereo shop and he adjusted the freq and made it sound real nice and all, and replaced it w a 60 amp fuse. Now the fuse it fine, but after a little listening to the bass cuts in and out. The sub itself now makes a pretty shitty rattling sound when i turn it up at all now. Did i blow it? How can that be w an 800w amp and a 1200w sub? is my install kit shit? what in the hell is going on here?! I really went all out and bought some nice shit, and it bugs me when it really doesn't work right. help me out and ill pay pal you 50 cents.

keep your change. You say the sub is 1230 watts. Is that Peak or RMS wattage? It will make a HUGE difference. You should never 'turn it up all the way'. If it isnt loud enough, then go with louder hardware. It could be the voice coil is partly fried. It could be the amp overheating as well. Is the surround foam seperating from the cone?

Just my thoughts.

Is the amp grounding out somewhere?

first off, you used to thin of a power and ground wire. If that Kenwood is rated at 800 watts RMS you have to use at least 4 gauge wires for your power and ground. If you're sub is rattling, you probably blew it. Either that or there is something loose in your box.

And that Infinity sub doesn't handle 1230 watts RMS, Infinity Perfect 12's only handle 350 watts RMS. You need to re check your numbers.

http://www.circuitcity.com/detail.jsp?c=1&b=g&u=c&qp=0&bookmark=bookmark_0&oid=71445&catoid=-8871&m=0


thats my sub. peak is 1230w

BTW, I never actually turned it up all the way. It was just loud enough to make me think, 'okay seriously man thats enough' the 'sub out' was at 13/15 and the volume was no where near full.


My amp HAS been getting pretty damn hot. Is there anything i can do about that?

I looked at the outter part of the sub (exposed part on my box) and everything looks as good, if not better than when i got it. How do i check to see if my sub is f***ed?

Also i never once blew the fuses on my amp, so I couldnt have fried my amp right? BAHH!H!!! this is turning into a nightmare.

Your amp is probably fine, I'm betting it's your wires. And you don't want to go by peak numbers, you want to go by RMS numbers. Your sub only handles 350 watts RMS. What model Kenwood amp do you have?

thanks a lot man. I've been trying to be high class when all my friends LOVE the cheesy numbers companies throw out, so i get some por advice sometimes.

My amp? umm... lemme check a bit later tonight. Please help me out here, i really try to drop the right amount of cash and get what i pay for.

Another question. I just bought an install kit off ebay without the fuse (pretty much just 4 gauge wire) because i think imunna spend a bit extra dn go ahead and buy a breaker. My NEW questio is weather you think a 100 amp breaker would be too much for my amp (which is fused w two 30's). Thanks, your a huge help man, if you ever need fifty cents, its yours.

It is a bit much. You don't want to go for a fuse or breaker that is rated so high to the point where it won't pop if there is some kind of surge in the power wire. You'll just end up messing up your amp. Stick with the fuse holder and fuse you have now. A circuit breaker isn't necessary for your average sound system like people you and I would put together. The 4 gauge wiring is a very good idea though.

One thing to check in the mean time is your ground.

NICE. this is exactly the kind of thing i needed to hear. Of course the stereo place is gunna try and sell me that tho right? those bastards.

Well how much do those glass fuses cost? i mean if i blow thru em like i have been id be up shit creek. will the smaller gauge keep em from blowing? I did run on one fuse for a good 6 months before all this happened so i should be alright, no?

And how can i tell if my sub is fizzity nucked? if i hadta get a new one, what would i look at in terms of money for something that could take what I got? Thanks bro, its people like you that keep me coming back to this site.

glass fuses are cheap. So are the holders. Since that 60 amp fuse was working for you, I'd stick with it. If your sub is rattling and you see nothing physically wrong with it like the surround coming off of the cone like EG civic said, you probably have a blown voicecoil.

How long have you had the sub for? Infinity perfect subs are freaking perfect, they are excellent speakers, if it's at all possible I would try to return it or get warranty work done on it.

I don't agree that 100amp C/B is too much. Yeah, it's a little more money than he needs to spend, but the fusing for the amp is there for a reason. If he's pulling more than the amp can handle he needs to turn the gain down, plain and simple. I think his problem is with the wiring considering he said that the fuse holder was melted. The fuse holder/wiring kit just plain isn't designed to carry as much current as he was pulling.

A properly tuned system will never blow the fuses in the amps unless the amps fail internally or there is a direct short in one. The fusing on the wire is only there to detect a direct short on the line and to shut off current flow should that occur. That is the reason why there are rules in competition about fusing having to be within a certain distance from the battery terminal. A direct short could occur between the battery and fuse and you would be screwed.

The only reason I condone using fusing to restrict the amp's peak input current, is when you are using a modified amp. For example in my comp car, I have bypassed both the fusing and the protection circuitry internally in all of the amps, so for protection from battery current each 4 gauge run from my batteries to the amps has it's own maxi fuse.

If the fuse on the power wire was for the amp, then I wouldn't need my 320 Amp Circuit breakers inbetween my front and rear batteries. They are only there in case of a direct short between the battery and the chassis.

I would rather just be safe than sorry in case something does happen, but you make very good points.

hey when you said glass fuses are cheap do you mean inexpensive, or poorly made?

inexpensive