amp troubles

hey, ive got a 12" pioneer 400 watt (rms) sub, powered by a pioneer 760 watt (max) amp, my problem is that the power light doesnt come on until i turn the volume up on my headunit, but it blinks on and off when it hits the bass notes, and theres no sound coming out of my sub, and before i got the pioneer amp, i ordered a cheap amp i think 500 watts (max) and i hooked it up to my car (1998 civic) and the power light does the same thing, but i get a little bit of sound out of my sub but it only lasts for about one beat, if its fixable then what would be the cheapest sollution

any suggestions and help would be appreciated

thanks

check your ground, make sure that it is sanded down to the paint and that youve got atleast 8 ga wire.

If you've got a warranty from the store have them check it out.

sounds like the load (impedance) on your amp is too low

good point paul, what are the ohms on the woofers, how are they wired, and whats the minimum load on your amp. if you dont know these numbers, start reading your manuals

Yeah its not the amp its something in the setup, check the remote wire, power, ground, impendance hell even the wires for the sub if they ground out it could be going into protect, or shut itself off and on.

ive got my speakers wired up for 8 ohms right now and my amp says 2-8 ohms is allowable, ive got 8 ga power and ground wires run, i ordered everthing from www.onlinecarstereo.com so i cant take it back to have them look at it, but ive taken it to circuit city and they couldnt figure out what was wrong either, thanks for the help ill maybe try wiring my sub for 2 ohms and try that. Ill look at the remote wire too.

try disconnecting the speakers altogether and see if the amp is still going into protect mode