how hot do your amps get?

[shepherd79]

ok guys,
i just want to know how hot do your amps get?
mine get hot, but i can hold the handon the top of them.
thanks.

[dXsquared]

they dont even get warm...

Travis

[AccordEpicenter]

Well it depends on the class of amp. Class A amps get VERY hot, cant touch them, A/B amps get pretty toasty too (cant hold my hand on them, Most class D amps run very cool but there are a few exceptions, one being the memphis 1100 and the JBL BP1200.1, both have been known to start on fire. My Lanzar 1200d never got warm, even after playing at full power for about 2 hours... My profile (class a/b) would get too hot to touch on the bottom after 30 min. One shockingly cool amp is the Cadence z amp (1500wrms @1 ohm) and its class a/b but it has a fan. Most rockfords get pretty hot and go thermal when played at 2 ohm or below (not reccomended)

[88' Accord Ltd]

My old rockford amp got pretty toasty, I couldn't touch it for long. Sold that POS though.

[dXsquared]

i guess the reason my amp doesnt get hot is cuz the gain is turned to 1/4 all the time.. i have a 15db boost right in my deck, so its always up... the amp will last forever! thats why i will never buy a headunit with less then 3 sets of pre outs


Travis

[shepherd79]

man, i should turn my amps to the full power, because they stay cold when i run them at 3/4 power.

[HostileJava]

The two amps that power my front and rear speakers get pretty hot (can't touch em). The amp that powers my 2 subs though only gets warm to the touch, I guess I'm not pushing it hard enough :D J/k, If I turn it up to loud I feel like my head is going to explode when it hits the real low notes (35hz and below).

[Bloodlust]

My 1000 watt Kenwood Excelon gets very hot. Of course I have an MB Quart PWD304 12 inch sub running at 2 ohms being run off of it. Plus it gets really hot in my trunk and the input sensitivity it set at like 85%. It shuts off once in a while, but hasnt been lately since I adjusted the ground.

[86accordhatchback]

my 1500 watt class d gets so hot i cant touch it sometimes. i've never had it turn off on me though. even at like 20 hours of it turned up really loud. but it gets so hot i don't wanna touch it

[Sabz5150]

The one in my glovebox gets a bit warm, the one under my seat stays nice and cool.

[HostileJava]

Originally posted by 86accordhatchback
my 1500 watt class d gets so hot i cant touch it sometimes. i've never had it turn off on me though. even at like 20 hours of it turned up really loud. but it gets so hot i don't wanna touch it

Jeez, when are you in the car for 20 hours?

[kicker1_solo]

My 400 watt Jensen amp used to get too hot to touch it, then I hooked everything up right and it got back down to normal temp. My 800 watt Sony amp stays pretty cool too. Never had a problem with either of them.
I also have my backseat down like this all the time, so they both get plenty of cool flowing air from the windows being down
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid63/p06328b5de0927787e410ada7dd7188f0/fc0890b3.jpg
I've had the backseat up a couple times when I've had people with me, I never had any problems with them overheating or anything.

[86accordhatchback]

Originally posted by HostileJava
Jeez, when are you in the car for 20 hours?

when i went on a road trip to ohio from colorado. it was a long ass drive. and the amp did fine there and back. and we didn't stop often. only to get gas.

[HostileJava]

To much driving for me. I'd never let my gf drive my car though, so I'd be driving the whole way.

[87DXHatch]

My amps stay fairly cool. My a/b amp gets fairly hot, but I can still hold my hand on it, my class d stays pretty warm most of the time, but it hasn't been hot yet.

The very first amp I ever installed (a Radioshack amp, a looong time ago) got unbelievably hot. After riding around bumping the first day, I opened the trunk, and was like "hmm, I wonder if the amp got hot" so I put my hand flat on it. It hurt so bad, I jumped back.

As for Cadence amps, they rock my ass to death... they are very nice amps, though they do draw a considerable amount of current.

[Project-LXi]

I am comletely satisfied with my JL 250/1 Mono amp. It sounds much better than most amps Ive heard, even ones rated over 3 or 4 times as many watts. I have it set to full power always and it has never gone into thermal on me. Even after long drives you can put your hand on it, and it wont be too hot.

My last amp was a 280w MTX piece of crap. It would always go into thermal after about an hour of use, it didnt hit too hard, and it died completely after only 6 months of use.

[87DXHatch]

Originally posted by Project-LXi
I am comletely satisfied with my JL 250/1 Mono amp. It sounds much better than most amps Ive heard, even ones rated over 3 or 4 times as many watts. I have it set to full power always and it has never gone into thermal on me. Even after long drives you can put your hand on it, and it wont be too hot.

You have your gains maxed? That's bad bad news... even though the JL amps are high enough quality to deal with it usually, I'd be willing to bet you are putting an extremely clipped signal to your sub/s, which, depending on what you're running for subs, will eventually kill them. Unless, of course, your HU isn't putting out enough voltage to overdrive the amp.

[AccordEpicenter]

Never max out your gains... with my gay 2v outs on my pioneer deck, i could max out my 1200d at 1/3 gain at like 24 on the vol, but i think like 40 is the max of the deck. Im testing this older MTX 2300 and it gets hot, it wont burn you but it runs quite toasty.

[89accordLXiAllAudio]

hey wheres the best place to mount an amp? im not using it to power subs so i cant screw it to the box. any suggestions???

[Sabz5150]

Originally posted by 89accordLXiAllAudio
hey wheres the best place to mount an amp? im not using it to power subs so i cant screw it to the box. any suggestions???

If it's small enough, do what I do... mount it in the glovebox. Wire your amp outputs direct to the harness connector. Don't need to run large amounts of preamp cables or speaker wire and your adjustments are right there where you can get to them. Also makes for good showing off. Keeps the system stock looking too :)

[87DXHatch]

Or you could do it under the passenger seat, on the back of the rear seats, ANYWHERE in the trunk... the possibilities are only limited by your imagination and practicality :tongue: