Skipping Beats?

[88' Accord Ltd]

Ok I just got a new Rockford amp and it seems that when i turn it up loud that it skips some beats. Like it seems like the whole amp turns off then my subs turn back on again. What could be causing this? Not a strong enough alternator? a bad ground? or could it just be my amp all together? Thanks for any help

[Bobs89LXi]

It is no doubt the protection circuit kicking in. What is the rated wattage/impedence of your amp and speakers?

[88' Accord Ltd]

The amp is 300wx1 rms but its mono bridged so 150w rms x2 because i have 2 12" subs rated at 250rms handling. whats the protection circuit?

[mindlos]

Questions: are you wired in parallel or series, what is the impedance of your subs, and whats the least impedance your amp can handle bridged. Lets take some scenario:

Two 4 ohm subs = 8 ohms in series (R = R1 + R2) or 2 ohms parallel (1/R = 1/R1 + 1/R2).
2-channel amp that is 2 ohm capable per channel will mean that it is only 4 ohm, and not lower, capable bridged since the channels are sharing the impedance.

The bottom line is that if you run 4 ohm subs parallel on this amp it will overload due to not enough impedance. Some amps burn since they have no protection, others cut in and out due to some monitoring circuitry, and other clip becuase they cannot deliver the power required and that amplification. Some people get away with this either because they play low volume or because of quality electronic products that are underated.

If this is your scenario as I have described running parallel then you may be better off running series, driving each sub on its own channel, or not cranking it up so much to cause clipping because the harmonics produced at clipping tend to damage voice coils, so they say.

If not then you are just clipping because you are asking too much of the amp so back down a little, especially if it clips even when cold rather than when overheating (after some play).

Not everything is from experience so feel free to correct me guys.

[87AccordsterLx]

I think the fosgate amp is stable to 2 ohms.... but it could be 1.... that is exactly what we need to know though... What is the independence of your subs... is it wired in series or parallel ... if its in parallel then you should see the wires come off the amp and go to either the left or right sub... from whatever sub those wires connect to you should see another set of wires come out of that same sub and connect to the the other sub... from pos. to pos. and neg. to neg. am I right here guys... just making sure....

[88' Accord Ltd]

The way 87accordsterlx described is the way i have it setup. I have the pos of the left and the neg of the right hooked to one sub then i have the other sub plugges into the same sub so I'm sure its paralell. I was thinking of running it in series to see what happened. Thanks for all the help. I'm gonna go and try it in series right now to see what happens.

[88' Accord Ltd]

Ok so i wired it up in series and there was no more cutting out. Dosen't matter how high the volume is. Thanks a lot guys.

[Bobs89LXi]

It's good to see that you have gotten the problem squared away. In answer to your question of what the protection circuit is. It is exactly what the name implies. It is a circuit in the driver stage of your amp that monitors the output current at the speaker outputs. If there is a short, or the current spikes above a designed threshold level, it electronically disconnects the drivers from the speaker outputs, preventing damage.

[87AccordsterLx]

ya Im glad that you worked it out.... Bob... Just one question... what does that mean it is??? Fosgate amps should be able to run a parallel setup....

[shepherd79]

it could be that he had 2ohm subs running in 1ohm load to the amp.