Oh so close

[molurus73 0]

I hope I can get some help here. I hooked up my SI 302 components tonight. They are in their temporary location until I figure out the best spot for the best sound. They are currently located where the stock speaks would go on my door of my 1999 Olds Alero. There are no door panels on currently. The mids are mounted pretty well onto a double MDF baffle that is 1.5" thick. The doors are as sealed as I could possibly get. They have a layer of liquid sound deadening on the inside of the door cavity and the skin of the door. Over this is a layer of mat type deadening. They are being run off of the bridged front and rear channels of a Memphis Belle.

Now my dilemma. The left channel doesn't seem to want to work. I can feel the mid vibrating with the bass but can hear no sound from it. The tweet gives me nothing. I hooked up an old 6.5" speak to the tweeter wire and nothing. I hooked the tweet up to the right channel and it works. This leads me to believe the drivers are fine. My question is where do I start troubleshooting? I am thinking maybe the left channel on the amp could be messed up. Maybe the wires from the crossover to the speakers? Doubtful, but maybe the crossover was damaged in shipping? Is it possible to feel the beats and vibrations if the mid is not receiving a signal? It didn't look like it was moving. I just thought that maybe it was receiving less power than the right side. Maybe the left channel has gone out on my head unit? Some ideas: Unbridge the front and rear and run them front L&R or rear L&R. Hooking up the right channel wires out from the amp to the output from the left channel of the amp. I have a DMM but am not very profficient with it. If you guys could throw me some pointers on where to start I would love you long time. Maybe tell me what to check to see where the signal begins and ends without unhooking a ton of wires. I will do whatever I need to, just looking for some quick and easy ideas. I am getting close to finishing and getting frustrated when it isn't going as planned.

[Electrodynamic 2]

Well my first thought would be to remove the crossovers from the circuit and try just hooking up the mid only on the left channel. If nothing comes out, then it's in your amp. If you have sound, the crossover needs adjusted/worked on. I would also try switching crossovers. Just do a process of elimination.

[Tirefryr 1,742]

Or just pop everything on the other channel. If they work, it's equipment, if not, it's the crossover/drivers.

[molurus73 0]

I switched the right channel that I knew was working with the other and it didn't work either. I hooked up both sets to the front channels only and voila, music. Each side is only getting about 75 watts but both sides work. So I am guessing that I can not bridge the rear channels on this amp. Something might be screwy with it. Oh well, I didn't really need 150 to 200 watts for the speakers anyway. I may have it looked at sometime in the future if the opportunity presents itself. Do you guys think that my assumption is correct about the rear channel being bad? I hope it is this simple. I can always get that fixed possibly. Thanks everyone for your help. I appreciate it.

[Tirefryr 1,742]

Seems as if it is in the amp itself. Do they work without being bridged?

[molurus73 0]

Yah. The front works just fine. Bridged or unbridged. The rear does not work bridged. I have not tried it unbridged yet. It has been so long since I have had good tunes in the car, I just played with it like it is. I will say that for only 75 watts these SI 302's frickin' jam. I still have a little room left on the gain knob I believe(only about 1/3 now), so when they are broken in, it's on. Taking it really easy now. I will get back to figuring the amp out after I get my door panels done and the comps permanently mounted. Thanks guys. You were a big help. -Jim

[Tirefryr 1,742]

Got any speakers lying around you could use to test the rears? Also, do you have signal running into the rears? This may be your problem if your amp needs a discrete signal for each channel. And go easy with the gain, it's not a volume knob.

[molurus73 0]

That is my next thing. I have an extra pair of 6.5 coax speaks I am going to test the rear channel with. Right now I am using the front and rear channels from the headunit. I am not using the dedicated sub preout. Same on the amp. Yah, I know the gain knob is not a volume knob. Right now I can turn the volume up full tilt and get absolutely no distortion. I like that. I am going to just fine tune everything and set the gains properly. If that means it goes up then cool. If not then that's cool too. It just feels good to be down to the fine tuning and finishing stage finally.