Active/RCA/9887 Woes

[bigtoepfer 0]

Ok so i'm on my first active setup. I have a set of kicker RS6.5 comps. on a sundown SAX-100.4. When we hooked everthing up and tested it for the first time the tweets were working and the mids weren't. So i started unplugging RCAs, if i move around one set of RCAs then i get mids and highs out of only one side. I can even manage to get both tweets but not the passenger midbass to work. So first i thought maybe either RCAs or Bad input. Well turned out the midbass was grounding out. FIXED. Ok now i can't get bother left and right to work unless i run another set of RCAs from the output side to the input side.

see pic.....

So now i figure that i have a bad set of RCAs. So i'm about to rip all the BI***es out. And put new ones.

BUT

I was setting up the system. Tuning the CDA-9887. Right now the amp is set on ALL PASS. the tweets run into the xovers and then to the tweets. my installer made me do this. He said that the little lights in the xover would keep the heat off the tweets so as not to "COOK" them. Maybe tomorrow i'll try taking the tweets off of the xover. Now this leads to my other problems. When I go about setting the crossover on the deck. there are 4 bands. low, Mid-L, Mid-H, Hi. now i've not any subs hooked up so the Low portion don't do jack. The mid-L works, So does the Mid-H, however the mid-H seems to be working the tweeters. And the Hi, has no affect what soever on my tweets no matter the frequency or the gain or the slope. PLEASE ADVISE......

And last but not least. The amp is getting SUPER HOT. all of my gains are set at no more than 1/4 because the deck at vol. 20 is supposed to be putting out about 4Vrms. And i'll admit with a little tweaking the mids are kickin pretty good and the tweets sound ok. But this amp is gettin hot, and after about 15-20mins of adjustments, notonly did the amp shutdown but so did my deck O.O....EEEK. PLEASE ADVISE. Um i think thats about it. I'm new to the Active thing so please be gentle. LOL. Any questions for clarity let me know. I can take some pictures if neccesary too. just let me know what u need pictures of

[audio-neon 34]

Where is the output set of rca's going to.

Recheck your wiring for impedance loads.

[bigtoepfer 0]

Where is the output set of rca's going to.

Recheck your wiring for impedance loads.

1. back to the inputs. you can see both ends of the RCA in the pic.

2. I don't have a multimeter at the house but i'll be sure to check it tomorrow.

[audio-neon 34]

Where is the output set of rca's going to.

Recheck your wiring for impedance loads.

1. back to the inputs. you can see both ends of the RCA in the pic.

2. I don't have a multimeter at the house but i'll be sure to check it tomorrow.

I wasn't sure, it looked like it. I'm not sure if the rca's re-routed to the same is good.

[audio-neon 34]

Oh, and you will need to run a second set of rca's from your amp to run active.

Use the rear outs for the mid-bass and the front outputs for the tweets. It will make all 4 crossovers available from the deck.

[bigtoepfer 0]

how bad is it to run an active setup and still use the xovers for just the tweets? I'm going to switch the deck back to normal tomorrow too and just try to run it passive to see if the amp still gets hot. But i still need advice....

[audio-neon 34]

My advice is to disconnect the rca's. Start with hooking up the mid-bass rca's to the rear out of the deck and into channel 1&2 of the amp.

Hook the tweeters up to their own rca's from the front out of the deck into channel 3&4.

I would set the low pass on channel 1&2 at 2.5khz and the high pass at 50 hz just for safety.

Channel 3&4 I would set the highpass @ 2.5 khz for safety.

I would keep the gains low and turn on the system. Using the crossovers on the deck, set the crossovers. I would avoid using the passives on the tweeters, just keep the gain low on channel 3/4.

Once you have the x-overs set on the deck, turn the x-overs off on the amp (with the power off). And turn it back on. Keep the volume low, turn it up slowly. Keep your ears listening for over-excursion.

[bigtoepfer 0]

kk i'ma go sit and do that right now. I'll let u know what happens

[bigtoepfer 0]

well things are still wack. defenitly got a bad set of RCAs. I tried flippin the deck over to regular instead of active. And ran all the speakers to the xovers so i could just listen to them until i get a chance tomorrow to swap all. The passive actually sounds pretty good. I've plesantly suprised with the midbass response actually.

Edited June 21, 2008 by bigtoepfer