car audio erratic behavior
 

ok, so i suspect the preamps on my cd player or perhaps the rca wire, but this is whats going on: simple setup, aftermarket sony HU powers 4 speakers, has preamps for sub, power amp in trunk (1000 watt kicker zr1000, 4 AWG power (100amp fuse inline) and ground, 6 inch ground wire grounded very well)

the amp turns on and off when it should. (its receiving power and theres no caution light on) however; sometimes a day at a time or so for no reason apparent (hard turns or bumps) the sub output would die (keep in mind amp still on!) randomonly for no reason at all, it will resume normal output after different periods of time.

this is after months of strange signal coming through lines during normal play back (loud sub outbursts) and sometimes even the sub functioning "properly" when cd player attenuated the sub....ie signal from the song playing through the amp and sub when it was turned off.

i have another deck i can try and another rca cable around here somewhere ill probably check these both out tomorrow and post my finds here, but i was just curious if any of you audio nerds have experienced this before. this EXACT setup functioned fine for a few years now and i couldnt really find any info online if this is an example of a bad/old anything.

an approving picture of myself will be sent to the person who tells me how to fix this problem


*EDIT*
so i got itchy and decided to test it tonight. 2 hours later and im no better than i was to begin with. switched out the rca cables to no avail, and even tried a different cd player. same symptoms regardless of input h/w so this leads me to believe there is something with the amplifier input. anyone have any ideas? guess ill take it to the shop tomorrow and spend money i dont have :(

It doesnt cost much to bench test an amp. Your probably looking at about 25-30 bux. Have you checked the fuse on the power wire going to the amp? If its a glass fuse, the ends sometimes come loose and can mis connect, causing a loose intermittent connection. If its a wafer fuse change it out and put in a new one.

WAFER FUSE
http://www.lakesports.com.tw/items/Fp-wf20B1.jpg

GLASS FUSE
http://www.action-electronics.com/grc/fuse.jpg

This happened to me although I did not have the same symptoms. it just quite powering up.

The sub thump you hear is probably more than likely turn on noise when your amp powers back up.

Check/replace the amp wire fuse and see if that takes care of the problem.

EDIT: If all else fails, you could have a bad soldering joint at the input. If you care to take apart the amp, you can easily check just by doing a visual inspection of the PCB near the input/output.

OK, I'm not an audio nerd in any sense of the term, but what you describe sounds a lot like you have a loose wire or connection or even a crossover short.

Just the statement that it happens upon movement or a bump sounds like a clue to imtermittent short or power loss. You probably need to check all your connections, on both ends and then any areas where the wires are together passing through a tight spot where they could be rubbing or contacting each other.

Oh, and also check the fuse connnections as mentioned above.

i didnt check my wafer fuse, but i presumed they just blow dont they? i.e. no power at all to the amp which it does have. i guess ill peak at it tomorrow, i took it up today to get it bench tested, my local audio d00d is pretty nice and maybe wont charge me if he cant fix it--if he does its 15 dollars....then its a call to kicker in stillwater, OK :(

lash, im sorry, my writing was worded a little funny, the intermittent noise doesnt occur due to a bump or turn its completely random for no logical reason (it occurs driving, idling, car off accessory on anytime basically)