So I bought an Audiobahn A8002T for my fronts "5.25 3-way pioneers". And Dumbass me, reversed power and ground-- not once, not twice, but three times. Yeah, laugh now......


So I hook it up correctly and while it's in use I smell electronics cooking. I turned the gain all the way down, a temporary fix. No smell.

Bout a week later I turn it up slightly. And my fronts blew, I guess. I wasn't getting any midbass, just highs.

I decided that hooking up the power backwards had hurt the speakers and I need new ones. SO, I bought some Polk MMC6500's. I hooked them up and I think I smelled the same smell, coming from the crossover.

So now I'm thinking I f'ed up the amp when I powered in reverse and the amp is hurting my speakers. And I also get a small amount of static coming from the Right speaker when the balance is full Left and vice versa. What do you all think?

 

Sounds like you might've blown your speakers. Again.

Try hooking the speakers up to a source other than the amp, such as directly to the head unit. That way you know if your speakers are blown. If they sound fine with audio from a source other than the amp, you need to do something with the amp. I would be surprised if you fried your amp doing what you did, but I'm not an electrical engineer.

Question: are those speakers able to handle the power coming out of that amp? Is the resistance of the speakers matched to the amp?

Abe

 

Well, the second set aren't blown... yet. I'm scared to use them, for the fear of blowing them.

The speakers can handle the juice coming from the amp, in addition to that the gain was all the way down. Resistance is fine, too.

 

OK another question: do those speakers have their own external crossovers? Because if they do, and the Xovers go into protection mode, that could be the reason you're not getting sound and could also be the source of the burning smell.

Abe

 

The first set were coaxials. The new ones are components.

Before I run out and buy a new amp, I'm thinking about buying some autozone speakers to hook up and see if they blow.

 

I'm trying to figure out how your amp even turned on with the wires backwards. Doesn't your amp have reversed power protection?

 

Amp didn't turn on, blew the fuses each time.

 

If the power stage got screwed up it may be leaking direct current into your speakers...

You can tell right away because when you turn the amp the speakers either move forward or backwards... (the diaphragms that is) and stay there... do not go back to ther resting position... That direct current will overheat the speaker coils since they arent moving and have no cooling air moving through... and eventually burn.. if the leaked power is high enough

Basically you need a visually inspection of the speakers as you turn the amp on... on some amps a slight speaker cone movement is ok.... they always go back to the "zero" position... but if the cones do not return... you bet power is leaking and overheating them..

Marvin

 

That's the most logical expanation I have heard.

I'll definately check that out, thanks.