Like a dumbass, I put a cooler in the backseat with my amp and it leaked a little on it... The amp and subs work fine, but the the remote shutoff doesn't work anymore. Typically, the amp shuts off when the car/cd player shuts off. Now the amp just stays on all the time and I have to detach the fuse to prevent my battery from dying. Any suggestions?

7/6/2007 4:56:21 PM

unplug everything and let it dry out for a few days

7/6/2007 5:10:21 PM

its been three days, but i'll give it a shot

7/6/2007 5:51:49 PM

are you sure that it wasn't like that before? that's ussally a sign the remote wire is connected to a constant 12v.

7/6/2007 6:57:46 PM

I'd pull off the head unit and check the remote turn on lead, there could be a short

7/6/2007 9:04:37 PM

^ or just disconnect it at the amp





[Edited on July 8, 2007 at 1:33 PM. Reason : psi]

7/6/2007 10:18:35 PM

Quote :

"are you sure that it wasn't like that before? that's ussally a sign the remote wire is connected to a constant 12v."

I've had it all for two years... and the amp never stayed on, and right after the water incident, the battery died...

I will disconnect it all... If there is a short behind the head unit, how would I know. What am I looking for here?

Thanks for all the help.

7/6/2007 11:26:57 PM

disconnect the remote wire at the amp and see if it turns off




[Edited on July 8, 2007 at 1:33 PM. Reason : psi]

7/7/2007 5:51:17 AM

disconnected the remote wire at the amp and the blue lights indicating the power is on, continue to stay on...

This is getting frustrating, because everytime I get in the car, I have to pop the hood, put the fuse back in... and when I am done driving, I have to pop the hood and take the fuse back out.

7/8/2007 10:52:08 AM

Well it's definitely in the amp then. You either need to put a big knife switch on your power line, or go in it and figure out if the water has shorted some traces together from the 12V line to you remote line.

7/8/2007 2:31:56 PM

i disconnected it, took it apart to let it dry out real well.. we'll what happens

7/8/2007 7:24:20 PM

buy an identical one, stick that one back in the box, return it $profit$

7/9/2007 11:45:31 AM

Quote :

"Well it's definitely in the amp then. You either need to put a big knife switch on your power line, or go in it and figure out if the water has shorted some traces together from the 12V line to you remote line."

fuck a knife switch

if you are going to do this, do it right with a relay

7/9/2007 11:49:36 AM

^ or.....

Quote :

"buy an identical one, stick that one back in the box, return it $profit$"

7/9/2007 11:50:25 AM

^^ He just needs to make sure he isn't playing the music loud when he shuts the car off. I suspected repeatedly turning it off while the relay is passing a lot of current will shorten it's life pretty quickly.

7/9/2007 1:34:22 PM

^ that would be what they are designed for

7/9/2007 1:41:09 PM

aight, so when I cut the car off, which cuts the cd player off, the lights on the amp dim, almost to the point where you can't see it, but at night, it is clearly on.

I am going to check the temp on it tomorrow morning to see if it is hot.. but I left it on last night and it didn't drain my battery...

7/9/2007 11:33:26 PM

LEDs can glow for a little while after they are turned off. Your amp could be off, and the LEDs are staying lit for a few minutes after you leave.

7/10/2007 7:10:21 AM

you need to use a test light or a multimeter to see if there is a drain on the battery

7/10/2007 7:42:27 AM

just put an ampmeter in line and check it

7/10/2007 7:56:27 AM

^^^yep. i know the mtx in my ram will stay dimly on for a good 5-10 mintutes.

7/10/2007 1:02:49 PM

we're talking 5 to 6 hours after it has been shut off, but if it is pitch black outside, I guess it could have a little glow to it.

7/10/2007 7:33:07 PM

I am actually selling the car this weekend... so I am going to end up taking the whole system out anyway.

I know this isn't classifieds, but if anyone needs a custom box made for an f-body that houses 2 12" subs, let me know...

Any thoughts on the difference between a sealed box or a bandpass box in a non-hatchback trunk?

7/10/2007 8:58:41 PM

i've had both in suv's, basically the same thing. sealed gives alot cleaner/tighter sound. bandpass is alot louder but not as clean. i'd say it mainly depends on what kind of base you like and/or what type of music you listen to the most.

7/10/2007 9:25:29 PM

the car the subs will be going in has a trunk... it's a coupe with a trunk, so I don't know which box works best in that type of setting, but it will be enclosed in a trunkspace.

i don't listen to much rap, mostly rock, even though I have the subs, so I am just going for sound quality..

but I do like a lot of bass

7/10/2007 10:49:45 PM

nevermind, i thought you were saying it was an open space to the passenger compartment.

i've only had bandpass boxes in trunks, so i can't compare there. if you're goal is sound quality, then sealed is the way to go though imo. just takes a healthier amp to get the same noise levels as a bandpass box.

[Edited on July 10, 2007 at 11:03 PM. Reason : .]

7/10/2007 11:01:25 PM

A properly designed ported box with a tuned port will be the most accurate sub.

Bandpass boxes sound loose and sloppy (think of it almost as an intentional echo) and sealed boxes have air pressure affecting the subs movement and slightly distorting the sound.

7/11/2007 6:48:15 AM

For gods sake, stay away from bandpass boxes. We have more modern drivers now that can deliver all the volume you want in a small sealed box and amplifier power is cheap and readily available. A proper bandpass box is going to eat your entire trunk and not offer any real appreciable benefit over a much smaller sealed box. An improper bandpass is also going to eat your trunk, and sound worse than shit.

Quote :

"A properly designed ported box with a tuned port will be the most accurate sub."

Eh? This blanket statement isn't at all true. A different room (more about car audio in a second) + a different desired response + budget constraints + box size/complexity + amp will ultimately determine which enclosure is the correct one. There is nothing inherent about ported alignment that makes it more accurate, just more gain or the ability to tune to a specific frequency, etc.

For general car audio (ie, not trying to compete) a proper sealed is still the best compromise for box size vs volume vs accuracy. As an experiment, I took my current 10w3 that was formerly in a .707Q (flat response) I think .8cuft sealed box and said "how low can I get this thing to play if I go ported"

So I built the box and shot for an f3 of 23hz, well below the f3 point for the sealed enclosure. And sure enough, the damn thing will play pretty low with the same amount of output as with the sealed box. It is still relatively "tight" though not quite as much as with the sealed. The biggest problem, the box size is 2.2 cu/ft, and it's construction wasn't quite as straightforward as a standard sealed. I could have just gone up to a 12, stuck with a sealed enclosure, got about 90% as deep as with the ported 10, and the box size would have been 1.25cu ft.


With modern drivers that are quite happy to play in very small sealed enclosures as long as you have the amplifier to drive them, it just doesn't make sense to build anything else.

7/11/2007 10:11:50 PM

I have a sealed box now... and it is great, quality and sub power and clarity, etc... but mind you, it is in a hatchback.

So, I guess the best thing to do is throw the subs in a sealed box in the trunk of my new car, and I should be good to go.

I've had bandpass boxes in the past, but always seemed to have distortion problems.

7/11/2007 11:50:59 PM