Peculiar audio problem

[Mooselove8988]

I have a bothersome issue that has made itself known recently. I hope someone can give me some insights or point me in the right direction.

I have an 03 Tahoe. I recently added a second alternator to my set up. As of now I am running:

Dc power 270 amp Xp alternator
Stock alternator (charging the blue top)
Optima yellow top second battery (being charged off the Xp)
Optima blue top "stock" battery (4 accessories wired to it)
Clarion 7band eq (1 accessory)
Jl slash v1000.2 (sub amp) powering a 13w7 on 4ga fused wire
Infinity kappa four 1200 watt (4 channel) powering a set of 6.5 perfect comps and a set of coaxial 6x9 kappas (speakers running 12ga wire) this amp is also powered by 4ga fused wire
Kenwood excelon kvt 615 single din receiver
big 3 done in 0ga
all terminals soldered and grounded to chassis. Ground points have been sanded to bare metal
I have a relay wired to turn on my amps when the deck turns on.
I have an oscope and have set my gains in accordance with that.

So, my issue is whenever I turn my head unit up to a desired level, my mids and highs drop off. If I back off on the volume, they come back on. It seems to be happening when I have the w7 moving a lot of bass. The 4 channel dosent go into protect though.

Also, Ive had the same level of bass, if not more, going before the addition of the new alternator and nothing has had an issue.

Ive turned off the subwoofer on the head unit and can crank the volume to 30/35 and the mids and highs stay on. Ive also taken the levels on the eq to woofer distortion (50-100hz) and they still dont shut down. It only seems to do it when the bass hits.

Ive had this much bass going before the alternator install. My headlights and dash lights would flicker and I was afraid my truck would stall out and yet, no problems.

Both amps are running off the yellowtop which is being charged by the xp. No wirring has changed.

The only other possible reason I can come up with is that when I added the blue top to the stock location, I cleaned up the accessory wires by adding wire loom and making them all the same length.

I cut them to length and resoldered the fuze holders back to the ring terminals. 3 of the accessories all had different fuze ratings and I know for a fact I mixed the wires up when I reconnected them. they varied from 5-15-30 amps. all on 12ga wire

one was for the head unit (supposed to be 15 amp)
second was for navigation unit (5 amp)
and the third was supposed to be for the relay (30 amp)

I highly doubt that this mix up would make a difference. (If it did, wouldnt they have blown already if the impedence was too much?)

My last idea was that maybe the RCA connections or wire needs to be replaced. But, why would it play fine at lower levels? Only the 4 channel is hooked up to the EQ. My monoblock is hooked up directly to the head unit.

(I realize that 270+ amps for barely 2400 watts is overkill. I am upgrading to an AQ 3500.1 for 2 18's and also adding another kappa four with 4 sets of speakers.)

I just ordered 4 rolls of audiotechnix 80mil deadner. Should be here in a few days.
Also on its way is a HD hood and a HID Retrofit

I might as well let the cat out of the bag and spill what my plans are. Ive been lurking on the site for a while now.

In the near future I am upgrading to 07 front brakes and replacing the rotted dust guards in the rear. While I am back there, can anyone reccomend any upgrades? Its all got to be torn apart and I might as well ugrade while its apart.

Efans and BB tune.

Sorry for the immense and tedious read.

Regards,
Justin

 

[Sir-Lancelot]

I would start by checking voltage at both amps with the music playing at a high level.

 

[Mooselove8988]

I just checked the voltage at the amps. It reads 14.6 pretty steady with the truck at idle. I watched the amp and I was mistaken earlier. It does go into protect. My question is why?

I havent switched any of the wiring for the amps. Its all still on the same battery. The battery is just now being charged by the xp unit.

Any thoughts?

 

[blueflamed03]

if its going into protect, check to make sure you have it hooked up correctly.

 

[NoPh33rRaCiNg]

You bypassed the factory amp for the speakers correct? I had an issue when I forgot to bypass my factory amp when I cranked my volume my new speakers would sound like crap, and I think when the bass hit it was messing with my factory amp as well.

 

[Mooselove8988]

I did bypass the entire factory system. I have another kappa 4 channel that I will be swapping out to see if the amp in there now is bad.

First, I am going to run the infinity amp off of the blue top that is being charged by the stock alternator. If it drops off still then I can bet it is the amp.

My only thought is that the new alternator is charging the yellow top too fast (some how?) and that it is sending too much power to the 4 channel. A little far fetched but, thats all I got.

Or maybe the eq is going bad? But, that dosent shut off when the 4channel does.

Anyone else have any clues?

 

[Sir-Lancelot]

Couple of things I would check.

Make sure your speakers are wired correctly and not wired at too low of an impedance for your amp. Double check it, triple check it.
Play your system full tilt on something bass heavy and check the voltage at the amp.
Check your grounds. Double check them, triple check them.

 

[Mooselove8988]

Sir-Lancelot you may have been on to something I think. I rechecked all my wiring and grounds. All solid and in proper polarity.

So, I moved the power cable for the 4channel to the blue top that is being charged by the stock alt. I can play it as loud as I want and nothing happens. It dosent go into protect anymore. I conclude that its not the amp.

However, I was playing heavy songs and my bass has now dropped off. I thought that was odd and started heading home. I was about a few blocks away and I smelled electronics burning. Not a very heavy smell but, enough to get concerned over. I pulled over and determined that it was coming from the bass amp. The amp was warm to the touch (not hot but, warmer than it usually runs) The amp goes in and out of protect. The exact same way the 4 channel was before.

I checked all my voltages at idle.

Xp 270amp alt; 15+v
stock alt 14.6v
yellowtop 15+v
bluetop 14.8v

4 channel 14.6v
monoblock 14.8v

I pulled the fuse to the amp, the charging wire from the alt to the battery, and the fuse that ignites the alternator.

I am wondering if 270amps is too much power to be sending to that yellowtop and the current draw is overwhelming the amps? Should I get a voltage regulator?

I will be upgrading to some pretty heavy equipment in the near future so, I know the alt will be needed.

Thanks again everyone.

 

[NoPh33rRaCiNg]

Sir-Lancelot you may have been on to something I think. I rechecked all my wiring and grounds. All solid and in proper polarity.

So, I moved the power cable for the 4channel to the blue top that is being charged by the stock alt. I can play it as loud as I want and nothing happens. It dosent go into protect anymore. I conclude that its not the amp.

However, I was playing heavy songs and my bass has now dropped off. I thought that was odd and started heading home. I was about a few blocks away and I smelled electronics burning. Not a very heavy smell but, enough to get concerned over. I pulled over and determined that it was coming from the bass amp. The amp was warm to the touch (not hot but, warmer than it usually runs) The amp goes in and out of protect. The exact same way the 4 channel was before.

I checked all my voltages at idle.

Xp 270amp alt; 15+v
stock alt 14.6v
yellowtop 15+v
bluetop 14.8v

4 channel 14.6v
monoblock 14.8v

I pulled the fuse to the amp, the charging wire from the alt to the battery, and the fuse that ignites the alternator.

I am wondering if 270amps is too much power to be sending to that yellowtop and the current draw is overwhelming the amps? Should I get a voltage regulator?

I will be upgrading to some pretty heavy equipment in the near future so, I know the alt will be needed.

Thanks again everyone.

Nah that shouldn't be a problem at all. Is there a reason you didn't just daisy chain the alts and batts? That's what im doing with my triple alts.

 

[Mooselove8988]

Daisey chain? As in connecting both alts to one battery and then run a cable to the additional battery? I originally thought it was a good idea to have a dedicated alternator to run my additional batteries so it would be easier to diagnose if there was any issues in the future.

Or... connect one alt positive terminal to the other positive terminal and then run it to the batteries in a chain? Im not familiar with this method but, if it works then please enlighten me.

Thanks.