4 channel amp getting HOT.

[oldsoundguy]

So just for the heck of it I decided to check my amps to see if they were hot after playing close to full not quite for about 25 min to work today. Now the CT sounds 1400.1 has never even really gotten warm so I checked that and it was just barley warm. Then I put my hand on the CT sounds 125.4 and Fuck it was real hot. I mean I could only keep my hand on it for about 10-15 sec before I had to remove it. Never knew it got that hot. Its only been installed for a couple weeks now and have really never checked it just because the sub amp never gets hot.

I have 4 gauge from battery to an 80 amp fuse at the battery then the run to the amp. Its grounded with 4 gauge through the body to the frame maybe 8" of ground wire. I patched into the sub remote wire. I have RE audio XXX component set running off channel 1 and 2 at 2ohms and a set of alpine type S in the rear running off 3 and 4 at 4 ohms. CT sounds says the amp is 2 ohm stable and puts out 190 x 4 at 2 ohms. And 125 x 4 at 4 ohms. So I have 1 and 2 pushing 190 each and 3 and 4 pushing 125 each.

Do you see any problems or any reason why this thing is getting so hot? I have the gains set with my DD-1 and the rear speakers are running off the HPF and I tuned that by ear as they don't like bass very much so more highs to the rear. And the fronts are running full pass using the supplied passive crossovers. The HPF on the deck is set to off.

Thanks for taking the time to read.

[newls1]

class A/B amps WILL run hotter then class D, so keep that in mind. My 4ch's can get rather warm at times too.

[oldsoundguy]

class A/B amps WILL run hotter then class D, so keep that in mind. My 4ch's can get rather warm at times too.

So it might be a good idea to get a fan for it. I think I will space the amp on the floor and get a fan to circulate air around the amp. It seems to start at the rca end of the amp so I will mount the fan on that end. Does anyone have a recommendation for a fan?

Thanks

[oldsoundguy]

So I went out and reset my gains on my 4 channel amp. What I found is that I am overpowering the rear speakers. They are alpine type S with a RMS of 75 @ 4 ohms. Iam putting 125 @ 4ohms at 12.7 rated but I am sure the amp is putting out more power. What I did was put the fade all the way to the rear and set the cross over to take out most any bass as these speakers don't like bass. Then I turned the gain down and then cranked it up to 55 were the deck clips. I was able to turn the gain off and still had good sound coming out without ( by ear) distortion at full tilt. The are just a fill stage so they don't have to be loud. I am sure I was clipping the crap out of them before so maybe that is why the amp was getting hot. We will see tomorrow on the way to work. I may have to get either a better higher rated RMS speaker to put in the rear to take advantage of the amp. We will see. I should see what they would do just off deck power. I have the deck wired into the stock harness and have the stock wires in the rear. HMMM I will have to try that later.

Gets me thinking can you run say the tweet off deck power for the front and then run the mids off the amp with the front two channels? Then do the same on the rear? I guess that way I wouldn't overpower the tweet but it might be hard to get the correct signal to it. Or could I just wire the tweet through the crossover to deck power and then take the mid straight to the amp?

Might be hard to get it to sound right IDK. Mostly thinking out loud.

[Turboelky]

I've always had bad experience running any speakers off the head unit in conjunction with amplifiers. Problem is, while your trying to adjust the head unit to get the speakers running off of it sounding right, it might distort whats feeding the amp. IDK. Sounds too complicated to me LOL!

[truthsayer]

I use the deck to power the tweets. And the amp to power the mids. Wasn't hard to match them up, and like you my gain on the rear is almost off. But i dont run tweets in the rear, only in the front stage.

[oldsoundguy]

I use the deck to power the tweets. And the amp to power the mids. Wasn't hard to match them up, and like you my gain on the rear is almost off. But i dont run tweets in the rear, only in the front stage.

Did you use a crossover on the tweets?

[truthsayer]

Yea bass blocker up to 3k. edit: BB-5

[dionysus]

class A/B amps WILL run hotter then class D, so keep that in mind. My 4ch's can get rather warm at times too.

So it might be a good idea to get a fan for it. I think I will space the amp on the floor and get a fan to circulate air around the amp. It seems to start at the rca end of the amp so I will mount the fan on that end. Does anyone have a recommendation for a fan?

Thanks

I'm no Steve Meade but I think he just uses computer fans??? PLEASE someone correct me if Im wrong cause I'm planning on doing the same thing in my build so I do want to make sure I'm going about it right!

[oldsoundguy]

I have done some searching and you can use any 12v fan. It's also a good idea to run a relay but some just tap into the remote wire. I think I would do the fused relay.