AudioPipe Shutting Down Issue

[BMoneyBrett]

Good morning forum members,

I hope this is the right subforum to ask this question.

Background

Let me start off by saying that I've been a huge fan of this community and Steve Meade for many years. I watched all of Steves videos back when he was doing builds out of his garage! One day, I would love to fly to California to hear his amazing system and meet him and thank him for his guidance and help he gives so many people.

Anyhow, I wanted to ask this talented forum a question about an issue I am having.

Last week, I made the decision to install a Rockford Fosgate P3-2X12 loaded enclosure in my 2015 Audi A3. The current system is comprised of a Bang and Olufsen OEM amplifier with B&O speakers. 

The first modification I made to the system was removing the B&O subwoofer and replacing it with a Pioneer dual voice coil subwoofer mounted free air to the back deck with Memphis sound deadening on the rear deck. I didn't gain much from this, so I decided to step it up a bit.

Materials Used for Installation

I ordered the following components for a bigger, better sub install:

• Rockford Fosgate P3-2X12 loaded subwoofer box
• Rockford Fosgate Twisted Paid 6' RCA Signal Cable
• AudioPipe APCL15001D amplifier
• XS Power XP2000 battery with a billet aluminum battery mount
• AudioControl LC2i 2 channel Line Out Converter with AccuBASS and Subwoofer Control
• InstallGear 14 gauge AWG 30' speaker cable
• InstallGear 1/0 Gauge 25' Red Cable
• InstallGear 1/0 Gauge 25' Black Cable
• InstallGear 1/0 Gauge 10-pack Crimp Ring Terminal Connectors
• InstallGear 1/0 Gauge In-line fuse with 250 Amp Fuse
• Noico Black 80 Mil 36 Sq Ft Car Sound Deadening

Installation Notes

The installation took a bit longer than expected. I had my local installer, who is a serious audiophile and has won many db drag races before, perform the installation for me. We didn't realize that the factory B&O system needed a wiring harness to plug in the factory subwoofer speakers to the LC2i. Whenever the system turns on, the factory amplifier will go through a self check to see if all speakers are connected. If it detects an abnormal impedance in any of the speakers, it will shut that speaker down. If it detects the positive and negative wires are reversed, the amp will actually reverse the polarity of the connection to correct itself. When we plugged in the factory wires to the LC2i, it would work, then it wouldn't work on the next start up, so we had to get a special wiring harness from AudioControl. Now, the LC2i always works on every start up after the self check. I also had my installer line my 4 doors and the entire trunk with Noico sound deadening.

The Issue

After ~20 minutes, the AudioPipe amplifier would seemingly go into a thermal protect mode for a few seconds before turning back on for a few seconds and then shutting down for a few seconds. This is even after the LC2i has been turned down and the gain on the amplifier is turned down. The bass control knob is almost completely down to nothing and on the factory headunit, the subwoofer and bass knobs are zeroed out. The amplifier will even go into thermal protect mode when the volume is less than 25% up. I know the signal isn't clipping...it was not only tuned by ear, but tuned with a SMD DD-1 to make sure that I wouldn't blow the subs.

My Thoughts

Could the amplifier be going into thermal protect mode because the output voltage of the LC2i RCAs is higher than the maximum input RCA voltage of the AudioPipe amplifier?

Should I get rid of this amplifier and go for either a CAB-1600.1 or Rockford Fosgate T1500-1bdCP?

I purchased 2 cooling fans and some 3M tape. I was planning on hooking the 2 cooling fans to either side of the ports on top of the AudioPipe amplifier to move more air across the motherboard if you thoughts that I should go this route to see if it eliminate the protection mode. I didn't mount the amplifier into that much of an enclosed space, so I thought it would be able to breathe fine without cooling fans.

Pictures and Video

Video of going into protect mode: 

 

I look forward to your thoughts!

Best,

Brett

[BMoneyBrett]

I apologize for the photos not being able to display. Can a moderator please remove the photos associated with this thread? I'll try and repost.

[YukonXL04]

Honestly is just a bad amp. They have qc issues. Well they did 10 years ago when I ran a bunch of their stuff... but the place I bought it all was local and had a 1 year no questions replacement warranty... I would say 1 in every 25-30 subs or amps had a issue, all of them right off the bat. But I replaced many blown subs from user error without any problems too. Never really had many amp issues though. Just a couple. Like I said before, I still know of 3 of their amps getting beat on every day from 10 years ago in my friends cars.

I have probably used or sold 150 of their subs and 80 of their amps... 

[ShadeTreeMechanic]

How do you have your subs wired? Double check to make sure. What is the voltage at the amp when the bass hits? Maybe it is protecting because the voltage is going too low?