Mono amps blowing up

[Mike Byrd]

I installed a Wet Sounds single voice coil 10" free air sub in my 2014 212X. This is a 2 ohm sub which is 600w max or 300w RMS. I also installed a Clarion Class D mono amp to drive it. It is the XC2110 and is supposed to be 2 ohm stable at 300w RMS. This amp blew up not long after I installed it. The fuse was blown and as soon as I replaced it, the new fuse would immediately blow. I figured I bought a lemon amp, so I bought another one and installed it. It blew up the same way. Are there any audio experts that can tell me the reason why these amps are not surviving? Is the power cable and ground cable size a reason this is happening? The sub is SVC, so it cannot be hooked up incorrectly. Do you think these amps are not really 2 ohm stable? I am trying to figure out what to do. Should I buy a 4 ohm 10" sub, or try another amp with the 2 ohm sub?

 

[thorsome]

Disconnect your speaker wire and see if you pop another fuse when it turns on. If not, then carefully check the wire. It only takes one strand of wire to cause a short.

 

[Mike Byrd]

I took this amp out of the boat and attached it to another vehicle that uses the same amp and it blew the fuse just like before.

 

[seanmclean]

I took this amp out of the boat and attached it to another vehicle that uses the same amp and it blew the fuse just like before.

Connected to a different load, or the same sub? I think the odds of getting two duds is pretty low.

 

[Mike Byrd]

different sub, but the same amp was used in both setups.

 

[scokill]

I installed a Wet Sounds single voice coil 10" free air sub in my 2014 212X. This is a 2 ohm sub which is 600w max or 300w RMS. I also installed a Clarion Class D mono amp to drive it. It is the XC2110 and is supposed to be 2 ohm stable at 300w RMS. This amp blew up not long after I installed it. The fuse was blown and as soon as I replaced it, the new fuse would immediately blow. I figured I bought a lemon amp, so I bought another one and installed it. It blew up the same way. Are there any audio experts that can tell me the reason why these amps are not surviving? Is the power cable and ground cable size a reason this is happening? The sub is SVC, so it cannot be hooked up incorrectly. Do you think these amps are not really 2 ohm stable? I am trying to figure out what to do. Should I buy a 4 ohm 10" sub, or try another amp with the 2 ohm sub?

2 bad amps really seem unlikely, but I bought one of these small amps one time and it had popping noises all the time and would distort at random times and sent it back. I think sometimes you might get what you pay for.

 

[swatski]

2 bad amps really seem unlikely, but I bought one of these small amps one time and it had popping noises all the time and would distort at random times and sent it back. I think sometimes you might get what you pay for.

Are you talking about Clarion xc amps?
This thread is the first I have heard of a problem with an XC Clarion amp... Price-wise those are middle of the road, budget amps.

I have had four of XC1410 (?), used all the time - zero issues. Two are currently in my boat, working perfectly, driven hard in the heat of MO/AR summers now for third year, even survived Bimini trip Armageddon, one is powering 2 pairs and another 3 pairs of DBs (the latter runs in 2omh configuration) - zero issues.

--

 

[Mike Byrd]

I have the XC1410 in my boat now running the 6.5s as well.

I also have the mono XC2110 in my side by side for a sub and it has worked flawlessly. Unfortunately, two of these have blown in the boat. The only difference I can think of is one is a 4 ohm Kicker sub in the SxS and the boat has a Wet Sounds 2 ohm. I need to fix my issue with the boat sub before blowing up another amp (not necessarily another XC2110).

 

[Mike Byrd]

It looks like these Wet Sounds free-airs are a popular choice for the Yamaha. Are most people going with the 4 ohm or the 2 ohm? What amp are they using to drive it?

 

[adrianp89]

I would double check your install. Bad amps are almost never an occurrence. A instant blown fuse sounds like power and ground are touching or reversed. If it happens with two amps, maybe this happening by the battery, or the power wire is grounding out somewhere.

 

[scokill]

Are you talking about Clarion xc amps?
This thread is the first I have heard of a problem with an XC Clarion amp... Price-wise those are middle of the road, budget amps.

I have had four of XC1410 (?), used all the time - zero issues. Two are currently in my boat, working perfectly, driven hard in the heat of MO/AR summers now for third year, even survived Bimini trip Armageddon, one is powering 2 pairs and another 3 pairs of DBs (the latter runs in 2omh configuration) - zero issues.

--

Yes.....my experience.

 

[Mike Byrd]

The fuse blowing is after the amp/sub has worked for a short time. The first time I installed the amp, I ran the stereo in the dock for at least an hour adjusting the amp, etc. without any issues. At some point it blew the fuse and from then on, every fuse immediately blows. Whatever happens to cause this makes the amp unusable. I know the amp is damaged since I replaced this exact amp in my SxS (which works fine) with the one from the boat and the amp still blew the fuse immediately. I sent the blown amps to another forum member for him to look at. I am hoping he figures out what happened to them so I can ask Clarion support their opinion on why it happened. I thought someone on here may have had a similar experience.

 

[adrianp89]

Did you check your main fuse by the battery? Maybe something is messed up with that. Corrosion of something of that nature? Probably not related at this point but how high where your gains set?

 

[Mike Byrd]

The fuse at the battery is something I still need to check. I ran out of time this weekend. I recently found out that there have been issues with the type of fuse I used so this could be an issue.

I am currently using a very large power and ground from the battery up to the console and then I split off to each amp. Since my XC1410 is not having issues, that makes me think it may be fine but the sub amp will probably see way more spikes due to it driving a sub. I just ordered another set of cables to run each amp independently from the battery with a new set of fuses (higher quality).

After making several adjustments to the mono amp, we found that the gain, crossover, and bass boost adjusted to about 50% provided the optimal sound.

 

[adrianp89]

Have you checked the the distribution block as well?

50% gain seems a bit high, and bass boost should never be used. While these probably aren't your direct issues, they most certainly are causing clipping issues (even if not audible).

I would also check the resistance of the offer to make sure it is line with what it should be. Wouldn't hurt to also see if it pops fuses with no signal cables plugged in.

 

[Mike Byrd]

The amp wiring from Clarion is 12 AWG and has a 40 amp fuse attached to it. My distribution block is just a splitter taking the large power and ground cable from the battery and allows me to split it using the existing 12 AWG that is on each amp. I think the XC1410 is a 30amp fuse.

It seems like with a fuse at the battery and another at the amp there should be some protection.

I sent the amps off to see if they can be repaired, so I can't check it without the signal wires. I think I did this when I plugged it into my SxS wiring, but I am not 100% sure.