Tower and cabin speakers cutting out, sub still playing

[trayson]

So last night we were cruising back to the dock. and the cabin and tower speakers were cutting out for a second or two at a time while the bass seemed to play on.

Here's my setup:

Polk DB651 cabin speakers on 4 channels of a Kicker 700.5 five-channel amp
Two Infinity 10" subs giving a 2ohm load to the sub channel of Kicker 700.5 amp
Kicker 6500.2 powered by class D Precision Power P-600.2 amplifier
Wetsounds 420SQ zone controller
Music was playing off the USB input of the MB Quart headunit


Now, I was throttling the system. we were driving the boat at 32mph and the stereo was pretty cranked playing some dubstep.


So I would think that it's not an issue with the source as the music was coming off USB. I found it really odd that the highs (towers and cabins) were cutting out when they are on different amps.

Any thoughts on this?

[mmandley]

Too many possibilities,

Low battery voltage
Amp running to hot,
Head Unit issue
Lose connection on phone cable
Bad USB connection
Bad wire connection to speakers
Bad Wire connections on amp
Bad connection to battery
Bad connection as distro block.

Get my point? Need more info bro. You will need to isolate the issue more, as in when it does this turn eveything not associated with it down. Does it only do it when the boat is Off, or ON, whats the battery voltage when this is going on. Is the amps physically hot when it does this.

Wish I could help you more on this but too many unknowns to guess at it.

The other issue is this is your first real day out after all your stereo upgrades, you might have Gremlins

[trayson]

Too many possibilities,

Low battery voltage
Amp running to hot,
Head Unit issue
Lose connection on phone cable
Bad USB connection
Bad wire connection to speakers
Bad Wire connections on amp
Bad connection to battery
Bad connection as distro block.

Get my point? Need more info bro. You will need to isolate the issue more, as in when it does this turn eveything not associated with it down. Does it only do it when the boat is Off, or ON, whats the battery voltage when this is going on. Is the amps physically hot when it does this.

Wish I could help you more on this but too many unknowns to guess at it.

The other issue is this is your first real day out after all your stereo upgrades, you might have Gremlins

I tried to give as much detail as I could think of when writing my post. I mean when have you EVER known me to withhold typing out every thought that was in my head????

It only did it during the one song. it only did it after driving with the stereo at full tilt for about 10 minutes.

We've gone out 2 times since I made changes to the system, and during the one song is the only time I've experienced anything.

And while your list is interesting, there's some things on your list that don't measure up, like it wouldn't be a bad USB connection because that would cut out all or nothing, not everything but the bass. It obviously can't be a bad phone connection, because the phone wasn't being used and wasn't a factor at all. The headunit source was on "USB" so that's the only source that could be a factor.


Anyway, I posted up about as detailed, analytical info as I had. I posted up in case someone would have an "Ah HA" moment and be able to pinpoint it based on something I did describe.

With a boat full of cold passengers, motoring back to the dock at 32 mph, so that we could get back there and put a spare on my 3-wheel trailer and get our friends on land in time for them to say goodnight to their kids, stopping and troubleshooting my stereo wasn't going to make it to the top of the list.

I have this feeling that it has something to do with such a bass heavy song--Like that sub amp was pulling so much voltage the others weren't getting enough and were cutting out? I don't know. it's such a weird scenario.

As always, I appreciate everyone's help and will keep ya'all updated.

[newty]

If your subs continue to play, I'm betting on a loose or bad connection, bad rca, or chitty amp clip or going into protect mode. If it was voltage related it your subs would be the first to go (in most cases).

[mmandley]

I tried to give as much detail as I could think of when writing my post. I mean when have you EVER known me to withhold typing out every thought that was in my head????

It only did it during the one song. it only did it after driving with the stereo at full tilt for about 10 minutes.

We've gone out 2 times since I made changes to the system, and during the one song is the only time I've experienced anything.

And while your list is interesting, there's some things on your list that don't measure up, like it wouldn't be a bad USB connection because that would cut out all or nothing, not everything but the bass. It obviously can't be a bad phone connection, because the phone wasn't being used and wasn't a factor at all. The headunit source was on "USB" so that's the only source that could be a factor.


Anyway, I posted up about as detailed, analytical info as I had. I posted up in case someone would have an "Ah HA" moment and be able to pinpoint it based on something I did describe.

With a boat full of cold passengers, motoring back to the dock at 32 mph, so that we could get back there and put a spare on my 3-wheel trailer and get our friends on land in time for them to say goodnight to their kids, stopping and troubleshooting my stereo wasn't going to make it to the top of the list.

I have this feeling that it has something to do with such a bass heavy song--Like that sub amp was pulling so much voltage the others weren't getting enough and were cutting out? I don't know. it's such a weird scenario.

As always, I appreciate everyone's help and will keep ya'all updated.

Bwahaha I figured that would get ya LOL.

Anyhow, I know you give as much as you can, but its such a vague issues its hard to pin-point it like this. If I had done the install I could give you more pin pointed direction to go, but with out ever seeing anything and hows it all wired, I just can't guess, so I decided to rattle your chain a bit.

[trayson]

so I decided to rattle your chain a bit.

You do know how to push my buttons.


Well, I found out that I really have no way of knowing if my cabins were clipping or not. I'd bet NO. After my last surf, the cabin level on the 420sq got turned all the way down, so when we were driving home in the dark, it was towers only. In the driver's seat I don't really hear the cabins that well anyway relative to the towers, so I didn't know, and I can't see the level indicators of the zone controller in the dark.

All that to say that it's very likely that it's a single amp issue with the tower amp. I went out yesterday and didn't have any issues with the towers. However, I didn't play any Skrillex, haha.

I guess I'll just continue to monitor and try to isolate the issue if it resurfaces.