I am having some stereo problems, maybe you guys can give me some advice before I go out and blow $$$ on un-needed equipment. The problem is that sometimes when I have the music up pretty loud the subwoofer will cut off for a few seconds. I have a 10" Bazooka tube powered by a 200 watt Pioneer amp. Do you think maybe the amp isn't powerful enough to support all the bass its kicking out? I know its not the head unit because I had the same problem before I changed it out. I have also checked all the wires and they're fine. What do u think??

your amp maybe over heating and cutting off, goin into protection mode.

someone will light a match here any minute!

your amp is it 200 rms or peak, and what about the bazooka?

Ok here are the specs on both:

Amplifier- Pioneer GM-X332
70W X 2 / 200W X 1 Max. Power
35W X 2 / 100W X 1, 20Hz-20KHz, 0.08% / 0.8% THD

Subwoofer- Bazooka EL-104
single 4 ohm 200 watts max

the stuff seems to match up, like i said before, its probably overheating, is the amp bridged, and is it capable of being bridged?.

well, here's my 2 cents....

if you jump in your car and crank up the radio, does the sub cut out? Assuming there's nothing wrong with the amp internally, I can't imagine it would overheat very fast. It would take a few minutes even at extremely high output before a thermal issue would show up. I would check the connections again. Make sure things are nice and snug, and not rattling loose when the sub hits. Also, does that sub have a protection overload circuit? If so, it might be the culprit. Can you get your hands on a different speaker (still 4 ohm) and swap out the sub? Eliminate one thing at a time.

Jason

My amp (Phoenix Gold QX-2180) cuts itself off after an hour of having it cranked to the nuts. I'm thinking of installing a little fan on it, because no matter how windy I make it in the truck, or how high the AC is turned on, it still happens from time to time. The amp is mounted properly BTW, lots of space between it and the box, vents are aimed vertically, air passes around it nicely. I think it's just getting tired (had it for 4 years now).

I don't think it is a overheating problem cause it would shut down for more than just a few seconds. I think you may be drawing too much current. How is the amp powered? If your running through a relay then that may be where you need to start looking.

What size power wire did you use? Also check all of the connections between the battery and the amp, thenmake sure your ground wire is very securely connected and as short as possible. You should have at least 8 guage wire to power it and ground.

make sure your amp ground is solid and contacting bare metal.

The last two replies are definately something to trouble shoot. I'm leaning more towards a gounding problem. Think of it this way. If you have a poor ground, the battery is going to have to push (amperage) that much harder to get the power to the amp. Having a poor ground is like you're trying to cram something into a small hole. Improve the ground by either scraping the paint away or the rust that has accumulated where you've scraped the paint away in the past will make the hole bigger allowing much more efficient electrical flow. This will let your amplifier be more efficient and produce cleaner power with less heat. That way it won't be cutting off as much.

Just my 2 cents.

Well, I tried everything everyone suggested..such as checking the battery/ground connections and couldn't find anything loose or connected incorrectly. It continued to cut off occasionally until yesterday and it just died on me. the problem is that there is no power going to the amplifier because the power light doesn't even come on. I checked the fuses on both the amp, and near the battery terminal. As far as I know all the wires are connected correctly. So i'm assuming that the amplifier has just had it..lol. I guess I will take it to a sound shop this week.