Blue collar audio upgrade

[Fast50dad]

JimN, thanks again for your response. I shouldn't post this, but will so someone else may learn from this. I am a dumb@ss that can't plug the headphone jack all the way in. So it's muffled and shorts the head unit. Thanks for the responses everyone!

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[Fast50dad]

So over the weekend, my rear Clarion speakers were skipping and bonking during the songs. The next day, no audio in the right speakers, next day, sub and all speakers were dead. I have a second amp powering 4 tower speakers and they work fine. Did I fry my stock amp? Checked the 25 amp fuse On the amp and it looks fine. Thanks gang!

[JimN]

Originally Posted by Fast50dad

JimN, thanks again for your response. I shouldn't post this, but will so someone else may learn from this. I am a dumb@ss that can't plug the headphone jack all the way in. So it's muffled and shorts the head unit. Thanks for the responses everyone!

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Some plugs don't go all the way in- don't sweat it.

[JimN]

Originally Posted by Fast50dad

So over the weekend, my rear Clarion speakers were skipping and bonking during the songs. The next day, no audio in the right speakers, next day, sub and all speakers were dead. I have a second amp powering 4 tower speakers and they work fine. Did I fry my stock amp? Checked the 25 amp fuse On the amp and it looks fine. Thanks gang!

Did you check for voltage at the amps?

[Fast50dad]

No idea on how to do that. Spoke with my audio shop and they asked me to pull the amp and bring it to town after the weekend so they can test it. I will try to replace the fuse prior to doing so. The amp was warm (but I think unpowered) not blazing hot like the kicker amp. Thanks Jim.

[JimN]

Originally Posted by Fast50dad

No idea on how to do that. Spoke with my audio shop and they asked me to pull the amp and bring it to town after the weekend so they can test it. I will try to replace the fuse prior to doing so. The amp was warm (but I think unpowered) not blazing hot like the kicker amp. Thanks Jim.

Do you have a multi-meter or test light? Connect either at the power amp power terminals and if you see voltage, check the fuses on the amps. If the amps were mounted directly on an amplifier board, have the shop use spacers (if someone else installed them) or do that yourself. Amps that breathe well stay cool and live longer.

[Fast50dad]

This is the 03 stock amp. I only found one fuse on the amp, checked the fuse panel "push buttons" underneath the console and nothing popped. I'll grab a multi-meter and try it as well prior to taking The amp out. Thanks again man.

[Thrall]

Originally Posted by Fast50dad

So over the weekend, my rear Clarion speakers were skipping and bonking during the songs. The next day, no audio in the right speakers, next day, sub and all speakers were dead. I have a second amp powering 4 tower speakers and they work fine. Did I fry my stock amp? Checked the 25 amp fuse On the amp and it looks fine. Thanks gang!

Did you eliminate a bad cord from the Ipad to the head unit inputs? Or was this radio,CD and everything? My Ipod cable gave up the ghost a couple weeks ago with similar symptoms. No sound or cutting out on various speakers.
New cable from the head unit cured it. This time I got the one that charges your Ipod and hooks to the bottom connector on the ipod for line level input vs spkr level from the headphone jack. Much better sound quality from the Ipod as well this way, almost as good as a CD.

[Thrall]

Originally Posted by Fast50dad

This is the 03 stock amp. I only found one fuse on the amp, checked the fuse panel "push buttons" underneath the console and nothing popped. I'll grab a multi-meter and try it as well prior to taking The amp out. Thanks again man.

Shouldn't be fused to any of the push button circuit breakers under the helm.
You should however have a fuse on the + lead right off the battery and then the fuse on the amp itself. If not, install an inline fuse just off the battery to protect your amps.
(This may not help your problem, if the amp is actually firing up).

Use what you have to help diagnose the problem.
Use your good amp (tower) and hook it up to the cockpit speakers and same outputs on thehead unit that the prolem is coming from and see if that works. Then you know you have a problem with the cockpit amp or fuse/power to it.
Same with RCA cables swap known good ones for the ones in question (or buy a couple cheap RCA patch cords to test with.

This is all pretty vague, tough to diagnose without seeing it, but in general, MC does/did a shoddy job of amplifier wiring. My 06 looked like a rats nest of wires coming off the single battery, like some ole farmer rigged it together. With less than 50hrs on the boat when I bought it used, the stereo was all effed up.
I ripped out all the wiring and cleaned it up (and added a house battery since I upped the # of speakers and amps at the same time). Once done, all the components that were originally installed at teh factory worked flawlessly as well as the new components.
Pictures are "after" and as JimN mentioned, having the amps stand off the rack/mount helps immensly with cooling. I just used some aluminum tubing from the hardware store.
Good luck with your fix.

[JimN]

Originally Posted by Fast50dad

This is the 03 stock amp. I only found one fuse on the amp, checked the fuse panel "push buttons" underneath the console and nothing popped. I'll grab a multi-meter and try it as well prior to taking The amp out. Thanks again man.

Did you try it with the radio?