This is all excellent info, and a beautiful install Mike! Hope to see and here this ride in person someday.
This is all excellent info, and a beautiful install Mike! Hope to see and here this ride in person someday.
Been a while since I've updated the build, or done any work in the car, but a recent snafu has caused some problems. While driving I noticed some distortion in the front speakers so I cut the sub down and listened more closely to what sounded like a scratchy sound coming from the mids and tweeters that was following the beat of the music. Shortly afterwards the cabin filled with noise as the stereo went full volume but was no longer playing music. I cut the master volume on DRC-100 knob connected to the Fix 82 processor. This did nothing and neither did cutting the UConnect volume or muting the radio. I was able to pull over and hit the circuit breaker under the passenger seat but not before my front speakers were cooked. There was a strong smell of burned electronics and the fins on the AMT tweeters were visibly deformed. All of this happened while I was crossing a bridge and I was now on the shoulder. With the power cut off to the electronics, I exited the freeway and found a parking lot to check the back of the car before proceeding home. The 4 channel amp (PPI 900.4) smelled fried as well. But I didn't see anything else of concern so I continued on home for a closer look.
Pic of the AMT:
There weren't any visibly loose wires, or connections that appeared to have jumped the terminals on the amps, so the fuse for the 900.4 was pulled from the distro block and the stereo was turned back on to check the midbass and sub portions of the stereo. Both amps powered on except the mono amp (1000.1) did so before the car was turned on as if it was already seeing a remote turn on. Oddly, all three amps are run on the same remote wire circuit that is output from the PPI DSP yet the 2 channel (600.2) powered on and off as it should. Remote wire issues or amp turn on/off has not been an issue thus far so I wasn't sure what to make of that. Listening to the stereo showed that the midbass were not right either. The driver's door sounded like the voice coil was damaged (very scratchy at low volume) and the passenger side was attenuated and sounded "distant". Subs were playing fine but at the time the stereo went haywire the mono amp's gain knob was set to zero. This may have saved that portion, however there is the remote turn on issue.
Fast forward 3 weeks and I found time to pull the equipment and check things further. The 900.4 amp was opened up and the resistors on the output side are badly burned. I had resistors of this same model of amp go bad during the install but since it was used in a prior build it couldn't directly be attributed to this build/setup so I found another one in the classifieds and proceeded to finish.
Pics of the resistors from the 1st amp that failed compared to the one that went out this time:
I also noticed what I thought was a leaking capacitor but now I think it is probably just an excess amount of adhesive or sealant used in the amps construction. The black substance is not tacky at all, it is found in other parts of the board and none of the caps are bulged at all like you might expect to find in a damaged capacitor.
Again, amp #1 vs the one that just went out:
The resistors that were burned that badly were on channels 1/2 that powered the tweeters. The RCA outputs on the PPI DSP were measured with a DMM and were outputting anywhere from 11-20+ volts DC. Channels 1/2 measured the highest at 20+. The DC voltage that was measured on the RCA output lugs decreased as I continued to channel 8. 7/8 were still measuring 11 volts DC which is no bueno. I checked the output voltage on the RCA's from the Fix processor and that read ~2 volts AC, as it should be. So I'm thinking that the PPI DSP had some failure and sent a DC signal through the amps and damaged the speakers connected to them. The 4 channel had it worst and its resistors look that way. The 2 channel doesn't have the same visible scars but needs further testing as does the mono amp.
The readings on the DSP outputs puzzle me. Outputting a 12v DC signal is one thing but amplifying over what is going in to power that DSP just seems odd. I did power the equipment down and then back on again to take measurements twice to confirm they were correct. I don't have the tools or knowledge to do much further in the way of testing but I've contacted PPI to see if they are willing to take a look at the DSP. I've also already purchased some new amps and front speakers to replace what I know is bad, or will not be returning to the car. More to update on that later but for now just need to confirm what the problem was before anything new goes back in. If any of this gives y'all a clue on what I should look at or what could have caused the problem I'd appreciate the feedback. Thanks.
Yikes!... Hopefully PPI will stand behind there product & take care of you.
Are the replacement amps and front speakers the same or did you choose something else?
Last edited by Truthunter; 12-28-2016 at 07:46 AM.
Hate to read this, Mike. Hits to the wallet always suck, especially after your awesome install. I think your new iteration of your system will be even cooler though!
We'll see. I don't expect a lot but it doesn't hurt to try.
I'm taking a new direction and will be trying out a 2-way setup up front with some Morel and Anarchy speakers. New power will be from Zapco's Studio X line. Haven't decided about the processor.
Little preview of the gear.
Test fit the amps, fit like a glove.
It sucks for sure. I wasn't ready to replace this much gear though I did want try some other stuff. I'm enthusiastic about where it will go from here.
Awesome !
Additional work on the car has been overdue for some time. After rolling around with tweeters wrapped in towels on the dash for a couple of months I got around to working on the pillars today. Starting off I neither own a router, or know my way around one, so I lucked out when my buddy Rick, aka SpeakerPimp, donated a pair that he had built for Hybrid L3 mids. I have a pair of grills for the set of mids that I've been using and it just worked out that the Morel MDT-29's fit perfectly. The rings were made so that the grill would press-fit without needing to use the plastic ring portion.
The rings were glued to the pillars so the tweeters were aimed at the overhead console. This location had the best results for me after the time auditioning with the towels.
The lower portions of the pillar were wrapped in cloth and given a first coat of resin.
I'm hoping to get the inner portion back-filled and begin work on the filler and sanding by the end of the week. Just getting something started should kick start my motivation to get these done though. Not sure yet if they will be wrapped or textured and painted. More updates to follow.
A couple of updates. Pillar pods after two rounds of filling and sanding.
These are about ready to go and I am going back and forth between having them wrapped in vinyl with some red stitching that would match the door panels and seats, or using a black headliner material. I'm gonna take them to an upholstery shop and get a quote this week about the vinyl since I am leaning heavily towards that route.
I had cut out the stock grill from the door panel to allow for more clearance for the Anarchy drivers. Over the weekend I got around to making some grills.
I took a crack at pressed grills using some metal mesh. Since I didn't have access to hydraulic press, I went the DIY route and used the weight of the car to make them.