During july 4th I went to a cook out and provided the music with my jeep and trusty empeg. However, I forgot to set the tempature warning on. It overheated and the empeg appeared to go dead.

I bought it inside and noticed that it came on under AC power with the adapter and it played just fine. I took it back to the car and it still wouldn't come on , but the amp light came on.

I looked at the wiring harness on the cage and low and behold, those wires were no longer sitting nicely into the metal fittings. I played around a bit with the connectors and I got the empeg to come back on in the car except that it made a awful noise while it was on. An ugly noise like it was screaming in pain.

Needless to say, all the speakers blew with the nasty smell of ozone in the air, so this morning I don't know where to start except to get new speakers from circuit city and then try to resolder that connector.

My dilemna is that I don't know if it was the connectors on the harness of the cage for the empeg or the amp (which could have fused up) which could be destroyed from overheating as well. Any ideas? Is is just a ground wire that needs to be reseated or is my amp gone?

Can you hook a conventional walkman or radio to the line in of your amp? Maybe you could test from that point down.

It was the amp. Totally shot. Brought a new one.. $500 down on two alpines 4 channel and mono to replace the 5 channel aura

Ow! That is a very painful way to upgrade your audio system.

How do you think something like that could happen? Could a power lead have shorted over the signal lines?

I learned the hard way that amps arent meant to take 8 hours straight playing while the car is not in motion and standing in the direct sunlight.

All that from heat buildup? Wow. Good lesson, but a rather expensive one.

Thanks for the tip. I've always considered using my car as the tunes for a party but I never considered the overheating amp.

Now, was your old amp just susceptible to overheating or is this an issue for all amps? I'm running an Alpine, so I'm curious to know how your new rig will work.

On a side note, I'm interested in upgrading my stock speakers to 8 speakers + sub. I have one simple Alpine MRP-F200 amp (um, 4 channel?). Could I just add a second to drive the sub? Should I use my current one for the sub and get a better one for all the speakers? How'd you lay out your multi Alpine amp setup?

Now, was your old amp just susceptible to overheating or is this an issue for all amps?

This depends a great deal on the particular installation: How much air circulation the amps receive, how much power they draw, how hard they are being worked, how efficient their heat sinks are, whether the amps have built-in cooling fans, etc.

My current system, at first glance, should overheat. It consists of a 400 watt 8-channel amp, plus a 320 watt (nominally 160 watt but running bridged mono for a true output of 320 watts) two channel amp, plus a pair of Audio Control EQT 30-band equalizers, plus four passive crossover modules -- all crammed into a small volume (about 1/3 of the spare tire well in my Taurus station wagon) that, while not sealed air tight certainly does not allow any air circulation.

After three hours of continuous operation, the exterior heat sinks of the amplifiers are but little warmer than body heat -- maybe 110 degrees F. We had planned on installing a theromstatically controlled fan in the amp rack compartment, but decided we didn't need it.

I attribute this to two things: (1) The amplifiers are pretty high-end with very efficient heat sinks; and (2) Even though I have over 700 watts of capacity, I probably only use about 150 watts at normal listening levels.

What would happen if I parked for hours with the sun beating down into the back end of my wagon is anybody's guess. Chances are things would overheat in those circumstances.

tanstaafl.

This amp was a 5 channel amp with no fan. It has served duty for almost 1 full year of high usage. I regulary ran it till it overheated. It tended to overheat faster when the vehicle was standing still because there was no air to blow over the heatsink to keep it cool.

I now have 2 alipine amps so that i dont loose it all in one shot. I also know better than to leave the jeep with the sun bearing down on it and running hot for hours. I got involved in a card game and I was no longer watching it. Instead of shutting off if played for a loooong time and then just burned out.

I thought most amps these days have overheat protection ?

i'd install a couple of fans on your amp rack. It will save you from future pain.

They do, and mine worked, maybe that was the first thing that burned out

I looked at the wiring harness on the cage and low and behold, those wires were no longer sitting nicely into the metal fittings.

Now that you've replaced the amp, make sure to also repair that harness.

Were there proper fuses on the power supply to that amplifier? I find it hard to believe it would melt down without blowing fuses first.