Tower Speaker Issues

[TimF16 1]

I have the 2009 Ampatheater II soundsystem in my Enzo 240 and all of the tower speakers just quit a few days ago. I am good with mechanical but am fairly lost in the boat stereo world. I've run down all of the things that I could think of. The boat has 3 Kicker amps and the tower speakers are the big rubicons, head is an mb quartz

 

Any help with troubleshooting would be greatly appreciated

[truekaotik 458]

What did you check already?

[TimF16 1]

I mainly checked the wiring from the head to the amps and checked for anything that I could find up under the panel that might be loose. Also checked that the amps were powered and the fuses not blown.

[truekaotik 458]

If the amp is powering up, take a 3.5mm to RCA and hook a iPod directly into the amp. Make sure the volume is all the way down before connection. Then turn it up a little and see if you have any sound. If yes, your problem is up stream, RCA wires or output your using. If no, your problem is amp, speakers or speaker wires. Make sure the proper color light is on the amp and not in protect first.

[Wylie_Tunes 146]

Are there any indicator lights illuminated on the amp? If so, are they the right color to indicate normal operation or are they a color indicating fault mode? Your amps owners manual will explain this. Depending on what kicker amps, they typically have a green light for normal mode, then a red to indicate a fault. If its the older KX or newer ZX series, the Kicker logo on the front is typically illuminated to show the amp is powered up. If the amp looks to be powered on in normal mode, follow Tru's advice.

 

If no lights, then you need to break out the volt meter and test for B+ and B- at the amps main power terminals. If proper battery voltage is present, then turn the head-unit on and now check for voltage on the turn-on terminal. If voltage or GND is not found where it should be, then you need to backtrack to their source until you find the problem.

[TimF16 1]

Thanks for the ideas guys, I am getting on it now. The amps have the small green light that was mentioned above and all are on.

[TimF16 1]

Hey Guys, I did check the problem out with the ipod and got no sound out of the amp. I did the same thing to the other amp's to make sure that I was doing it correctly and got good sound out of them. the setup under there looks like the one amp powers only the sub and one seems to power the 6 speakers down in the boat (those are the 2 that work with the ipod test as well). Is it a normal setup to have all of the tower speakers (4) on one amp? If so what would you check first in this scenario

[truekaotik 458]

What series of Rubicons? What model kicker amplifier? But yes it is sometimes ok to run 4 speakers off a amplifier depending on the amplifier model and channel configuration.. Next test is to unhook all speaker wires. Then hook one working speaker( that you know works) to the first channel of the amp and and see if it plays with the iPod.. If it does, check the other channels. If they all work it could be the wire, wire configuration or the Rubicon(s)... If it doesn't the amplifier needs replaced or fixed. It's either blown the input or output if it powers properly with a green light on newer and a red light on older models with the name badge on top...

Edited July 10, 2013 by truekaotik

[TimF16 1]

The Amps are (3) Kicker 350.4's. The Rubicons are (4) 175's

[truekaotik 458]

how are the 4 single 175's wired to the amplifier? hopefully one to each channel then?

[TimF16 1]

I am pretty sure that they are, but the wiring was done at the boat build time and they are hidden. I've run out of time today so I will get back on it this weekend. I really appraciate your help

[TimF16 1]

Hey Man, I attached a working speaker to the amp and got no results (I also tried it with the ipod attached) so I am guessing that my issue is with the amp. Did put a voltmeter on the power cable and got good voltage there.

[truekaotik 458]

Amp failure.

[TimF16 1]

Hey, I just got the new amp in the mail and wired it up. I thought that I was getting the original kicker 350.4 but it is the ZMX350.4. The wiring is a bit different but I do think that I've wired it correctly. I have changed it around a few times and it seems that I can only get output from one of the 2 amps. (4 tower speakers and I can only get one of them to work). Any ideas on this one?

[Wylie_Tunes 146]

if only one speaker chnl out of 4 is working, then you have an RCA input or speaker wire issue. If only 1 half of the amp, as in chnls 1/2 are only working, then change the position of the "FADE" button. It should be OFF (out). This will pass the RCA signal through to all chnls.

[TimF16 1]

the fade button is out. what is the chance that the amp has one side bad? Thanks for the help

[Wylie_Tunes 146]

its certainly possible to have only one side of the amp faulty. Are your RCA cables plugged in to the LEFT and RIGHT socket or by chance both RIGHT or both LEFT? Try pushing the FADE button in if you havent up to this point.

[TimF16 1]

I have the rca cables hooked up per the diagram but I have not tried pushing the fader switch in yet but I will give that a try

[Wylie_Tunes 146]

I would just double check to make sure the RCA pair is plugged into the AMP-1 L and R. Swap the L and R and see if the problem moves or stays. If it moves, meaning the previously non-funcion speakers produce sound, the problem is upstream with the RCA or source. If the problem stays, meaning the same speakers still do not produce sound, then the problem is amp, speakers or the speaker wires.Next, move the RCA's to the AMP-2 L and R and see if the non-functioning speakers now work. If they now works, its internal of the amp. If they still do not work, its speakers or wiring.