Kenwood car amp - you can fry an egg on this! :o
Discussion
Hmm, strange. I thought there was a dedicated forum for In Car Entertainment on here, but after having a look, it seems not. Anyway, guess this thread will be fine in GG...
So, a question for car audio buffs.
I have some kit that is now getting on for 15 years old, that I have fitted into my last 4 cars.
It consists of:
A pair of 5 inch 'Hertz' front speakers, with crossovers and matching tweeters.
A pair of 6x9 'Infinity Reference' 3-way rear speakers.
A JVC head unit.
And a Kenwood KAC-745 power amp.
With associated cabling that, at the time, cost me an arm and a leg - but it seems that decent quality cabling is paramount in car systems, and it seems to work very well.
Anyway. Yesterday I got round to fitting all this into my latest car. In all the other cars I have had, I have screwed the amp to the metal backing of the rear seats, in the boot. However, on this install I decided to put it under the front passenger seat.
I have a monsterous power cable running to it directly from the battery, and an equally monsterous earth cable that is bolted directly to the floorpan of the car.
I powered it all up, and it sound really really good - with plenty of power. Bassy 'club tune' type songs are even punchy enough as to not worry about having a separate sub. So overall, I was delighted with my efforts.
Today I was driving for around an hour, with the system cranked up, and when I stopped at some traffic lights, I happened to hang my left arm down between the handbrake and the passenger seat.
I could feel some heat straight away, so I reached round behind the passenger seat to touch the amp, and - OUCH! - the fecking thing actually burned my hand
I'm not kidding, the thing was so hot that I could not touch it - dabbing my finger onto it was something I could only do for a split second. I honestly reckon it was hot enough to fry an egg on!!
But, the system was still playing well, with no signs of the amp shutting down or giving up. Now, it may well be that this amp has always run this hot, but as it's always been bolted in the boot, I have just never noticed. If it has run this hot for the last 15 years, then I reckon that is testament to quality 'Made in Japan' Kenwood gear!
So the question is - do you reckon this is normal, or is my install this time not right somehow and is causing the amp to run this hot? I would hate to bugger it up.
Comments and help much appreciated, thanks!
So, a question for car audio buffs.
I have some kit that is now getting on for 15 years old, that I have fitted into my last 4 cars.
It consists of:
A pair of 5 inch 'Hertz' front speakers, with crossovers and matching tweeters.
A pair of 6x9 'Infinity Reference' 3-way rear speakers.
A JVC head unit.
And a Kenwood KAC-745 power amp.
With associated cabling that, at the time, cost me an arm and a leg - but it seems that decent quality cabling is paramount in car systems, and it seems to work very well.
Anyway. Yesterday I got round to fitting all this into my latest car. In all the other cars I have had, I have screwed the amp to the metal backing of the rear seats, in the boot. However, on this install I decided to put it under the front passenger seat.
I have a monsterous power cable running to it directly from the battery, and an equally monsterous earth cable that is bolted directly to the floorpan of the car.
I powered it all up, and it sound really really good - with plenty of power. Bassy 'club tune' type songs are even punchy enough as to not worry about having a separate sub. So overall, I was delighted with my efforts.
Today I was driving for around an hour, with the system cranked up, and when I stopped at some traffic lights, I happened to hang my left arm down between the handbrake and the passenger seat.
I could feel some heat straight away, so I reached round behind the passenger seat to touch the amp, and - OUCH! - the fecking thing actually burned my hand
I'm not kidding, the thing was so hot that I could not touch it - dabbing my finger onto it was something I could only do for a split second. I honestly reckon it was hot enough to fry an egg on!!
But, the system was still playing well, with no signs of the amp shutting down or giving up. Now, it may well be that this amp has always run this hot, but as it's always been bolted in the boot, I have just never noticed. If it has run this hot for the last 15 years, then I reckon that is testament to quality 'Made in Japan' Kenwood gear!
So the question is - do you reckon this is normal, or is my install this time not right somehow and is causing the amp to run this hot? I would hate to bugger it up.
Comments and help much appreciated, thanks!
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