Alpha8A

Hi guys, I just installed this amp today and for some reason, its not working. As soon as I turn it on, the protect light comes on, therefore I dont hear any music or anything. Can anyone tell me whats wrong? Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

88supramki

low impedance. check your wires and wiring. make sure you're not overloading it by running to low of an ohm load on it.


either that or it's toast.

Dj_AmtraX

iTrader: (2)

Usually that means a speaker wire is grounded and shorting out the amp. Use a meter on continuity mode with one side to the car and other side to speaker wire. Testing one wire at a time. If the meter beeps, that means that is the wire shorting out.
Or, unplug one speaker wire at a time and see if the amp stays on.

Alpha8A

ok guys


I unplugged all my output wires to my amp to see if it would still say protect. Well I did, and it STILL has the protect light on, only now, it doesnt have the ready light on. Is my amp broken? Please help.

88supramki

where did you get the amp from?

so you have nothing connected to it and it still has the protect light on?

Alpha8A

yea it has the protect light on and the ready light is no longer on. both lights were on last night when i had all the wires connected, but now its just the protect light. i got it from eBay, but it came in a JL direct box as well as with its retail package. it was all sealed and brand new.

88supramki

it's probably toast.

JL won't honor a warranty if it was purchased from ebay.

See if you can return it to the person you bought it from for a warranty.

Alpha8A

I really hope its not my amp that went out because I spent a good amount of money on it and I think it will be a huge pain in the a** to send it back and wait for a replacement, if they agree to it. Do you possibly think it would have something to do with my wiring? For instance, is it ok to be running the output of the amp through the car's factory wiring thats already there?

88supramki

yeah that part's not going to be horrible, but it's not terrific either. Do what DJ said and test continuity on the wires to see if maybe there's a kink in a wire or something of that nature that could be grounding the amp somewhere.

hope for the best, good luck.


if all else fails, and the ebay person won't give you another one or won't give you a refund. take it to an authorized dealer. JL has a flat fee for repairing amps that are out of warranty, they would be able to tell you how much it is to get it repaired.