Phoenix Gold Phorum

I have 2 of these in a boat. They work but after about 1/2 hour the speakers get muffled and sometimes shut off completely. I have also had one of the amps shut off a time or two. The amps will do this in cool temps also.
Does anyone have any idea what is going on?

are they in a c apartment where they can get very hot even in cool temps?


they can pull a pretty large amount of currant too.

-how big is the boats alt?
-how large is the power wire/ describe the power cable and distribution
-what load are they seeing?

I don't know the size of the alternater but it is a stock one in a 300x outboard. It has 3 optima batteries. It has a ti power core 20 distribution center. The power wires coming off the battery is as big as my thumb. I am not a stereo guy but they are the biggest wires I have ever seen. Not sure what you mean by the "load they are seeing".

they are not mounted upside down by chance? Next time they start to reduce their output, put your hand on the amp and see how hot it is.

never noticed ti's having a problem with being upside down. the fan should take care of that

Not upside down. I have checked them when they shut down the speakers and when they (amps) have shut down and they were never hot. The original owner of the boat said that PG warranted them not long after the install and he said at that time the speakers were doing the same thing. I am thinking they need replaced??

what speakers are hooked up to them?

Focal 165K3P 2 pairs 2 ti600.2

Check the amplifiers. Is the yellow light thru the window on the right side ON? This would tell you if the amp went into thermal.

If the speakers sound 'muffled' it could be the tweeter protection engaged on the passive crossovers.

I would also suggest checking the crossover switch and potentiometers they are known to go bad over time. But to have two amps with the exact same odd problem is pretty rare.

MW3 thanks for the reply. I am not much of an electronic guy, I am going to pass this info on to my buddy that is.

If the light is on and it is in "thermal" what does that mean as far as correcting the problem?

could be a couple of things from having too many speakers of the wrong impedence hooked up, mounted in a place that collects heat after a while or even a bad fan....

Thermal means the amp has gotten too hot and shut off to protect itself. If that is the case the light on right side window will light yellow and amp will have no output.

Now if your problem is that the system still plays but its muffled or distorted this is NOT the issue.

Can you be more specific about the problem? 30 mins of hard play? It then sounds muffled or completely shut off or ?

We have been moving things around trying to eliminate different things to be the problem, head unit, speakers, amps,ect.

At first it was around 30 mins (sometimes less) and everything but the subs would stop playing. But it is now inconsistent. The last time only the left rear would shut down.

It may be a coincidence but it seems to shut down faster and more consistence when the boat is on the water. I have had a couple times on the trailer in the garage it would not shut down the speakers or it would take a couple hours to shut down. When on the water I have checked the amps when the speakers shut down it was not warm to touch. I live in Ohio and it is not warm here now. I just purchased this boat. This system has been in the boat since new, 2003.

is the motor running the entire time on the water? That would mean the radio would be up louder to play over the motor(unlike on land) and I would assume this is not an inboard and the amp is mounted where it is getting exposed to the motors heat.

The motor is not running most of the time when using the radio. The amps are not where they get heat from the motor it is an outboard and does not cause much heat inside the boat.

I was thinking more on the line of running the boat (bouncing around) and then it not working maybe due to a bad or loose connection. Have been looking for one but have not found one yet.

Wiggle all of the potentiometers (gain, crossover frequency, etc) back and forth about 6 times and then reset them back to their original position. They can oxidize and cause audible distortion over time. I'd imagine that process would be accelerated in a boat. Loose or broken RCA jacks can also cause the issue, on either the headunit end or the amplifier.

Here's a good troubleshooting guide which may help you find the culprit:
http://phoenixphorum.com/trouble-shooti ... vt178.html

Sorry for my ignorance but when you say "potentiometers (gain, crossover frequency, etc)" do you mean the wires at the crossover? If so those are the only ones I have not looked at yet. I will need to take the seats and side panels out to get to them.

No I mean the dials on the amplifier.