I have a 2012 RGC with a stock stereo (pre amp outs done by Iron cross), ARC mini amp (older model), and Focal CA1 4 ohm speakers. I have good power and ground to the amp. I have a new pair of RCA cables from pre amp outs to amp. The amp is set for RCA in, not speaker line in. While riding the other day I noticed the left speaker was out. I took the fairing off to see if I could find the issue. I did notice the left + was loose, stranded wire showing. When I lightly tugged it, it came loose. I removed both speaker wires, put a little solder on all the leads to make it like a solid wire and set to reinstall. I still had the ignition on when doing this (not sure why, but I did). When tightening one of the leads, the screwdriver touched the amp housing and made a little popping noise. Other than that little mishap, I could not find any other loose connections. The left channel only works occasionally. If I disconnect the left channel RCA at the lead from the radio and touch the inner part to the outer part, it sort of crackles and the sound comes back, sometimes. If I unplug the harness from the radio and plug it back in, the sound comes back to the left channel. If I take the stock leads and plug them into the speaker, sound comes back. When I grounded the screwdriver on the amp housing, the power/protection light flashed a couple of times and went solid, it also does that when the amp is powering up. I don't think that grounding is causing the problem as it was a problem before I went into the fairing. Did I mess the left channel on the amp? Could I have messed up the connection inside the radio for the left pre am out? I am not an electrician or audio tech by any means and do not know where to start to locate my issue. Any and all help would be appreciated. Thanks,

 

1. if you swap your RCA cables going into the amp and the problem then moves to the right side, the issue is between the amp back to the head unit.
2. if it stays on the left side, then the problem is between the amp and the speaker and most likely being the speaker.

if 1 above proves to be the case and since you've already changed RCA cables, then the next step for testing if you want to spend the $ on it would be to get a line level adapter from Best Buy or some place like that. Connect it to the speaker wires coming out of the head unit and then plug your RCAs into it. If the problem goes away then the issue is most likely the RCA outputs on the head unit.

 

I switched the left and right RCA's at the pre amps from the radio and when I first turned it on it worked fine. Turned the bike off and back on to accessory, the left speaker produced static, then nothing. Then I switched the speaker outs at the amp. Now it changed sides, static, then nothing from the right speaker and the left sounded fine. This would lead me to believe my amp is messed up, correct. Thanks for your help with this Ultra...

 

Could the arching when the case was touched with a screwdriver be cause by insufficient ground? (Mine was) Would also "pop" when turned off.

Ultra will get you straightened out.

Beav

 

hit the nail on the head sir! this is either a bad ground or you have an amp that's toasted.

 

It doesn't "pop" when turned off, but it does when turning on. How can I verify that I do or do not have sufficient ground? I would certainly prefer an insufficient ground over a toasted amp....

 

Where is your amp currently grounded?

 

I have the ground wire going to the fairing mounting bracket. I will look into possibly finding a better ground location and see if that helps.

 

That's where I initially grounded mine... found it insufficient.

Wound up grounding at the center crashbar bolt (paint removed,) problem solved.

Beav

 

I was able to play with the ground a little bit this afternoon, not much different. I will make a better effort tomorrow and see if anything changes. If a proper ground doesn't solve the problem, it is probably the amp, correct? Thanks