[NocturnalEVO]

Hey everybody,

Hoping someone can help me out here..

My E92 came with Hi-Fi stereo stock.

I have an XD600/6 amp with Technic harness. I've had the setup installed for the last 2-2.5 years or so. Everything was working fine, or so I thought...

I just noticed today that the driver side underseat sub is not working when I went to go replace the factory one with a new SWS‐8xi sub. I'll be honest, I have no idea if it just stopped working recently or never worked at all. With just the passenger side sub on, it still sounds like its coming from all around the car.

I've attached a pic of my XD600/6 amp's settings, perhaps the more knowledgeable people on here can advise if perhaps a switch/setting is in the wrong position or something.

I really have no idea what to do or how to remedy this..
Any help would be appreciated

thanks in advance!

[ctuna]

Take and ohm/voltmeter and measure resistance to each
speaker from the speaker connector on the amp for each speaker they should
be similar. If it measures high resistance on one side or significantly different disconnect and measure the
speaker directly from the amp connection . Measure the suspected bad
speaker at the speaker terminals or connector if it verifys. The wiring could be open or the speaker could be fried.
If they are then try running the suspected dead channel
on the good speaker . If the good speaker doesn't work on the suspected
bad channel the amp has a bad channel.

Are you running two of the same type speakers because if you are not and the resistance of one speaker is different there is no way
to match the levels on them and it would be bad load for the amp.
Not clear if you had factorys on both side replaced just one side
with and sws-8xi or you have the two sws-8xi's.

Other approach to do reverse wiring for left and right underseats at the amp left becomes right and right becomes left. and see if the
problem moves or stays on the same side. If the problem moves then the amp is bad if it doesn't you have bad wiring or a bad speaker.

[NocturnalEVO]

Sorry, i'll clarify.

I started replacing the subs starting from the passenger side first.
I replaced it w/the sws-8xi on the passenger side and it worked great.

Then I moved on to the driver side.
(i never tested to see if the stock subs were working prior to swapping them out as they are OEM and I had no reason to beleive that they wouldn't be working)
I replaced the driver side sub w/the sws-8xi and the driver side sub didn't work (pass side working fine).
Not having a test light or ohm/volt meter, I didn't have a way of testing the sub to see if it were bad, so I decided to try the factory sub again by reconnecting the harness/connector, and that too did not work.

That's when I realized that the maybe the driver side sub has never been working because even with just the passenger side sub on, it feels like its coming from all around and not just that one side.

so I ended up leaving the sws-8xi subs in the car on both sides since I'm more certain that the issue is more on the amp side and not the sub itself (or else the factory sub should have worked) and because I needed to bolt things back up so I can drive the car.

I'm going to try the reversing wiring left/right first when I get a chance today or tomorrow and see if that helps any and go from there. A little tough w/the non-stop rain we've been having.

Thanks for your help ctuna, i really appreciate it! I'll post up once I get another chance to mess with it.

[ctuna]

You can get a 4.5 digit volt meter for about 20$
It a tool well worth having if you doing anything electrical.
Try Radio Shack if they still exist in your town.
Always better to use a meter for initial diagnosis its
less dangerous.

[taibanl]

Swap the wiring at the amp and youll know if you have a bad amp channel (or swap the inpur side to see if you have a bad input-which is unlikely because you havent said anything about your driver dooe not working)

[NocturnalEVO]

Okay so I just switched from left to right (at the amp) and now the passenger side sub is not working but the driver side is.

I switched it back and the driver side sub is not working but the pass side is.

I'm assuming this confirms a bad channel on the amp?

Anybody know if bad channels are fixable? Can I fix myself or do I need a new amp?

[bmw325i]

Originally Posted by NocturnalEVO

Okay so I just switched from left to right (at the amp) and now the passenger side sub is not working but the driver side is.

I switched it back and the driver side sub is not working but the pass side is.

I'm assuming this confirms a bad channel on the amp?

Anybody know if bad channels are fixable? Can I fix myself or do I need a new amp?

You are correct that the amp is the problem. I suspected it but didn't say anything until you tested to make sure.

I used to have my xd600/6 bridged to power my mids/highs (morel hybrid ovation II). Then all of a sudden one side stopped playing. I just use it as a 4 channel amp until I replace it with something more powerful. It was a while back when this happened and it is going to be a while before I upgrade because I keep getting distracted by other things

[ctuna]

I would talk to JL and or see if you can find a repair shop.
Or you might try to DIY if you can find schematics. In most cases
the output drivers will be gone most of the time its a chip these
days. If they use surface mount parts its pretty much impossible for
to repair .

[NocturnalEVO]

Since its a 6 channel amp, does it make a difference which 2 channels the subs are hooked up to?

Currently my subs are hooked up to channel 5 and 6.
If I disconnect the back passenger seat speakers (channels 3 and 4) and hookup the subs to channel 3 and 4 is that doable? Or no?

[bmw325i]

Originally Posted by NocturnalEVO

Since its a 6 channel amp, does it make a difference which 2 channels the subs are hooked up to?

Currently my subs are hooked up to channel 5 and 6.
If I disconnect the back passenger seat speakers (channels 3 and 4) and hookup the subs to channel 3 and 4 is that doable? Or no?

Thats what I would do. Just leave the rear speakers disconnected.

[ctuna]

Good idea
Also you should be able to fade between the floors and doors.

[bmw325i]

Originally Posted by ctuna

Good idea
Also you should be able to fade between the floors and doors.

That is actually how I have mine setup I just had more power going to the doors before those two channels stopped working. I think a more powerful 4 channel amp will do the job.

[NocturnalEVO]

So I did the above mentioned method, i disconnected the rear passenger speakers and connected the subs to channels 3 and 4. Upon doing this, the driver side sub started working but the passenger side sub stopped working. I made sure all the connections and everything were good, but no luck

At this point I got extremely fed up with the whole thing and I just took out the amp and put the factory Hi-Fi amp back in.
I think I'm going to figure out now if JL AUDIO can fix it for me or if I need a new one.

Thanks for all your help guys, i really appreciate it!