New Polk-based Car Stereo System

Monster Jam

All,

I am upgrading my factory car stereo to after market that is largely Polk Audio based.
First, the stereo to be removed is the factory Bose radio from a 2005 Chevy Trailblazer. It isn't completely awful - the worst factory stereo I'd heard was from my factory Bose Infinity Q45 - but the existing stereo leaves me wanting so much more so badly. Is spend a lot of time in my truck (and plan to keep it at least two more years), so why not put some money into it, especially when I unload the truck, the heart of the investment can be removed and taken with me.

In any case, here is what I went with:
Kenwood KDC-BT958HD (My preference has been Pioneer, but I thought I'd give Kenwood a shot)
4 x Polk Audio DB651
Polk PAD40004
1 x Polk Audio DXi 112
Polk PAD10001

Added a capacitor also. Very excited - I am a Polk diehard (home theatre is all LSi, as is my computer 2-channel rig), and I expect this setup to sound pretty good.

MacLeod

Have you already bought everything? If not, Id suggest just spending your speaker money on a set of the MM6501's in the front bi-amped off that 4 channel amp would be a better way to go. $225 right now on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Polk-Audio-AA6514-A-6-5-Inch-Speaker/dp/B001C3K7I4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398037963&sr=8-1&keywords=polk+audio+mm6501

Monster Jam

Well - it sounded good* while it lasted! Sadly, it lasted about three weeks. The PA D4000.4 appears to have a problem. When I turn it up - even moderately - it goes into protection mode. Given that it operates fine at low volumes I think rules out any connection problem or external short.

Back to the store.

*To be very critical about the new system when it was fully operational, I have more than a few "holes" in the sound spectrum. I have adjusted the best I can via equalization.
Also, I noticed that the sub is unbelievably deep. I'm not saying that being that deep is a great thing, but I certainly didn't expect the sweet spot to be so low from a vented 12" enclosure.

Monster Jam

Update: I returned the amp to Fry's and they refunded the money. They didn't have a replacement so I had to find one on my own. I just received it in the mail and installed it about an hour ago. I have the fronts going to the rear, so I'll have to fix that , but I've noticed that it (the 4000.4) and my other amp (the 1000.1) are both running hot. I'm pretty sure they should be running cool, not warm (or even hot).

What gives? What could be causing this? I'm thinking that whatever is causing the amps to run hot caused the first failure, and if I don't get it figured out, I'll just cycle through amps...and that's pretty expensive.

Any thoughts?

MacLeod

These new Polk amps seem to run hot. I read a lot of people mentioning it. The old PA amps ran really hot as well. I think Polk spent a little too much time designing a heat sink to look a certain way and not really thinking about how itll cool. So I think its just how they roll and not that theyre defective.