Okay, sooo...

Haven't had a chance to actually play with my amp since I installed it some time ago.

I am running an older 03 Model Alpine MRD-501, it was rated at 562 RMS at 14.4 on its birth cert.
My car currently runs that amp at 14.5 - 14.8 (from the display on the amp)

While playing around with settings the other day I noticed my L RCA had broken and the little nub was stuck in the input on the amp, so it was only running under the R RCA Channel.

My amp has a setting that will allow it to run either 1+2 Ch or just 1 Ch (R RCA)

I switched it over, the sub is now noticeably louder but my concern is that it might be producing too much distortion?
My sub is an 08 Model Alpine Type R 12 inch, its rms is 500, and should be getting about... 540 + from my amp right now...
After normal play peirods it now becomes alot warmer than before and has got that distinct smell of "warm" sub not sure how else to describe it, and well I am worried about blowing it now..

Any suggestions or guesses on what could be the problem here..
Right now I am looking into taking my amp in to a repair place here, new amp.... or just keep running it as is with my bass turned down a smidge as it is right now...

thing is that amp and sub combo is perfect and should have no troubles..

 

Im not 100% sure on this but I think you need an amp that has more then 500 rms. From what I under satand your at 540 with your amp. So your amp is working almost at 100% every hit. I am a noob at the audio stuff but Iv read up some things on crutchfeild and this sounds like the amp is working to hard.

 

I could step up to a bigger amp, but really the amp and sub combo I am runnig should be sufficient. 540 is a guesstimate, and likely number, like birth cert said that amp pushed out 562 at 14.4 and my car running that amp at 14.5 - 14.8 V should be pushing more than enough power for that sub... I dunno I am at wits end here...

 

You should prob. dial the amp back a bit. If its distorting then tun it back until its not.

What is your cross over freq. set at? This plays a big part in the SQ of a sub

 

all levels are set to 0 at the moment, that is the least it can be set at (its all digital)

all levels are set to 0 at the moment, that is the least it can be set at (its all digital)
alot of the settings are disabled as well

 

im pretty sure 0 is the max on the gain. we have one of those ******* at the shop

whats the settings on the deck. The smell ur getting is your voice coil burning so your going to want to fix something.

also remember subs realistically take less power over time. Example an re MT is rated to take a 10,000 w rms burp. and i believe it. but once that coil heats up a little bit its less efficent

 

I found the dealer sheet for settings.

anywho the gain is right at 0, it can go +6 db or +9db

I set my LPF, and parametric and changed the input turned down a bit, shes fine now

I will admit I have a bad habit for turning my stuff up pretty loud