Top 20 Jl Audio 500/1 Car Audio Amplifier Questions & Answers

Definitely check to make sure your amp and speaker enclosure are securely mounted to your vehicle, also check all wiring connections- it sounds like something is loose or there's a short. Secure everything and triple check all connections & I believe all will be well. If you need further help please don't hesitate to ask!

What happened right before it stopped working?

You should get the schematic for it. I can tell if your reference to trans is for transistor or transformer. If you mean transistor, in that power circuit they are most likely http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Vishay-Siliconix/IRFZ44PBF/?qs=sGAEpiMZZMvARmQSk64rFx%252biHG2Aqv9T. See if you can see any references to the parts on the board. One of the others that fails often is: http://www.mouser.com/Search/ProductDetail.aspx?qs=4kLU8WoGk0vGgdnitUP0Eg%3d%3d and http://www.mouser.com/Search/ProductDetail.aspx?qs=4kLU8WoGk0vWou9qAZ%252bg5w%3d%3d

I am assuming these are subs, you didnt say, but that is my guess. do you want bass, or do you want to take it easy on your amp? do you have a terminal cup on your sub box, or just wires going into the box to the speakers? take it easy route: wire positive from amp to positive of one speaker, negative of amp to negative of the other speaker, with a jumper wire connecting the negative of the first speaker, to the positive of the second.more bass route: run seperate positive and negative wires to each speaker, making sure to maintain proper polarity.

It sounds like heat. If your running it at 2 ohms or 1 ohm it's going to run hot. You location is critical. If it's under a seat it may be above you catalytic converter and it will be too hot. In the past I have run a small fan that was used in boats that's compact and runs at 12 volts and in one case I used a fan similar to a computer hard drive fan that I found at radio shack that was 12 volts. Also your alternator will become taxed as more heat is developed during driving. Heat lowers the out put amperage of any alternator and will start to cause the amp to cut out. I also use at least a 10 gauge or larger power supply wire for the amp that's fused no more than 8 inches from the battery. The ground should be just as large and the ground point clean. I always use dialectric greas on all connectins to prevent corrsion.

check your fuse on the battery and check the fuse on the amp or it might b loose connection of power line and the remote wire(the blue wire

Because your amp is overheating. The transistors are attatched to the heatsink inside the amp. Alongside these transistors is a sensor that shuts down the amp when it reaches a certain temperature. A very easy repair. Clean up the old paste and add new thermal paste.

check the connection of power connection and the remote connection tone amp,you can check also you inside by using your hand ,turn on the amp and wiggle it the power connection parts.

1 make sure its hocked up properly .2 see i if the protection comes on.. with out the speaker wires hocked up if it does the u have a bad amp.3 if the amp protection light is off with out the speaker being hocked up and after hocking up the speaker it comes on the u have bad wiring to your speaker or a bad speaker

bingo there should be 2 15 amp fuses find the slots and if hooked up right u well have action

If you want to repair it ,Take it to some one that no what in the hell there doing,

I think you might have your remote turn on from your deck to amp hooked up wrong check that out!! I not are you familliar with the mr. butterworth crossover JL developed for that series of amp? Just like its big nrother the 1000x1 class D the built in smart crossover has many built in pretect modes. If your subs are drawing to much power it shuts down if they draw to little of ohms or to many but that 500 is 1 ohm stable so download the crossover settings from JL and go from there

English only. Use Google Translate.

You will have to take a piece of speaker wire and put it from the positive of one voice coil to the negative of the other voice coil.....Then, with the other remaining positive and negative, hook it up to the amp.....And your good to go....If your still confused, get back to me....hope that helps.....

Listen everyone who is having any JL 500/1 or 1000/1 amps. There are many reasons why your amps have failed. Most of the problem is the power supply mosfets shorted out and output mosfets shorted too. Those are the 2 biggest problems when you run these amps hard. Also the main power supply capacitors and the gate resistors mostly burn out when a power supply mosfet shorts. Some people if they remove the back cover may see signs of of the problem area and others will not. I have been repairing these paticular amps at least 2 to 3 a week with other amps I get in. It seems that the older ones people bought working are now failing. So this is just a quick overview of what your problem is and is part or is the problem guaranteed. Sometimes I get tired of seeing them coming in but it's what I do and know exactly where to start. I don't know at this time but I think for $160 if you send your JL 500/1 to JL they will just replace the board. Don't quote me on that cause prices change. I would call and ask. My repair depending on the damage is around $80-90 to repair these 500/1. The 1000/1 can be the same or higher. I can't tell you if I don't have it in front of me diagnosing it. As I said though, the problems are basicly the same for the most part and the amp will have to be repaired. I help people also who are electronicaly inclined and if they feel confident and can unsolder and solder and know thier way around a volt ohm digital meter I can walk them through the steps. It's not that hard everybody, really it is'nt. A little confidence and soldering and reading a volt meter and you can repair your own amp. Contact me if you need any help. Thank you! Btw, I’m available to help over the phone in case u need at https://www.6ya.com/expert/mark_b53a7494531bf96d

hook up the remote wire ( or make sure its hooked up good) check your ground! ground wire not big enough awg wire and put on bare metal not more than 1 foot away from amp. bad ground will cause this.

Hi, 1 probable cause is a bad ground. Check and/or replace wires GROUND.

There are three status indicator lights on the top of the amplifier. These are as follows:
1) "Power" (Green): lights to indicate that the amplifier is turned on and operating normally.
2) "Thermal" (Red): lights to indicate that the amplifier has exceeded its safe operating temperature, putting the amplifier into a self-protection mode, which reduces the power output of the amplifier. The red light will shut off and the amplifier will return to normal, full-power operating mode if the heat sink temperature drops back to a safe level.
3) "Low ω" (Amber): lights to indicate that the impedance of the speaker load connected to the amplifier is lower than the optimum impedance load range for the amplifier. When this light is on, a protection circuit engages and reduces the power output of the amplifier. The amber indicator will also light when a short-circuit is detected in the speaker wiring (this can be a short between the positive and negative speaker wires or between either speaker wire and the vehicle chassis).


There is only one condition that will shut down an undamaged 500/1v2 completely... If battery voltage drops below 10 volts, the entire amplifier will shut itself off. The green "Power" indicator on the top of the amplifier will turn off when this occurs. The amplifier will turn back on when voltage climbs back above 10 volts. This may happen in a rapid cycle when bass-heavy program material causes a weak charging system to dip below 10 volts momentarily. If this is happening in your system, have your charging system inspected to make sure it is working properly.

If your amplifier is blinking Green, and no output is coming out of the speaker, you may have internal damage to your 500/1 Amp.

"My amplifier turns on, but there is no output"

• Check the input signal using an AC voltmeter to measure the voltage from the source unit while an appropriate test tone is played through the source unit (disconnect the input cables from the amplifier prior to this test). The frequency used should be in the range that is to be amplified by the amplifier (example: 50 Hz for a sub bass application or 1 kHz for a full range / high-pass application). A steady, sufficient voltage (between 200mV and 8.0-volts) should be present at the output of the signal cables.
• Check the output of the amplifier. Using the procedure explained in the previous check item (after plugging the input cables back into the amplifier) test for output at the speaker outputs of the amplifier. Unless you enjoy test tones at high levels, it is a good idea to remove the speaker wires from the amplifier while doing this. Turn the volume up approximately half way. 5V or more should be measured at the speaker outputs. This output level can vary greatly between amplifiers but it should not be in the millivolt range with the source unit at half volume. If you are reading sufficient voltage, check your speaker connections as explained below.
• Check to ensure that the speaker wires are making a good connection with the metal inside the terminal block. The speaker wire connectors are designed to accept up to 8 AWG wire. Make sure to strip the wire to allow for a sufficient connection with the metal inside the terminal block.

For immediate assistance please call our Technical Support Department at 954-443-1100.
Otherwise, check this site out for Technical Assistance with your Amp:
http://mobile.jlaudio.com/support_pages.php?page_id=130

Here is your Manual:
http://mobile.jlaudio.com/pdfs/13320.pdf I’m happy to help further over the phone at https://www.6ya.com/expert/jeremy_69f3cc28d95bf514

Sounds like an amp issue. Does the ohms reading of the sub match the amp? typically this is what kills amps.