Distorting sound like i blew the amp

The amp is clipping the signal. This could be from the input being too high. The impedance being too low or the finals are damaged.

Time to start upgrading! Think power delivery, then amps, then speakers, then enclosures.
If you need more voltage, add batteries, capactors etc, if you're exceedingg the amp output range, you'll blow speakers (no matter what the speakers are rated for), if you have good power and the amp(s) are fine, your speakers may not be up to the task

Simply put, burned voice coil. Either too much power can do this or not enough power with distortion. solution- if the sound is clear then its too much power- turn the amp down. If the sound is distorted and raspy- its not enough power and your getting distortion-get bigger amp.

If you run the power amp at a very low setting it makes the amp subject to noise and distortion. You want around a 60% setting.

Speakers also need to have proper loading, that is in a cabinet or enclosure that is kind of matched to them. If the amp is rated at a true 400 Watts RMS then the speakers should be at least 800 Watts as they "cheat" on those SPEAKER ratings and MANY A SPEAKER IS BLOWN AS A RESULT.

Hi,
What happened is that the tweeter is blown. or a fuse in the speaker that goes to the tweeter has blown. Hopefully that is it.
There are several causes. Here is the theory so you understand how to match an amplifier to a speaker system.
Tweeters have a much lower capacity for amplifier power then woofers do. All professional speakers as well as home speakers reflect this.
You may ask exactly what blew the tweeter?
Usually what destroys the tweeter is not amplifier power but distortion. If someone is overloading the microphone, or the microphone is not trimmed to the mixer. You get distortion. This distortion is what caused the tweeter to blow. The signal must be clean. If you put too much power in, it may survive OK but if you put distortion in, it will more likely blow.
It is no shame for this to happen. I have had it happen to me when mixing a live show. You just have to watch what is happening and not turn things up too loud so the mixer or the amplifier distorts.
Also when doing sound work, the ears of an engineer naturally lower the perception of loudness. Engineers often keep turning up the equipment up more and more during a performance because they have lost the perception of loudness that was there when they started. That is also the reason that many professional studio musicians and drummers loose much of their hearing at an early age.
Hope this helps,
Happy New Year,
Mark

yea for sure thats a good upgrade. You shouldnt havebeen able to blow the kenwoods with 400 watts though-meaning that they probably blew from distortion which causes heat(fast) Check your gain on the amp start it out at 1/4 gain and turn up your deck to the point where you can hear distortion from your mids and highs or to the maximum level that you listen to your music at. If you're jamming out at a level that is causing distortion then you will be sending a distorted signal to the amp as well. The amp then amplifies the distorted signal through the subs which overheat and blow. So find the distortion spot and then turn it down just a little bit till it clears up your sound-then adjust your gain on the amp up slowly until you cant hear it getting any louder. Once you have done that you have reached the limit of CLEAN power that you are going to get.Thats where you want to keep it. Watch the bass boost too if you have the bass up on the deck and then crank up the bass boost on the amp it really f's up the signal too. Good luck

If the speaker has been overdriven, it may have damaged the cone surround or damaged the speaker coil, causing it to 'rub' inside the magnet. To check for rubbing, you need to move the speaker cone backwards and forwards by hand and listen where the speaker coil/cone goes into the magnet. It should be silent if ok. If you can heara rubbing or grating noise, then the speaker is damaged. If the output driver on the amp is damaged it can give a distorted sound, which could easily happen if it tries to provide too much current.

Hello,

The level control controls the input level coming from your head unit (receiver) to the amp.

Your Sony users manual is a little vague on how to best adjust the level and other controls.

Here is one method that some installers use and works well with most amps.

Most 10" subs sound best between about 80-100hz and below, so start out by setting the LPF at about 80hz. The HPF will not be used. Next turn the bass boost and gain all the way down. Turn on the radio and set all tone controls, bass, midrange, treble to flat, usually "0" on most head units. Turn the volume up to approximately 3/4 volume level or just until you begin to hear distortion. Now, back the volume down until the distortion is gone. Next turn up the gain control on the amp until you hear the subs start to distort then back the gain down until the distortion disappears. Next turn the bass boost up again until the subs begin to distort, then either back the bass boost down or back the gain down until the distortion is gone. You may need to play around with the bass boost and gain controls to get exactly the sound you prefer.

Hope this helps.

If the amp still goes into protect mode, the easiest thing to do is disconnect the RCA cables from the amp and see if still goes into protect mode (after turning off/on). If it does, the issue lies in the amp or the wiring to/from the amp (most likely case). Check to make sure no speaker wires came loose and touched +12V or ground (car body). From the sound of it, my guess is something internal to the amp died and will need repair.