Amp stuck in protection mode, help!!

im guessing both speakers are 4 ohms ..mtx 4ohms and kicker dual 4ohms..now if your amp can go down to 1 ohm wiring the kicker dual coils in parallel (2ohms) and the mtx connected together (4ohms) should leave you with a final impedance between 1 and 2 ohms ...i suggest you use one or get another

This site well be helpful for you to configure the connections
http://www.the12volt.com/caraudio/boxes.asp

When an amplifier shuts the Bass off that means its going into protection mode otherwise it will burn out the outputs. One way is to turn your gains down, Pioneer amps are not the best amps for bass out there, they are more for car speakers, I personally wont use a pioneer amp to run my subwoofers especially if they are hard driven subs like JL , Kicker Solo's and MTX subs. But for now just turn the gains down to 3/4 and that should help u, you can also install a fan to keep your amp cooler, if this never happened before in 5 yrs and now it does then that means your amp is just tired and the inside components are overheating easily, thats common with Pioneer and Sony amps.

Good luck buddy.

Lex...

Check all your RCA"smake sure they all have output..Then use a fluke metere, or any meter you can get that tests ohms, and measure each speaker..they should all read arround 4. If the outputs from the deck are good, and the speakers measure correctly, then you have got yourself a bad amp.

go into the menu screen on the pioneer unit and go to setting if you have a loud function there turn it on.... if that doesn't activate the amp ...(did you hook up the blue wire from pioneer deck to amp and run it threw the car to the amp)..if no than your pioneer deck does not realize there is an amp present in system....... if yes scroll threw menu till you see audio look for Sub Woofer or Amp you may even have a button on pioneer deck marked SW go press it and turn amp to on this will provide signal from pioneer unit to amp if this doesn't work other thing could be you hooked RCA to AUX input (but if you have a SW for RCA plugs on back of unit make sure the RCA wires are in it) the loud or SW button should activate it (if there is only F and R for RCA plugs on back of unit use R hope this helps)

Is the box sealed air tight, leaking around speaker? plumbers putty works great. Amp may be good enough for the mtx but underpowered for the kicker. When kicker says 1000 watts that what it is (at a 14.4 volt input). Mtx is ok but may not tell the true watts. Check to see if the speakers are the same ohms also!

If the amp is in protect mode, it probably has shorted output transistors. To eliminate other possible problems, do the following.

With your multimeter set to DC volts, the black meter lead on the ground terminal of the amp (not on the point where the ground wire connected to the vehicle) and the head unit on (so the amp will have remote voltage applied), touch the red lead alternately to the B+ and remote terminals of the amp. If the voltage drops below ~11 volts, you need to check the wiring feeding whichever line is dropping too low when the amp goes into protect.

If the voltage is OK, you need to check the speaker wiring and the speaker(s). Try it with a known good speaker if possible to see if the amp works normally.

if the amp is powering on the sub and playing and then turns in to protect mode it could be the amp is getting hot and its kicking into protect so you wont fry the amp

if you amp is in the PROTECTION MODE its means that there some defective part , like for example the main ICs or TRANSISTORS output might be defective , and thats why its on the PROTECTION MODE , needs to be taken to a expert technician for repair.

if your amplifier has the internal Kicker card dealie "little computer card on the side that you can change out crossover settings and such," Turn off the vehicle, remove this device and make sure the contacts on the card are clean and free from black soot (showing a spark). clean the contacts with a pencil eraser or something hard but soft... and put the little card back in place, start the car again and see if that helps, I used to lose one speaker every once in a while with the same amp. I ended up replacing the module with a different one from my dealer and it worked fine (still does and it's been in my car 6 years). Check that little module. if this doesnt work, while the car is running and the music is "playing" wiggle the card and see if it works sometimes and not others. Likely is the little module.