I bought a HD 900/5 amp from an authorized dealer in my home town exactly 30 days ago. Got it connected and everything worked fine. It's powering a set of Focal Access 3-way components in the doors, a set of Polk Audio 6.5's in the rear, and a JL 12W6 sub. I drove from home to Brunswick, GA for a two-week training class and it did fine the whole way down. I haven't tuned it for maximum quality yet, but it's been tuned to provide enough bump for the trip at moderate volume levels. My head unit is a JVC Arsenal DVD player with the Ipod connected.

On Saturday morning, I was getting prepared to mount my tweeters in the a-pillars before heading either north to see Savannah, or south to Jacksonville, FL. On the short drive to the only shaded parking area on the campus, I lost all sound in the system.

At first I thought maybe I shut off my Ipod or accidentally disconnected the Ipod cable from the USB adapter, but when I checked, all connections were tight. When I got to the shaded parking spot, I opened the hatch and looked at the amp, and the LED was flashing green/red, which indicates a problem with the amp, which means it needs to be sent back to the factory.

I turned the car off and waited for a few minutes to see if the amp would reset... no dice. Powered up and it still flashed red/green.

In accordance with the manual troubleshooting techniques, I disconnected all of the RCA's and speaker outs from the amp and powered it up... same result; red/green flashing LED.

To verify there isn't a problem with my power wiring, I took the amp out of the back and connected the power terminals directly to the battery and plugged it in... same result.

I called my shop in VA and they said it's extremely rare for JL amps to go bad, particularly the HD line; "they're practically bulletproof." They recommended I contact JL Audio directly to see if they would let me ship directly from my location. The problem there is that it was Saturday, and JL Audio isn't open on the weekends. I contacted several "local" vendors to see if they would work with me, but none wanted to play along without charging me shipping fees.

Weekend plans went to hell and I ended up rewiring from the head unit wiring harness speaker outs to my crossovers for the door and rear speakers so I could have at least some listening ability.

I called JL Audio today to see if I could ship directly to them, to which they said no, I would have to go to a local authorized dealer. I asked when it would be ready, they said probably 3 weeks because it will be sent to Arizona. I leave here next Saturday June 19, so it wouldn't do me any good to pay to have it sent off.

I called my local shop afterward and they said if I was home, I could bring it in and they would give me a new one, but they have a 2-week back order for the HD's. Then he added they would only swap for a new one if THEY did the installation. I argued the fact that I have been installing stereos for many years, and have never had an issue with my wiring, particularly with equipment that was installed and worked perfectly for a month and then suddenly gave up the ghost. The rep checked my record for date of purchase and said since it was purchased exactly 30 days ago, so he would agree to swap a new one, but he wants me to check it again to make sure the amp is bad. He also wants to see my wiring. He suggests that I may have a short in my speakers or something...

I have nothing to hide; I have at least 8 inches of separation between the power and signal cables in the hatch area, and taped it down so it wouldn't wander. I cross the power and signal cables at 90 degrees at the junction of the head unit and where the power cable comes through the firewall and routes along the floor under the passenger's seat. My amp ground is fine on the passenger's seat post. My RCA's are insulated from each other at the back of the head unit.

My biggest problem is that I have to drive 11 hours back to VA with no amp; it's gonna be a LONG trip! Has anybody had a JL Audio amp go bad after such a short period?

 

Never!

 

Well, I got to the shop and they did verify my wiring was fine. I got the new amp and it's working fine so far. Since I had to rewire the speakers from the head unit wire harness to reconnect the RCA's I re-checked my wiring very carefully. All is in order and is sounding good again! I'm a little shy now because if this new amp craps the bed, I'm really going to wonder WTF.

Since this shop swapped my amp for a new one, I wonder if the first amp was serviced before? Somebody's going to get my first amp when it comes back from JL's service dept...

 

That should not happen. If a unit is repaired it should be sold as refurbished, not new. Hopefully that is not what happened to you.

Steve

 

Man thats scarry, I purchased a HD900/5 back in April. Because of our great economy I haven't installed it yet. Well Monday is the day it goes in along with a JL 10" Sub, Pioner Avic D-3, anp Polk Audio componants speakers in the door and Polk coax in the rear. I hope my new amp is working right, I guess I find out Monday! Hope your's continues to work right! Glad to hear they took care of you with a new one!

 

my 900/5 is AMAZING......I love it. I have it powering a pair of C5 6.5" components and C2 coaxes, along with a 10W3 in a custom box.

 

FYI, my new amp is performing without failure or hiccup so far. As I recall, my previous amp had a "hiccup" when I first put it in. In the first few days after install, there was one instance where I got the "red/green flashing," but it recovered after I turned off the switch, disconnected the power lead from the battery, waited a few minutes, and reconnected. I had no other issues until that fateful day in GA.

It's a great amp, and I've had no further issues since the replacement. It drives my speakers with plenty of power, and with no shortage of power to the 12w6!

Now to the daunting task of finding a silencing all the exterior rattles...

 

Where did you end up mounting your 900/5? I just got one for my C6 and was looking at my options. It looks like I could either:

1) mount it on a board behind the passenger seat. This makes for a nice, short RCA cable run, but may impact legroom or cooling if the seat is all the way back against it.
2) It fits on the footprint of the passenger cubby door, but I'm not sure how much clearance there would be once the RCAs and wires are attached. (Would the door still be able to open?
3) It fits inside the passenger cubby on about a 60* angle with maybe just enough room for RCA and cable connections. The amp physically fits vertically, but this doesn't leave room for the connections with the door closed. I doesn't fit flat on the bottom of the cubby without cutting.

I don't want to put it back on the package shelf behind the seats where I had the amps this is replacing. Suggestions?

 

I put my HD600/4 behind the passenger seat. Tried to fit it in the passenger cubby but it didn't quite fit with the connections.