i just got a used kenwood amp, and it works great, except when i have the volume up decently high for maybe 5-10 mins, it'll shut itself off. it can be anywhere from relatively warm to pretty hot when i touch it at this point. a couple mins later it'll turn back on and work like a charm.
so my question is, is it overheating or something else?
if it is overheating, is it because im using too small of wire (12 gauge) or do i just need to get a cooling system for it?

 

i used to have a Legacy that would do it and it was in a well ventalated area i dont know though

 

Your impedance may be too low. Are you running two speakers off a 4ch amp and are your speakers 2ohms? If not then impedance shouldn't be the problem. If the impedance is lower than what the amp can handle it will burn up.

EDIT: And too small of a wire will not cause your amp to heat up. If the amp is big enough and the wire small enough the wire can get pretty hot. Do you have the amp under a seat or mounted to the back of the rear seat vertically? If so that can be another cause of overheating.

 

im not sure of the exact specs of the sub because it came from a friend who already had it in a bandpass box. ill take it out tomorrow to see. but its a 2-channel amp bridged to a single sub. i read about ohms and impedance all the time but i never really know what theyr talkin about.
also, the amp is sitting in my trunk next to my box, so its getting plenty of ventilation

 

Well your amp probably only supports 4ohms bridged. If that sub is 2 ohms then the impedance is too low and your going to burn out the amp. Do you know the brand of the sub? And do you know if its a dual voice coil?

EDIT: You can check the impedance with a multimeter, set it to ohms and probe the terminals on the sub box. Anything below 3.9ohms is too low for your brigded amp.

 

i know its a pioneer single voice coil. not sure of the model except i know they dont make 'em anymore. ill take it out tomorrow and check it out

 

If you have a multi meter you won't have to take it out of the box to get the impedance.

 

i dont got one unfortunately :\
i was gonna take it out anyways to drill holes to mount the amp.

 

the sub is a pioneer tsw300r
its 150 watts rms at 4ohms so i dont think impedance is the problem

 

Yeah impedance isn't your problem, if you have ever seen the inside of an amp there are big transistors bolted to the heatsink/casing. Over time those bolts can come lose( although unlikely as they have thread lock on them), check and make sure they are all tight. If there is a loose bolt take it off and try to get off the old thermal paste and get some new thermal paste at a computer store and apply a very thin layer tot he back of the transistor. Honestly your amp is probably just old and dieing, but that's all I can think of and I had an amp on a boat with loose transistors.