Had an under-dash fire and it looks like the source might have been the center speaker amp or "something" in that area.

Searched all center speaker posts, but no mention of fires or similar issues.

Thanks for any input.

 

If you remove the center (bose) amp completely, does it impact anything else?

 

Unless you shorted out the amp, I don't see how this could happen. It certainly doesn't stem from removing the speaker, as many people do.

 

Removed the amp, you can see that the top of the amp either got hot enough to melt or hot enough to erupt in flames. Also caught the adjacent thin plastics on fire.

 

There are several different failure modes in the electronics that could cause this. And removing the load (speaker) could lead to instability in the amp that can result in thermal runaway. Adding a small 2 or 3 amp fuse in the power lead to this center ch amp would likely prevent it from drawing enough current to cause this level of damage.

 

Makes sense. Center Speaker was still hooked up and working, so no open "runaway" routes.

Looks like the amp just overheated and the plastics took to flame.

thanks.

 

Is there any downside to having the plug to the center amp "unplugged"? I've removed the damaged amp and do not plan to replace it. So the harness plug to the center amp would just be not plugged in to anything.

Thanks for any insight.