Car Audio Question

[saygbye]

i would get an aftermarket head unit, run the door speakers off of it. if the door speakers are factory replace them. and use the amp for the subs. thats what i did in my expedition and you can hear me comin' before you see me comin". my .02

 

[Busa_70461]

First it all depends on your current amp wattage and ohm loads. I have a 4 channel amp running my whole system. The amp is an Audiobahn A4125hct and it is 1 Ohm stable. I have the front and rear speakers on 2 channels and the 2-12" Kickers bridged on the other 2 channels. It all depends on the amp and what you are looking for. Oh yeah you can buy a RCA converter if you are using the factory deck it wires in to the factory harness on one side and produces RCA's on the other. If you are going with 2 amps you can buy distribution blocks for your power and ground cables. You might want to buy a deep cycle Optima battery or a capacitor so your lights don't dim with the BASS.

I currenty have a Pioneer 4-channel amp already wired and would prefer not to install another, what wattage do you recommend, I currently have a 600w but could sell it and purchase another with more wattage, Im limited on space as it is, a wiring diagram would be great

, thanks for the info

Waht size subs? What's the Ohm load of the amp and speakers?

 

[spkerhed]

just run one sub and bridge 2 channels for it and run the 4 speaker off the other 2 channels cant fade from front to rear shouldnt take more than 10 minutes to do.. also a cap wont stop your light from dimming (not enough storage) but 2nd battery (optima) will solve it as long as you arent drawing to much current for a long period of time

 

[spkerhed]

my firebird had 2 batteries

 

[spkerhed]

this system I built for a coworker had 3 batteries (thats an 18 inch sub)

 

[stevo_1978]

First it all depends on your current amp wattage and ohm loads. I have a 4 channel amp running my whole system. The amp is an Audiobahn A4125hct and it is 1 Ohm stable. I have the front and rear speakers on 2 channels and the 2-12" Kickers bridged on the other 2 channels. It all depends on the amp and what you are looking for. Oh yeah you can buy a RCA converter if you are using the factory deck it wires in to the factory harness on one side and produces RCA's on the other. If you are going with 2 amps you can buy distribution blocks for your power and ground cables. You might want to buy a deep cycle Optima battery or a capacitor so your lights don't dim with the BASS.

I currenty have a Pioneer 4-channel amp already wired and would prefer not to install another, what wattage do you recommend, I currently have a 600w but could sell it and purchase another with more wattage, Im limited on space as it is, a wiring diagram would be great

, thanks for the info

Waht size subs? What's the Ohm load of the amp and speakers?

Amp load impedance is 2-8 Ohms, sub are 2-10's 4 ohm, I will have to check the door speakers

 

[stevo_1978]

i would get an aftermarket head unit, run the door speakers off of it. if the door speakers are factory replace them. and use the amp for the subs. thats what i did in my expedition and you can hear me comin' before you see me comin". my .02

The door speakers are already upgraded, all four are running on the amp currently, trying at all cost to avoid putting in another amp

 

[stevo_1978]

just run one sub and bridge 2 channels for it and run the 4 speaker off the other 2 channels cant fade from front to rear shouldnt take more than 10 minutes to do.. also a cap wont stop your light from dimming (not enough storage) but 2nd battery (optima) will solve it as long as you arent drawing to much current for a long period of time

Sounds easy enough, you think the amp wattage is enough, or if I dont like the sound, get a bigger amp?

 

[BigRod1300]

4 channel amp for the hole thing. Left ch1 run all left main speakers, right ch2 run all right main speaker. You will not have any fade control ability from front to rear thu. Left rear ch3 and right rear ch4 bridge together for the subs as in the first diagam that was posted bringing down the ohm rating to 2, they will hit hard that way. If your amp has seperate gain controls for front and rear channel that will help to. I use to do it this way all the time untill I got more adavanced

and out of control with the audio set ups.
There is a lot of tricks to learn. Imagin 6 main speaker and one 10 inch woofer all run off of a 100 watt amp at 1/2 ohm stable. That little thing still pounded.
For comp set ups I have always like : amp 1 for left side mains, amp 2 subs, and amp 3 for right side mains. You have a lot of control over the adjustment that way.
Good luck with what every yuo do!

 

[BigRod1300]

For your fade control you could run front ch 1&2 off amp for front end main speakers. Then run the rear speakers off the deck. Just make sure your RCA are getting signal from the front fade control. The power of amp speaker in front, and deck power speakers rear would be good balance of sound.

 

[OZZY]

i think you fellas are trying to take this system too far...

steveo, just snatch up a 5 channel amp and call it a day. that wil be the easiest and most simple solution for your application. just run the subs in series off the 5th channel.

 

[BigRod1300]

taking it to far....

My idea has him buying ...NOTHING. Making it work with what he has.

 

[spkerhed]

i think you fellas are trying to take this system too far...  

steveo, just snatch up a 5 channel amp and call it a day.  that wil be the easiest and most simple solution for your application.  just run the subs in series off the 5th channel.

are you lost all he has to do is bridge 2 channels and run the factory locations off the other 2 doesnt get any simpler I have been doing this for 20 years not 4 or 5

 

[spkerhed]

taking it to far....

My idea has him buying ...NOTHING.  Making it work with what he has.

+1

 

[OZZY]

no im not lost and i fully understand what was being explained as i have also been in the business now for quite some time.

if he wants to take the time to re wire the system then go for it. thats all up to him.

what concerns me is the fact that he is running a pioneer amplifier. we all know that those amps are no where near capable of producing the power they are rated for. at the end of the day, it would make sense to me to upgrade my amp and keep all the wiring the same. afterall, upgrading to something like a rockford, memphis, or eclipse amp would do wonders for that system.... jsut my .02...

 

[stevo_1978]

thanks to all for all the input

 

[stevo_1978]

4 channel amp for the hole thing.  Left ch1 run all left main speakers, right ch2 run all right main speaker.  You will not have any fade control ability from front to rear thu.  Left rear ch3 and right rear ch4 bridge together for the subs as in the first diagam that was posted bringing down the ohm rating to 2, they will hit hard that way.   If your amp has seperate gain controls for front and rear channel that will help to.  I use to do it this way all the time untill I got more adavanced  

 and out of control with the audio set ups.  
There is a lot of tricks to learn.  Imagin 6 main speaker and one 10 inch woofer all run off of a 100 watt amp at 1/2 ohm stable.  That little thing still pounded.
For comp set ups I have always like : amp 1 for left side mains, amp 2 subs, and amp 3 for right side mains.  You have a lot of control over the adjustment that way.
Good luck with what every yuo do!

I hooked it up like you suggested above, Lefts on chan 1, rights on chan 2, subs are using channel 3, config'ed for mono, the problem Im having is that the volume is barely up, and its pretty loud, I turn it up a lil more and the amp cuts off, I know its not from overheating, is it to much load since I added the 2 subs? I need a bigger amp maybe? or is something still not connected right, the one part that did confuse me was the RCA jacks coming from the head unit, I hooked the red & white up to Input A and the Blue and black to Output A, any help is appreciated

 

[OZZY]

instead of using only channel 3 for the subs, u should bridge channels 3 and 4 for your subs... use the + on channel 3 and the - on channel 4....

 

[stevo_1978]

instead of using only channel 3 for the subs, u should bridge channels 3 and 4 for your subs...  use the + on channel 3 and the - on channel 4....

Ozzy, thats the way I have it now, but I noticed in an earlier post that the fade shouldnt work and it does, I think I have something something else wired wrong.

 

[OZZY]

without seeing the system and see how you have it wired it may be difficult to trouble shoot this one.... when u fade and balance.... do all 4 speakers slowing lose sound and the subs only work? or does the system fade and balance like it should normally??