Amp Setup

[Damian Zerr]

I'm a rather newb when it comes to stereo stuff. I'm trying to figure out how to incorperate a Alpine 4/3/2 channel amp into my exisisting setup. I should first off say I'm not including a sub at this stage. I have the basic 6 speaker 1G talon setup, I already upgraded the my door panel and rear speakers, dash tweets are stock. I have a JVC KD-SH77 with preouts. I just want to get better overall sound quality and loudness, so how should I hook this amp up. Should I run all 6 speakers off the amp, only the rear 2, or some other configuration. The amp is bridgeable as well.

answers in newby english please

[Jeremy Clarke]

A 4/3/2 amp means you have a four channel amp that can bridge one or both sides. In your case though I would do neither. I would hook up your four upgraded speakers to the amp (one per channel) and run the stock tweets off the decks front wires as they should currently be. Then when you get a sub you can chose to either use a second amp for it or if your current amp is a good wattage get a lesser quality two channel amp for your door speakers or four channel and wire your teets too. Then run your rears and sub off of the current amp with the sub side bridged. Then you're set. Running more than one set of speakers on any one channel is not recommended unless you know what you're doing because it changes the Ohm load. Be carefull to set up the gains on your amp so that they are just below the distortion point on your speakers when the deck is at the maximum setting you use it at. Then make sure anyone entering your car knows that limit. :wink:

[John Hartman]

I would also suggest disconnecting and removing the dash speakers.  All the stock speakers are very poor quality and will detract from your sound quality and volume potential.  they suck harsh.

Also good wire and good connections are very important.  You can have great components but if the wire is spliced togeather crap, and all the joints are poor, your sound will be poor as well.

Enclosures are important as well.  I sealed the stock rear enclosures with silicone bathtub calking and it was like I added a small sub.  Huge difference.

[Andrew Scott]

the only speakers you should ever drop ohms on are subs, otherwise it starts sounding really, really bad.

Also, for your front stage, you may wish to consider a component set... a 6" woofer in the door, and a tweeter in the dash, to replace the paper one that's there. You'd get a better balance that way, and then your deck isn't pushing any speakers at all that way as well.

BTW the hardest part of doing a door speaker install, is running the wires through the rubber accordian that goes from the door to your car.

[Mike Schmid]

I'm no stereo guru or anything but here's what I'd do...

Hopefully your deck has three sets of pre outs, you only really need 2 right now though... one set will do but it's far from ideal... Anyhow, run the RCA cables from the deck to the amp, run power and ground to the amp, keep the ground short and make it good or you'll get noise.  You should probably run your own lengths of wire to the speakers.  The rears are easy... the doors difficult because of the rubber door jamb thingy.  You want to do the doors though because the factory has a crossover burried somewhere that sends highs to the 4" dash speakers and lows to the door speaker.  You want to avoid that, especially if you have a 2 way 5-1/4" in the door.

Run each speaker on it's own channel.  When everything is hooked up you should turn all your gains down to minimum then I like to grab something like a classical CD, something instrumental with no distortion is great, and put it in, turn it to full volume or the maximum volume you want to listen at and then turn up the gains until it starts to distort, at that point turn the gains down a little.  Now you can listen anywhere from minimum volume to full volume and you won't be distorting and beating up on the speakers.

[Damian Zerr]

thx for the tips guys

[Damian Zerr]

Where's the best place to shop for car stereo wire? And how much am I roughly looking at if redo all 4 speakers plus adding the newly installed amp?

[John Hartman]

any audio place.

You don't need that huge 4 guage or even 8 guage.  For normal speakers, high quality 14 or 16 guage is plenty.

You want good power wire tho, 8 or 10 guage there for sure.  Some go really huge here but I don't see the point unless you are going all out.

So its not that much money, you shouldnt have to spend more than $50 for everything.

[Andrew Scott]

I run 4 ga power wire, which then splits into 8 ga in my trunk and goes to my two amps. You'll need about 10-12 feet depending on your application. Its better to have too much than too little!!

As for speaker wire, you're gunna need ALOT. Your front speakers will probably require 10-12 feet per side, and your rear speakers will need about 5 feet per side, again, depending on your application.

[Andrew Scott]

Oh yeah, and for places I like, I go to a&b sound or audio video unlimited.

I try to avoid future shop at all costs

[Damian Zerr]

ok so this is what I should be looking at roughly

Power and Ground Wire: 8 gauge ; 20 feet

Speaker Wire: 14 gauge ; 35 feet

and a RCA cable to run from my deck to the amp, about 10 feet?


Now I need to figure out where I should mount the amp....

[Damian Zerr]

Ok i need some advice on where to place my amp. What have you guys done? The only thing I can think of is placing it on the back on one of the rear folding seats. Can you guys post some pics and give me some ideas.

[John Hartman]

when I had an amp in my car, I put it behind the drivers side rear panel.  The one that is near your left arm if you were sitting in the rear seat.  I took the panel out and was able to bolt it in there very securely, and no one could see it.

[Eric McIntyre]

thats a dope idea... eventually i wanna make custom fiberglass panels for back there.... maybve do that with a plexiglass window...could be good

[Andrew Scott]

Yeah, fiberglass is the only way to do it in a talon trunk, really, if you still want room for groceries

You'll probably want a bit longer RCAs, like maybe 12-15 feet... they gotta go from your deck to your amp.