New speakers/components?

[BassHead]

Ill start with the story. I was in school the other day and found a really old alpine amp in the garbage. So me being a car audio guy and knowing the stupid people at the school it probably works. I brought it home and hooked it up to 2 of my 500rms alpine type r subs. It powers right up and pushes the subs like they were nothing. It is rated at 50x4rms. Well I have a new amp to put in my car. I need to know if anyone else here has tried running new wires through the whole car. I just want to know what I am getting myself into before I do it. Thanks

[SlaveLabor]

Yeah, I've done it before. It's really not to bad. Who installed your previous system? Does your deck have the correct amount of RCA's to push a 4 channel amp, and a sub amp? Let me know, i could give you a hand if you need it. Remeber my cell phone?

[iaminsider]

I wired in 2 amps, 2 subs, 1 farad cap, and all new speakers in my car in like 3 hours. Easy job.

[LG96GT]

probes are pretty easy to wire. Pontiac's just for the record are the biggest bitch.

[96pgt@dd1ct]

yep. it takes maybe a good 2 hours. atleast for my dad and i. we installed head unit, subs, 4 interior speakers, amp, and ALL the wires to get it thumping. you can easily just find the grommet in the firewall on the drivers side-top left corner. just run the 12 volt threw there and as for the other wires. if u have your amp in the trunk, you can run all the wires from the headunit, to the amp by routing the wires on the little running board on drivers side. continuing on, you can run the wire under the back seat and in the bottom right corner, pull the wires through and connect to th amp.
wow that was a mouth full

[SlaveLabor]

yep. it takes maybe a good 2 hours. atleast for my dad and i. we installed head unit, subs, 4 interior speakers, amp, and ALL the wires to get it thumping. you can easily just find the grommet in the firewall on the drivers side-top left corner. just run the 12 volt threw there and as for the other wires. if u have your amp in the trunk, you can run all the wires from the headunit, to the amp by routing the wires on the little running board on drivers side. continuing on, you can run the wire under the back seat and in the bottom right corner, pull the wires through and connect to th amp.
wow that was a mouth full

DING DING DING!!!! I believe i just read something that was useful, and actually knowledgeable about a Probe! Congrats!

[96pgt@dd1ct]

YAAAAAAAAAAY

well i was the light holder for my dad so i was watching very closely. he tought me this awesome trick to find the polarity of a speaker. you take like a 12 volt duracell battery and connect the wire you want to test and put it on the negative end and positive end. if the speaker pops in, you have it set to positive which you want.if the speaker goes out, you have it in reverse polarity.(whichever one you want to do is fine but you have to make sure you do them all the same)DONT QOUTE ME ON THIS because it might be other way around(if it goes in its +/-) you get the idea.
my dad went to school to be an electrical engineer. hes the guy at best buy telling all the little seniors in high school who work in the car audio department how a speaker works cuz they dont have the right idea.(he actually does this)lol

[SlaveLabor]

That's a good thing to have some one around that knows what they are talking about. Explains how you got a remote start installed... I've heard you want to be care full with the speaker poppers just because it could cause the air bags to deploy...i just know this because they couldn't use them at best buy.

[96pgt@dd1ct]

yea if you pretty much nudge the YELLOW air bag wires, they will prolly deploy. me and my dad where actually loooking for them so we knew where they were so we weant around them. we couldnt even find them. so if you just did have like a seziure and you were trying to install a remote starrt, your airbag would prolly remain safely in the steering wheel.( i know cuz i watched the instructional diy video that came w/ my remote start. i watched it like 5x over again.

[Oertdogg]

Im late in posting this, but yeah, way easy. Easy to hide the wires, get at them, locate them, etc.

I even ran some aftermarket tweeters that I mounted on the front pillar braces (w/o drilling, just gangsta duct tape). SwEet!

[iaminsider]

Make sure when you are running your wiring to NOT run the power wire and the signal wires from your headunit on the same side of the (down the same running board). Run the power on the drivers side for ease and run the signal wires on the passanger side. You will get noise on the line if you run them together.

[BassHead]

Yeah I ran the signals and remote through the center console and used a switch on my remote so I can control the amp turn on from the drivers seat. For running the power cable I already have a sub amp using 4 guage so all I need is a distribution block for that. I just wanted to know how much trouble it was to run the new wires because I heard that the gromet in the doors that house the speaker wires had something in them so you couldn't run new ones. I will let you know later on the rest.

[iaminsider]

For the doors, I tapped into the existing wiring in the dash and ran it that way. It is the only way to do it with out doing alot of custom work that is really not needed if the wiring in your car isnt totally screwed.

[BassHead]

Well I have to run wires from all 4 speakers to the hatch where the amp is located. It just sucks right now because it is really cold and I have to pull the dash apart and run 2 sets of rca's and pull all the panels off to run wires for the speakers. So hopefully it isn' too cold tomororow so it can get done. I am still debaating on what to get for my 15"L7 that should be getting 1000rms. But my alternator can't handle that much current. I have a cheap off brand powering 340rms right now and it is decent but I want a little more. Has anyone ever done a alternator up grade on here?

[iaminsider]

I have a 120 amp alternator. I got it from a place in burnsville. I will find out the exact name if you need me to. It was the highest output alternator that I cound find. With it and a capacitor, I had amazing solid power and no dimming lights. I was running a Rockford 1000bd amp. They put out about 1200rms. Basshead man, ask me anyquestion about car audio and I WILL get you an answer. Car audio is what I know best!!

[96pgt@dd1ct]

so like for me, when i sit at stop lights, and have my subs on even just a little, my headlights will dim. i will think it is my battery and so i hit the gas and make it go to around 1500 rpm. and it still keeps dimming. what do i need to upgrade? battery? alternator? what???

[LG96GT]

I have a 120 amp alternator. I got it from a place in burnsville. I will find out the exact name if you need me to. It was the highest output alternator that I cound find. With it and a capacitor, I had amazing solid power and no dimming lights. I was running a Rockford 1000bd amp. They put out about 1200rms. Basshead man, ask me anyquestion about car audio and I WILL get you an answer. Car audio is what I know best!!

i want the exact name of the place lol, how much did it cost?

[BassHead]

Yeah same here ^^^^^^

[SlaveLabor]

so like for me, when i sit at stop lights, and have my subs on even just a little, my headlights will dim. i will think it is my battery and so i hit the gas and make it go to around 1500 rpm. and it still keeps dimming. what do i need to upgrade? battery? alternator? what???

I would get a new bat. Shoot for an optima or interstate. Other wise you might want to look into a cap.

[iaminsider]

A & B Auto Electric
12601 Chowen Ave S
Burnsville, MN 55337-1794
(952) 894-5147

There yall go. Sorry, I have not been on in a few days. Also, I had no dimming problems with the new alternator, a 40 dollar cheapy walmart battery and a 1 farad cap. I was drawing much more power from my 2 amps than you will be with your setup. So trust me, it worked great.

Oh and as far as your dimming problems go... Get a cap. A new batter and alternator alone will not completly solve that problem.

[BassHead]

I am going to call today but I was just wondering what you paid, to have a ball park price.

[iaminsider]

I think it was like 150 with a 1 year warranty

[dneinstadt]

That is the alternator, do NOT buy a new battery. A cap and/or alternator will be your answer.

[BassHead]

Yeah I am going to have to get an alternator. I just put my new amp in which is a 1000rms at 4ohms 2ch. My voltage goes down while I am driving so there is definately not enough current.

[LG96GT]

Yeah I am going to have to get an alternator. I just put my new amp in which is a 1000rms at 4ohms 2ch. My voltage goes down while I am driving so there is definately not enough current.

gotta ask what kind of amp and how much you paid? sounds like the exact amp I'm trying to find for my kickers.

[iaminsider]

What I was running was a Rockford 1000bd amp. Which was tested by Rockford at 1243 watts rms at 2 ohm. That was pushing 2 Alpine type R 12'' subs. I also had a Rockford 550x 4 channel running the audio. Very loud system. Alpine subs put out some of the cleanest bass I have ever heard. All together I had close to 3 grand into this system. Between speakers, subs, amps, wiring and my headunit.

[defiler]

The alt problem is why a lot of people just power their system off a seperate battery in the trunk, like an Optima.


IIRC the Ford dealer in White Bear Lake does custom alternator re-wiring. I know an old buddy needed a new one made fro his F250 because the system was going beyond the max of the stock alt, and it only ran him 80bux or so...

[iaminsider]

The problem with our alternators is that they have mitsubishi voltage regulators in them and it is difficult to source higher output regulators for them. I called every alternator shop in the state and the one I posted in burnsville was the only one who could get me 120 amps. You could go custom and use one for like a tahoe which you can get like 250 amps out of, but that will cost you 300-400. Having a second battery will not completly solve the problem. Do not buy a second battery before you get a new alternator. You will only be adding more strain to the one you have by making it charge 2 batteries instead of 1. Get a new alternator and a cap and you will be set.

[BassHead]

Right now I have a soundstream 1000rms and the alpine 4channel 200rms. I had a second battery and had the said problem of too much alternator strain. I had a 2 farad cap in there before but it would drain the battery over night so it was removed. As of now I have the 15"l7 but hopefully be selling it for 200$ and putting my 2 alpine type r 10s back in. I love the sound quality of the alpines myself. They just don't have the sound output of a square sub.

[sk8phreak88]

Ooh, I like those 10" Type R's. I'm trying to find one cheap for my ranger.

[BassHead]

Well if you want 2 I can deal.

[iaminsider]

Hey man, be careful with soundstream. Do not push it too hard. They are notorious for blowing if pushed to the limit. Make sure when you mount it to space it from against anything. What I mean is use some washers to keep it from resting on whatever you are mounting it on. So it has proper airflow. If you need help with any of this, just ask.

[BassHead]

Yeah I read all about them and their problems. But for free I am not complaining. the guy who sold it to me didn't say it was broken so when I got it and it didn't work I got my money back and got to keep the amp. But when I took it apart it was only a loose screw so thats my 2nd free amp. This thing has 2 fans on it so either they knew it had a problem or they are just smart and wanted an amp that stayed cool.

[iaminsider]

Free? Nice. Then if it blows, no worries.

[OKIE]

I WILL get you an answer. Car audio is what I know best!!


What's the diffrence between a power plant and a cap/power cap? What are the diffrances in the "frad"on caps? exa. 1.2frad, 2.0frad, 5.0frad...etc

[OKIE]

As of now I have the 15"l7 but hopefully be selling it for 200$ and putting my 2 alpine type r 10s back in. They just don't have the sound output of a square sub.

Dam! I was looking to buy a 15" L7 but too expensive! Your giving it at a great price! Hope i had seen this before. Now i bout 2"new" 10's with 500rms each for 1/2 the price of 1 new 15"L7 from a friend of mine. Now i dont know what amp to power them up......

[SlaveLabor]

OKIE: try bestbuy man, they are selling there last years models for dirt cheap right now. I think there is an Alpine amp from last year that will kick out the power you are looking for, and Alpine makes some bad ass amps.

[iaminsider]

What's the diffrence between a power plant and a cap/power cap? What are the diffrances in the "frad"on caps? exa. 1.2frad, 2.0frad, 5.0frad...etc

The difference in the Farad ratings in a Capacitor is just how much power it stores. I was running 1000watts rms from my last setup and I had a 1 farad cap and it was adaquit but I would run a larger cap next time. Maybe a 2-3 farad cap next time. And as far as a powerplant or also knows as batcaps are high capacity capacitors. In the range of 50-100 farads. It mixes both worlds of capacitors and batteries into 1 package.

[96pgt@dd1ct]

OKIE: try bestbuy man, they are selling there last years models for dirt cheap right now. I think there is an Alpine amp from last year that will kick out the power you are looking for, and Alpine makes some bad ass amps.

do you know be chance what model it is? i am in need of a mono amp to push my 2 12" infinity's. i want more power.

[OKIE]

What's better and why? Speakers or components? To get a nice clear/clean sound, would you hook them up to an amp or an "Equalizer"(i think thats the name of it)?