# Wiring Subs and amp ??



## ryan7o7 (May 6, 2004)

I would like to purchase some subs and an amp, but i have no clue on speaker wiring. I am very mechanical inclined and i can wire electricy to where ever i need it(streetglow, foglights, etc.). Can anyone tell me what i would have to do to hook up my subs and my amp? I can build the box and everything, i just need help with hooking them so i can have them play the music in my car. thanks for any help!!


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## Punkrocka436 (Jul 8, 2003)

Wiring is very straight forward. 

Power wire from battery to amps B+ terminal (fused <18 inches from the battery)
Ground wire BOLTED to metal part of the chassis to the GND terminal (No more than 3 ft, same gauge as power wire)
Remote Turn on wire from back of HU to REM terminal (18 gauge is fine)
Speaker wiring from the speaker outs of the amp to the terminals on the speaker

Once you get done wiht the wiring, the tweaking process comes. The gain setting on the amp is NOT a volume control as most people believe. A good guide on setting gains can be found Here. Are you planning on getting Speakers, Sub and an amp to power both? Let us know what you are planning to do and i can help further


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## new94 (Jan 9, 2004)

Isn't it within 12" of the Battery? Don't pop in the fuse until it's all wired up too, that's the last thing you should do after double checking everything! Just be sure when wiring the sub/sub's you've dedcided on series wiring or parallel wiring and which your amp can handle etc. like punkrocka436 mentioned though figure all your product's out etc. then post what they are and someone can help you with more detail but it's pretty easy!


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## Punkrocka436 (Jul 8, 2003)

12-18 inches is recommended...thats why i had the "less than" sign in there

But yeah, put the fuse in last, but make sure you put it in before trying to pwoer everything up. Took me 45 minutes after setting up my friends amp to realize that i had forgottonto put the fuse in. I kept assuming it was a bad ground. Oh well, we all have our moments


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## ryan7o7 (May 6, 2004)

I guess i'll have to post a thred when i get the subs, because i don't even know what the B+ terminal, the HU and REM are. This is all new to me. I could do it with no problem if i knew where to hook it all up to. Im planning on getting some good subs off good ol' ebay and also an amp.


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## new94 (Jan 9, 2004)

Don't you hate that when you do dumb shit and look forever only to realize it was something so simple all along! Man i've had a few duh what'd i do moment's myself, but as long as it all worked in the end i didn't care! I just heard from someone that 12" battery thing but wasn't sure, i guess as long as it's in ther somewhere it's all good!


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## ryan7o7 (May 6, 2004)

Are these good subs???  

I still have no clue how to wire them, so hopefully someone can describe it very very good to me.

thanks everyone


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## new94 (Jan 9, 2004)

+ on your amp goes to your battery w/ 4 guage wire to be safe
- on your amp to a good ground on the frame or similar and keep it short and same guage as your +
+r on your amp goes to the blue wire coming from your deck so that when the stereo come's on so will the amp any guage will do.

When it come's to wiring your sub/sub's you need to what amp your using and what ohm's your sub/sub's are before you can get a real definate and accurate answer.
For example if you have 2 4ohm sub's but only a 4 ohm stable amp then your gonna blow the amp eventually, unless they are wired a certain way to make 8ohm's together, the point is let us know what amp your using model# etc. and what your running for sub/sub's like 1 or 2 etc.


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## sr20dem0n (Mar 19, 2003)

ryan7o7 said:


> I guess i'll have to post a thred when i get the subs, because i don't even know what the B+ terminal, the HU and REM are. This is all new to me. I could do it with no problem if i knew where to hook it all up to. Im planning on getting some good subs off good ol' ebay and also an amp.


B+ = positive terminal on battery
HU = headunit, aka cd player, receiver, etc
REM = remote wire, it's just a wire that runs from the headunit to the amp, basically when you turn on the headunit, this wire gets a positive voltage and it tells the amp to turn on


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## sr20dem0n (Mar 19, 2003)

ryan7o7 said:


> Are these good subs???


no, a very very big no


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## ryan7o7 (May 6, 2004)

how come those aren't good subs?


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## sr20dem0n (Mar 19, 2003)

They're no-name ripoffs (you can tell because it only mentions the brand in one tiny spot that's hidden away, everywhere else simply refers to the power and size)
Every spec is about the cosmetics, not the sub itself
$60 for the pair
They're rated in max power, not rms
No T/S parameters
No recommended boxes
Legacy is one of the worst brands you can buy


Each and every one of these is something you need to avoid at all costs, all of them are huge indicators that the product is bad


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## Punkrocka436 (Jul 8, 2003)

The amps terminals are labled B+, GND, REM, and SPK, for Power, Ground, Remote, and SPeaker


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## ryan7o7 (May 6, 2004)

k, what are some good brands that i could get off ebay???

[email protected]


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## sr20dem0n (Mar 19, 2003)

what's your price range?

you can get just about anything on ebay, so that doesn't really limit your search


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## ryan7o7 (May 6, 2004)

i was hoping i could get some good ebay subs and an amp for about $300??? They don't need to be able to blow your ears off, i just want that clean deep bass sound, you know what i mean.


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## sr20dem0n (Mar 19, 2003)

How much of your trunk are you willing to give up? A larger box will let the sub play lower and louder on the same amount of power, but obviously you lose more trunk space. There are a ton of good choices in that price range for you, there's absolutely no need to resort to ebay brands. IDQ, Adire Shiva, Alpine Type-R, JL w3v2, etc are all good choices, of course the Alpine and JL won't be authorized though so you won't have a warranty


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## ryan7o7 (May 6, 2004)

I don't need my trunk space really. I could use as much as I got for my subs. I'll look for the subs off ebay. What amps are good??


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## sr20dem0n (Mar 19, 2003)

JBL, Hifonics Brutus, DEI, ehh

I could come up with more if I knew what power/impedence you will need. Honestly, I would look at getting an ID12D2 V.3 on a JBL 300.1.

ID12D2 V.3 = ~$130 on sounddomain if you pricematch www.speedsound.com
JBL 300.1 = $170 on www.woofersetc.com

you might be able to find the amp cheaper elsewhere, that was the first place I looked. With that setup there you would go over the $300 obviously with shipping and box supplies, if you could find the amp elsewhere for cheaper you might be able to get everything for $330. You could also swap out the amp for a Profile California. That would drop the price a good bit, but those are really budget amps and I would try to get the JBL if you can afford it.


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## ryan7o7 (May 6, 2004)

I obviously dont know anything about amps and speakers, like watts and measurements? What would be the specs on a good amp (watts)?? Does the amp need to be a little less powerful than the speakers, im thinkin this maybe will simplify your chances of blowing the speakers??? If i got some 6x9, could i just replace the stock ones by cutting the wires and putting the new ones on the old wires??? or do i need an amp for those seperate


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## sr20dem0n (Mar 19, 2003)

Hard to say what the specs on a good amp will be, I mean "good" changes depending on what you need. You could get a Brutus 500.1, which is a good amp, but if you need full power at 4ohm it would be a very bad choice, since that amp isn't designed to run optimally at 4ohm.

I always try to get an amp that's more powerful than the speakers' ratings, this gives you something called "headroom", and basically at a certain level of output, a larger amp running at 75% of its potential will be running much cooler and cleaner than a smaller amp running at 100%. Of course buying larger amps costs more, it's all a tradeoff.

If you replaced the 6x9s you could just cut out the old and put in the new, you can do that with any speaker (except for subs, since you would have nothing to power them) because the headunit has a built in amp. The amp in the headunit only puts out about 10 watts to each channel, but it is power and it will work as long as you don't try to listen too loud.


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## darufone (Dec 19, 2003)

ryan7o7 said:


> i was hoping i could get some good ebay subs and an amp for about $300??? They don't need to be able to blow your ears off, i just want that clean deep bass sound, you know what i mean.


IMO, do the research, including posting questions like these here, then when you decide what you want, do an internet search for the exact products. I have purchased so many items (brand new) from underground websites and saved up to 50% compared to big name stores.


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## yobob123 (Dec 29, 2004)

*car audio set up*

Hi,

As of now, I am not satisfied with my audio system installer. I have a distortion or static so annoying especially when on gear revolution. I have a Nissan sentra lec 92. I only want a good, clear, quality audio system on my car. Consider me as a grade school student when it comes to car audio system. No ambition for competition. I have the following audio system:

Head unit- pioneer……DEH-P4750MP
Speakers… MB Quart 6.5" 2-Way Discus Coaxial Driver Speakers DCD 116 
(160mm) 4Ohms 50-120Watts 
MB Quart 6x9" 3-Way DISCUS Triaxial Speakers DTC 169
4 Ohms 60-140Watts
Amplifier….. Alpine V12MRC-F-805
Subwoofer… Kicker 12” ES

Question:
1.	will this be enough to set up?
2.	do I need another amplifier? What type if I need to? Another v12 ? a mono?
3.	do I need a crossover?
4.	current: will this not affect the cars alternator?
5.	design: will the two way speakers in front side door and triaxial on the back ok?
Subwoofer in the trunk. You have better design?
6. should I decide to add another (speaker) separates, what then?
7.	and finally, should I go back to my installer or find another one?

Pls help. Thanks.
Regards from The Philippines!

YOBOB


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## stevensol (Aug 7, 2005)

sr20dem0n said:


> Hard to say what the specs on a good amp will be, I mean "good" changes depending on what you need. You could get a Brutus 500.1, which is a good amp, but if you need full power at 4ohm it would be a very bad choice, since that amp isn't designed to run optimally at 4ohm.
> 
> I always try to get an amp that's more powerful than the speakers' ratings, this gives you something called "headroom", and basically at a certain level of output, a larger amp running at 75% of its potential will be running much cooler and cleaner than a smaller amp running at 100%. Of course buying larger amps costs more, it's all a tradeoff.
> 
> If you replaced the 6x9s you could just cut out the old and put in the new, you can do that with any speaker (except for subs, since you would have nothing to power them) because the headunit has a built in amp. The amp in the headunit only puts out about 10 watts to each channel, but it is power and it will work as long as you don't try to listen too loud.


I don't know which head unit you're speakin of... but most recievers these days put out 20 to 30 watts RMS per channel and 50 to 60 watts peak. 10 per channel sounds like a unit built around 1997-99


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## sr20dem0n (Mar 19, 2003)

stevensol said:


> I don't know which head unit you're speakin of... but most recievers these days put out 20 to 30 watts RMS per channel and 50 to 60 watts peak. 10 per channel sounds like a unit built around 1997-99


He never mentioned an aftermarket headunit so I assumed he's still using the stock one, which puts out 10rms or less per channel. Doesn't really matter though because this post is over a year old.


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## stevensol (Aug 7, 2005)

sr20dem0n said:


> He never mentioned an aftermarket headunit so I assumed he's still using the stock one, which puts out 10rms or less per channel. Doesn't really matter though because this post is over a year old.


LMAO, I didn't even realize that. But in that case, you're right. :thumbup:


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