so im kinda new in the "audio" side of cars.

my friend just gave me 2 amps. one is a 300 watt 2 chnl amp and one is a 500 watt 2chnl amp. both are bridgeable. i was thinking of bridgeing the 500 watt amp for a single 12" sub and use the 300 watt for some rear 6x9's. is this possible? and if i do this what gauge battery wires should i use? and would i have to run 2 seperate cables?.....another and last question, should i use a capacitor?

 

im not too knowledgable in the audio relm, but where do you plan to put all of this stuff? i thought about putting an amp in to power my 6x9, but i cant find a place to "hide" it. i need the bins to store stuff. also, how due to plan on mounting 6x9? i did, and it wasnt easy.

 

The 300 for speakers and the 500 bridged for the sub is what I would do.

If they are small enough AND low enough in height, a popular spot to mount amps is under your seats.

If you want to be serious about power supply to the amps, run 8 guage power AND earth wires to them.

Individual power AND earth wires to both amps.

Make sure you ALWAYS fuse the power wires, never run them directly off the battery without fuses...or if you can afford it run a single 4 guage wire to a 70amp circuit breaker then run the two 8 guage wires off that instead of the two separate fuses.

Run big enough power and earth wires, have a healthy battery, and with only 2 amps you shouldn't need a capacitor.

Cam...

 

definitely take the 300w amp and power both 6x9s. and use the 500w bridged to power the 12" sub. to be creative, ill tell you what I did because im very knowledgeable with car audio so this is my setup.

Front speakers - Components 6 1/2 with tweaters on the door
Rear speakers - 6x9s (concealed in the pockets behind the seats)
450w 4ch amp - mounted into the floor under the passenger seat
and a sub sitting in the back but future plan is to have a custom carbon fiber frame built for the back with a sub and both amps molded into it.

good luck with your setup

 

i aint hiding ****. im making a custom setup way in the back where that carpet peice hangs down right underneath the hatch lock. the 6x9's will be on either side and the sub will have a custom box where the wheel well is and hopefully ill have them all molded together. itll be hard but look amazing afterwards.

there actually is a little space behind the "bins" if you pull them out. thats where the stock amps are. if you pull those out and the wiring then you have room back there... but beware of the heat of the amps.

 

a 70 amp circuit breaker? i dont know what you meen? could you post a pic so i know what to buy? and if its not to expensive then ill do it so i dont destroy my car (last thing i need is for it to burn down.lol.)

 

it looks almost just like a fuse holder, but uses no fuse. it works just like the circuit breaker in a house. if it gets tripped you just reset it... saves on fuses

make sure your inline circuit protection is very near the battery and not down by the amps!!

you can search ebay and you'll find some deals... I don't deal with any audio retailers unless i need something "NOW" that I don't have. Do be careful though make sure you are getting what it says you are...

do you have a good head unit?? one with two or more sets of RCA outputs... (using the high level inputs if the amps even have em sucks) I always compare the headunit the foundation of a building, you just gotta have a good one

shouldn't really need a cap... doesn't matter how many amps, it matters how much power and those amps are decent, but not extreme


My reccomendation is to get the paperwork from those amps if your buddy still has it... the instructions are usually pretty helpful for the first timer. I taught myself by installing my first system using the instructions

if they are gone you can usually find a manual online if you goto the website of the place that made the amp, even if it's not the same exact amp the basics are all the same.


please don't do what my buddy did his first time and run neg cables all the way back to the battery!! lol just find a good ground in the back of the car and make sure to take care and insure a good clean connection. ie: remove paint or corrosion and use a dielectric grease to keep it that way.


they make all sorts of fuse blocks, distribution blocks, terminals and what not... poke around online or check out your local audio retailer to see what you like or what catches your eye.

you probably know this but don't bridge the amp powering the 6x9's you would lose your right and left separation. it would make em one channel...



ugh i talk too much!!! lol


i'll stop here... lemme know if got any ?'s I do this stuff all the time

i'd send you everything you need almost for free but it's all in CT and I'm in Cali right now



two dif style circuit breakers i found on ebay... the small one would be great for you to put in the line near the battery. i used on like it a while ago on a single channel sub amp that was 1500 watts. in other words you don't need anytihng bigger than that. the big one is for really serious systems...

 

putting an amp behind the bins isnt a bad idea....i may have to look into that in the distant future.

 

thnx alot blackfire. that helped alot and i didnt mind reading it all. lol. i did know not to bridge the amp for the 6x9's (im not completely stupid...only partly) when do you get back? because if its within like 2 or 3 weeks i wouldnt mind that breaker. ive got wire at the ready and connecters galore so i dont need any of that.

my head unit is a jvc high def radio ipod ready unit. it has outputs for the sub, front left, right and back left, right. so i was thinking of runin the sub outputs to the 500 watt amp, bridge that one to a single sub, run the rear left, right to the 300 watt amp then to the speakers (i was thinkin of some pionneer primeire 6x9's or some alpine 6x9s ( both are 100 bucks for a pair...im kinda cheap). i was then thinkin of just having the front speakers keep stock wiring just replaceing them with some same size infinity speakers and use the original wiring. would that work? (of course id do the breaker with 0 gauge or 4 gauge running to it then 8 guage with a fuse running to each amp from the breaker.

does it work?

 

what are you using for a front stage? cos it'll sound shitty as anything with jsut the 6x9s in the rear with the sub.

i'd be running a similar setup to CBz witht he splits in the front and off the deck.

front stage is what matters the most as hell. that's where you are!

 

If you guys plan on hiding your amps ... its a really easy thing actually as me and Orion84_Gsl on this forum found out. Basically what we did is bolted the amp on the underside of where the storage bins are, I'm going to try to ask him to post a few pictures up in this thread but might be while before he does so. The way we have it done you can easily fit the bins back in there too I bet although we haven't tried it. and also the carpet ontop of it hides everything, although his car is basically bare in the back ...

 

already said that. thnx for the echo.lolol

 

id put some infinities or something up there....but the question is. will that complete setup work?... yes or no. cuz if it does then the only thing that will change is what speakers i buy and how much i pay.lol

 

I would just use the power from your headunit to power all your speakers. Keep it as simple as possible until you buy some real nice stuff, then go all out. This way you can use all the factory speaker wire and not worry about running all new wires. As stated above, fuse the battery within 15" of it with a resettable unit or a fused unit. Since these amps are modest in power all you will need is 4 gauge power and ground. What type of amps your running will determine if putting them in the storage bin is a good idea. I fthey are elcheapo units then they will heat up way too much and you may have some issues.

 

I didn't know if you found a distribution block. Here's a link to one http://www.audio-warehouse.com/web/mdl/PLDS3/detail.asp

But I'm also runnin 2 amps in my gls-se. You should be fine with out the capcitor unless you plan on running major power. I'm goin to buy becuase i plan on installing a 12" in each bin and with a 800 watt amp to power each of them. And I have a 340 watt 4 channel amp powering the rest of my speakers

 

how are you going to fit 12's in the bins...the bin is only 9 inches tall. or at least thats close to what mine is

 

my rear speakers dont even have sound even though they still work thats why im doing an amp to them (the amp is free) and the front speakers will be powerd by the head unit. its only the sub and 6x9's thatll be powerd

 

plus.... i have 50 feet of wire just siting around.lol. its not like i have to go buy any.lol

 

You can take your bins out and build a custom box to fit in it. Here's a link that'll explain what I'm talking about http://www.mazspeed.com/howtohideyoursub.htm

 

wow i just want him to build me a box.lol. hey if you figure out a way to make it all fit. pm me and ill pay you to make me a box and pay for shipping and materials. i dont mind installing things i just hate trying to make it all fit and cut and recutting everything.lolol.

 

Alright, My cousin and i are building the boxes and a week or so but if we have enough time i'll build some extra boxes and i'll pm you.