Hey guys I just bought new speakers for my 87 GTU. I also bought a four channel amp to run them off of instead of the head unit. I wanted to ask you guys for possible amp placement. I want to find good areas of air circulation and also maybe a good place to have it out of sight if you look through the rear hatch window. Any Ideas, or areas of suggestion would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks guys

 

Just depends on if you have back seats or the bins as well.

Might not be the best for air but my amp is under one of my storage bins totally hidden away. Open the bin and still nothing except the bin carpet.

Mike

 

yea i have the bins....Thats what I was thinking. My cousin does custom designs, and he said he could put a piece of plywood or some type of device where I can lift the amp in and out of the bin. Thanks man!!

 

I haven't installed any sound equipment myself, but I've been all over my car.

There's a lot of space under the upholstery in the back, behind the tail lights. If circulation is an issue you would want a sealed fan (high flow but requires low restriction) or blower (low flow, high restriction ok) blowing air into the compartment. www.allelectronics.com and www.bestbyte.net have plenty that run on 12V. Don't forget to check their noise levels. A rheostat, power resistor (acts like a non-adjustable rheostat) or fan controller can throttle them down a bit.

dT = Q / (V'pC).
dT = how many degrees (°F) the temp will rise around your amplifier
Q = amplifier power consumption (minus what goes to the speakers).
--> Multiply by 0.0569 to convert from Watts to Btu/min
V' = the flow (CFM) of the fan/blower
p = the density of air, 0.0805 lb./ft.^3
C = the specific heat of air, 0.240 Btu/lb-°F

There's a little room under the upholstery on the side of the rear too, but I don't think it's much. There may be a little space under the dash behind the upholstery. Not sure. Ditto for underneath the steering column. The spare tire sump is another place, but then you have to remove the spare tire. Other than that I'd say the hatch is one wide chunk of space and anywhere will do. Maybe behind one of the suspension towers?

 

I posted after the other guy suggested under the storage bins... probably better since it's been done before.

 

Under the bins is a poor place for an electronic device that will need to be cooled for it to function proper, effecient , and continue to function for any length of time. I would suggest either put it under your seat, which is not a horrible place if you want it hidden then put it in your spare tire area, make a piece of wood curved and place it on the wood and afix it inside the spare tire area. And then cover it with fabric but make sure there is air space for the heat to go somewhere. If not heat exchange is done, then most mid to low grade amps will die very shortly after install.

 

Thank you so much gentlemen. Great advice, and I appreciate all the comments.

 

Does the amp have fans? You could always duct them into the open. Or establish some kind of air circulation with or without fans.

 

I put the amp for my sub behind the passenger seat. When the seat is in its normal position you can only see it if your sitting in the drivers seat. I haven't had any problems with overheating; infact, the amp is barely warm to the touch.

 

I made a rack that replaces the fabric part of the passanger bin, and holds 2 amps. With the lid closed, you'd never know it was anything other than a bin. Because of the overheating possibility, I also wired up a 12V fan to the power antenna switch from the head unit via a relay. Now when the amps come on, so too does the little fan. It circulates plent of air and you can't hear it. Works great!