DOMINION

Hi guys! I'm new to all this Car Audio stuff and have some questions? Or maybe I need some help

This is the AMP for the Alpine speakers that the previous owner put in my RX-8. As I under stand this AMP is not good for 10"s or 12"s it will over heat the wire that runs to the battery and thats not good.




This is my old 800W AMP that was powering my 2 12"s after market deck and speakers in my old Eclips.
My queston is; Can I use just this 800W AMP? and not run 2 AMP's? Can I just unplug everything and reconnect it to this 800W AMP and connect my 12"?
If so what do I need to connect my 12" to my 800W AMP?



This is my 700W 12" Kenwood that I want to hook up to my AMP


What do you think guys? Can I do it?

Thank you for your time,
-Gil

Tigerfootball

well, the amp is not going to truly run at 800W, just like you can't (or shouldn't) run the sub at 700W. What you need to know is what is the RMS (nominal power handling) of the sub and the RMS output of the amp. Also, is the sub a 4 ohm, 8 ohm, 2 ohm? I would guess it is a 4 ohm. So figure out what the RMS power capability at 4 ohms the amp is.

Also, what gauge wire is run to the battery at this moment? If it is not 8AWG MINIMUM, I would definitely upgrade. I would suggest 4AWG for that power, heck, go with 2AWG if you ever want to upgrade to a more powerful amp and sub setup.

Do you have a model number on the Amp and Sub? I could go look it up for you in a quick second.

Hope that helps a little.

WikkedOne

i'm trying to figure this out -
you already have new interior speakers and that lil 320 watt amp right
and you want to add the sub right?
and you want to replace the amp you have with a bigger amp and run everything off the one amp?

no - you will need 2 amps.. there may be some setups with 5 channel amps and what not but IMO you need 2 amps - one low powered with lots of channels for the interior and one brute amp with 1 or 2 channels for the sub or subs.

what you need to do is - replace the wire going to your battery with a 4 gauge wire - (also the ground wire) add a splitter so you can run it into both amps. then use the line out of your first amp and go into your second amp - then hook the subs into it and boom boom.

DOMINION

Ahh I see.

I have some more questions guys, If you dont mind

Do you think I can buy the wire's?
If I walk into a Audio shop and tell them what I'm looking for, do you think they will sell the wire's to me?

How can I add a splitter from my 4 channel AMP to my other 800w AMP?
Tap into the wire I have pluged in to the 4 channel AMP and run it to the 800w AMP?
Or do I buy this "splitter" wire and just connect it to the 2 AMP's?

I dont have a model number for the Amp or Sub I'm at work. But when I get home I'll post it for ya.

Looks like I can do the job. Now I just need the parts

Thanks a million guys!

Tigerfootball

yes you can just walk into any audio shop and buy the wires. Just tell them you need a 4 gauge amplifier wiring kit (or you can buy it separately by the foot).

The splitter Wikked was talking about can be done simply by a distribution/distributer block that has at least a 4 gauge in and a minimum of two outs (I would prefer 4AWG in and 2 4AWG out). Shouldn't be expensive at all really.

You will need to rerun the wire going to the battery for at least the Positive wire. Many will tell you also to run the ground all the way back to the battery. I personally grounded my setup near the amps through a drilled hole into the bottom of the trunk (of course making sure nothing was going to accidentally be punctured).

There is another item to look at. The signal cable to feed the sub amp. I used a Rockford Fosgate 3Sixty.1, I remember Wikked had a 3Sixty.2 (thanks for the help btw) and used that to feed separate Front, Rear, and Sub signals to my amps (I also have a 4 channel and a separate sub amp). I think someone a little more experienced in this matter should tackle that job. Might just have to add another Line Out Converter, or split the one that is already there? Not sure how exactly to go about that one.

DOMINION

From what I have been told here and from the guy at Bestbuy, Need to upgrade my batter wire that will run to my 2 AMP's and my ground wire. Aside from that I should be ok doing the rest of the work.

Thanks for all the info guys
-Gil

firebirdude

iTrader: (3)

I didn't read all the replies but, the first Kenwood amp is a 4-channel amp meant for powering your interior speakers. If you have the Bose system already, I certainly wouldn't waste my time with it. If you plan on replacing all the speakers with aftermarket, then we can talk about it. The second amp is a 2-channel amp that could be used for powering subwoofers. How exactly you should connect them depends upon the exact subwoofers you have. We need to know if your subwoofers are dual 4 ohm, dual 2 ohm, single 4 ohm, etc. A model number or maybe even a picture of the rear of the subwoofer would be great. Yes you need to run 4 gauge wire from the battery if you intend on using both amps. Check out www.knukonceptz.com. Quality stuff, for mad cheap.

DOMINION

Thanks for the link. But I'll just get the goods at my local car audio shop.

DOMINION

Well this is the back of the 12" I hope this pic has the ohm number you guys are looking for.



I was also told by my friend that I would need a "monster cap" so I dont kill my Battery or Alternator.
I know this is true cuz I killed the Battery and Alternator when I had this set up in my old '01 Eclipse.

Mazurfer

Yeah............it's a 4ohm speaker.
That's the impedance number which is the resistance(so to speak) of the speaker and it's measured in ohms.
That's what that little symbol is to the right of the "4"............under "impedance".

Juice

iTrader: (1)

Like everyone said, you are going to need both the amps. The 4 channel amp will run the interior speakers in the doors and rear deck. The other 2 channel amp will run the Subwoofer. Depending on what size wiring you have coming from the battery, you may need to upgrade. I would definitely go with 4 gauge, then you can split it into 2 for both the amps with a distribution block. You can also use a grounding post attached to the trunk somewhere so both the grounds go to the same point.

Looks like it is a single voice coil, 4Ohm sub. 350Watts RMS. The sub is the easy part, just pos to pos, neg to neg. It gets complicated because you have to decide how you want to wire the amp. The amp looks like this one:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kenwood-KAC7.../dp/B0001J03XY

So you can basically wire it into one channel, which will give the sub 150w at the 4ohm impedance the sub has (this is a little underpowered). you could also run it with the the 2 channels bridged (basically acting as one). This would give the sub 460w at 4 ohms (a bit overpowered for the sub). If you don't feel confident enough to set the gain properly with a Digital Multimeter so that it won't overpower and blow the sub if you run the amp bridged then just stick to the one channel. If you stick with the 1 channel, and not bridged then you shouldn't have any worries about it blowing up, and should still be pretty loud (this is all taste though, some like it to really bump, I personally don't). If it isn't enough for you, you can always get another of the same sub, and wire it into the other channel you aren't using.

As for getting signal to the Subwoofers Amp. You can just run 2 channel RCA signal wires from the 4 channel amplifiers output (it should say line out, or summed output) to the input of the subs amp.

You shouldn't need a capacitor at these power levels unless your battery and charging system is weak from something else, you should be alright though.

Socket7

Not much else to say that hasn't already been said.

Capacitor's are stupid. There is no proof that they make amplifiers sound better. They do help lights from dimming during heavy bass, but lights dim because your alternator can't supply enough power. You'd get more benefit by upgrading your alternator so you actually can produce the power your car needs to run properly.


You could run a 700 watt sub off the 800 watt amp in bridged mode and it would produce enough power.

Juice

iTrader: (1)

^ agreed, capacitors are basically just a "fix it for now" type of thing. I haven't seen one professional install (from audio manufacturers) that had one.

BUT, a higher power alternator for our car is gonna cost about 400 dollars, so I can see someone using it just to fix it for the time being since it is much cheaper.

Socket7

True. A lot depends on your listening habits. A properly designed system is rarely going to draw maximum power unless you like blood coming out of your ears.

If all you need is 20% of the max output of your amps for your normal listening, a cap could be a good solution to cover the power gap for the few times you crank it up to 80% to impress your buddies

Solidtrance

iTrader: (2)

Sounds like everything has been covered already and it looks like you are on the right track. I will only add this.

THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT: Make sure you disconnect the AMP Power wires from the battery before you do any work. You could really damage the cars electrical system, not to mention the damage you could do to yourself.

Socket7

I usually pull the fuse from the power line before i begin working rather then disconnect it from the battery proper. I say this only to say that If you don't have a fuse for your power line under the hood you should have one.

DOMINION

I'm going to take a pic of the wire that runs the my battery. You guys let me know if its ok? BRB...

DOMINION

So this is the wire that runs from the Battery to the AMP right?



And this is the Fuse right?


But hey you guys are saying I dont need a monster cap?
I dont want to max that 12" out just have some bump in the trunk. Right now its all highs

Juice

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, that is the power wire. It looks real small. It couldn't be more than an 8 gauge wire. Not certain on the specific size. I would definitely upgrade that. What you would want is a dual amplifier installation kit. It should come with a 4 guage power wire, 4g ground, inline fuse holder, a fuse (probably 100 amp), 2 distribution blocks, 8 guage wiring for power, 8 guage wiring for ground, and a length of 16-18g wire for the remote turn on, maybe some spade and ring connectors as well. It will probably cost around 50-100 dollars.

Once you get it, run the 4 guage power wire from the battery (just like the one you have now is run). Then use the distribution block to split the main power wire into the 2 smaller 8 guage wires. Those will go into each amps power input. Use the other 4 guage as a grounding point to the chassis. Then with the other connected to the distribution block, split this ground into the 2 8g cables, and connect those to the 2 amps.

Then use the remote wire to turn on the 2 amps. You don't need to replace the remote wire that is already there, just splice it so that you can get an input into the other amp.

I'll see if I can make a diagram for you real quick if this is confusing.

firebirdude

iTrader: (3)

Again, I'm not taking the time to read everyones post.....

But you currently have 8g power wire. If you intend on running both amps, upgrading to 4g is a must. Second, you have two 4 ohm single voice coil subs. This presents a problem when using a 2-channel amp. You can attempt to wire both positives together on the subs, then use the positive from one channel and the negative from the other to power them. But it is likely the amp will kick into protection. If this happens, you will need to run the positive from one sub to the negative on the other sub. Use the remaining positive and negative between the subs and wire to the amp as I previous stated (one from each channel) Much less power, but no shutting down.

Or buy a matching amp. A monoblock that outputs max power at 2 ohms preferably.

Juice

iTrader: (1)

Here is one of the most kickass diagrams you will ever see. Hope this clears everhting up.

Juice

iTrader: (1)

I think he is just going to be running 1 SVC 4Ohm Sub. But if he were running 2 couldn't he just wire each sub to their respective channel?

Since the signal he is using is going to be summed Left and Right, there shoudn't be any problems with the subs cancelling each other out because of different signals to the left/right sub. The amp will give 150w x2 at 4ohms which isn't great, but it will work.

firebirdude

iTrader: (3)

Ahh. I think you may be right. I read the 2 12"s in his old Eclipse and guess I assumed he was moving them into the 8. But he clearly mentions the "12" a couple times. lol

And its the same power out if he were to run the subs to each channel respectively as to bridge it to an 8 ohm load. Either way will yield the same results. My approach is a rule of thumb, with any car, to keep the subs running a mono signal. But good catch.

DOMINION, use the positive from one channel and the negative from the other to power your 12".

DOMINION

Dam thats sick! But I have one question on that diagram you made. What are distribution blocks?

So Juice, I dont need a Capacitor? Is that the same as a Monster Cap?

Thanks,
-Gil

firebirdude

iTrader: (3)

I told you..... knukonceptz.... lol

X2 ... http://www.knukonceptz.com/productDe...rodID=PB-1448G