early6

I am looking to install a 4 channel amp and I am hoping to install it under the front passenger seat. Has anyone done this, if so what size (physical) and brand?

I want to make sure I purchase an amp that will fit.

TIA!

athens944

My Red '83 has an older Sony amp that was in there from the previous owner. My suggestion is that you go with as flat a unit as possible. If the amp is too tall/thick, it will hit the seat bottom if you slide back or forward.

MM951

I'm not sure what would fit there but make sure you have zero leaks, as water likes to find its way there

white924s

I haven't, but I'm thinking about installing a JL 300/4 in the area behind the front seat (passenger rear "seat" footwell). I envision fabricating brackets so that the amp is off the ground and angled so the top points towards the pass. seat, but still below the level of the rear seat cushion so it will be fairly stealth.

544DRS

I've been working on this for the past month. Not to be a downer, but I don't think getting the amp under the seat will work, unless it's really skinny.

I'm using two amps in my 1983 944: an Alpine MRP-F450 and an Alpine MRP-F250. Both are four-channel amps. And neither amp even gets close to fitting underneath the front seats even with the carpet out. I couldn't even get them to mount behind the front seats, in the rear seat footwell, because the front seat goes back far enough to hit the amp. For those average-sized amps, I could only find two or three workable locations:

1. Trunk-area install, either in a wheel well, or in the trunk itself. This limits the size of your amp, because "long" amps will either stick out of the well, or rest on the well's bottom (my car had 2" of water standing in these wells when I bought it).

2. Behind the front seats, mounted on a stand that sits the amp on its side, with the other side almost straight up.

3. Passenger seat footwell. The passenger's feet will hit the amp.

I chose #2, and built two stands out of 1/4" plywood, so the amp rests on its side, almost parallel with the carpet that's attached to the rear seat bottom. My front seat operates fully, and (heaven forbid) someone actually needed to ride in the back seat, they wouldn't step on the amp. The stand might help if water builds up in the rear footwell (my car had this problem).

I'll get some photos soon. Right now, it's close to 100*F, and I need a siesta.

Nick

white924s

hmm...interesting, if you have any dimensions, I'd be interested in seeing those as this may nix my idea

at the same time though, I have seats that don't pop forward for rear seat passengers, so nobody could ride in my rear seat anyways (I'm thinking about/saving for a rear seat delete and roll bar at some point, but that's a separate issue). As such, I don't care if the amp takes up that space, I just want to have a good idea that it will fit haha.

544DRS

Yeah, it's not really the rear-seat passenger issue, but the front-seat adjustment issue that kept me from mounting the amps "flat" behind the front seats. I'm only 6'0" but still needed the seat back farther than what having an amp behind the seat would allow.

I think my amps are 13" long/10" wide and 11" long/10" wide. What I did was take a 6" x 9" piece of 1/4" plywood, make a 1/4" wide notch at a 15 degree angle at one end, glue a piece of 1/4" plywood into that notch (amp footprint), then mount my amp onto that board. Wires and cables go behind the carpet that's attached to the rear seat, then route to the trunk, where my sound processor (Alpine H701) and CD changer are located. The head unit links to the processor using AiNET.

Nick

snakepliskin

Hi,

Here is a shot I happened to have on my computer from when I restored my interior... Note that I trimmed the carpet to get the amp to fit without hitting the seat. Ran all wires under the carpet as well. Seat slides fine. Dimension of the amp is probably 12"x12", but do not have exact measurements. You can kind of gauge the size available from the rear mounting holes and the front support ridge seen in the pic below.



...And gratuitous shot of new interior for fun.



Note that my car is an 84 with manual seats.

Good luck,

-Snake

544DRS

Wow...I love those seats!

Nick

JohanvdWalt

The PO had an amp under the pass seat in my red car, bad idea!
When you move the seat, electric or not you use more force than you think. The amp was damaged and so was the wiring of the seat that got hooked behind the amp.

If you do this which I do not advice, use the driver seat, you never know when a passenger decide to adjust the seat hight and cause some damage.

V2Rocket

in an early car if you delete your AC you could mount some sound stuff inside the dash behind the glovebox/kick panel..

544DRS

This is true. I just crawled out of my car, where I've been routing stereo power wires from where they come through the firewall to near the center console. That AC stuff gets in the way!

Nick