RyanPerrella

Bill,

Thanks for the amp suggestions, I really like the 4 channel you suggested, its 15" long but the seat chassis is about 70" long so i figured the amp may only extend 2" past the seat, but if you moved the seat all the way back you may not notice it. thus no need to box it.

You said to put it under the drivers seat, but isnt there more room under the passanger seat? 95% of the time i drive only myself, so i can compromise pass seat adjustability as it usually sits in one position and thats it.

Bill Ball

Yes, that amp is 15" with the wire connectors. The seat area LOOKS long enough, but there are obstructions that limit how far under the seat the amp will slide if you want to be able to lower the seat. Also, the passenger seat will be obstructed by the rear AC solenoid if you have rear AC. I have rear AC, but I was able to fit my Pioneer headunit's large but thin brain box under the passenger seat. Not sure about this amp, but it is worth a try. Very inexpensive and as thin as they get.

dr bob

The fllor under the pass seat has the rear AC solenoid and plumbing. The driver's seat has some stuff associated with the seat memory IIRC, so neither is a good candidate position for amps. I keep looking up above the driver's pedals area to see if there's a suitable space. In my non-airbag car I have a little room forward of the junk tray on the right, under the airbox and above the fuse panel. I even consider the fuse panel covere OK right at the top, with a carpet cover.

On the future amp "option", I'll suggest that you buy and install all the wiring for that, specifically the low-level cabling and power provisions. That way you won't be back in the same place later to add this stuff. I have a bunch of head-unit cables dead-ended under that cover by the pass seat, for the day I decide that the deafness I enjoynow is worse than the deafness I'll cause later with a amplifier. At some point, wing-ding amplifier works will have a new model that's a slide-in fit in the old mountings, and all the wires will plug right in...

Alan

Well I did warn you a while ago...

Its really true... (I know!). If you want clear well balanced sound it isn't cheap, if you want it loud too its more still...

However when you get it just right it seems worth it....

Honestly - used equipment for amps can be a really good deal on big name brands. Old stock name brand speakers can be good too (used much less so). You only need a quad channel amp.. did you buy the dual channel already?

e.g. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ADS-A...spagenameZWDVW

Excellent low power amp...

Alan

RyanPerrella

I bought a Rockford Fosgate P200-2 for $100 specifically for the single 10" infinity sub. But the Sub I bought is going to be pushing it with installed height of about 6.5" I think i need to look for an installed height of around 5". (Although looking at specs for the infinity kappa perfect 10.1 shows a installed height of unded 5.5" so that should be fine actually.

I did just notice the pass side space under the seat. its hardly flat. So Drivers side it is. I usually put my seat to the floor but i can raise it up slightly and i would rather be the one in control of the seat then the mindless passenger.

Bob i like your suggestion above the pedals. I am wondering if i can find a way to squeeze the 4 channel amp in between the dash itself and the knee bolster that mounts directly below it. I will pull the drivers seat to see about space but seems like a logical place for it. Especially with an amp that only 1.2" thick. Could i simply lay the amp on the floor, or it should be mounted somehow?

So now the list looks like this, please let me know if i NEED to add anything.

4 x 4" MB Quart premium
4 x 1" MB Quart premium
2 x 6.5" MB Quart premium

All the above going pre amp out to a 4 x 50RMS, or 4 x 75RMS amp under the drivers seat. Front channels are the 4" + 1" through the MQ Quart x over. Rear channels will be 4" + 6.5" + 1" through a 3 way passive x-over made by audio pipe.

The 10" sub will be enclosed ina box made in 5/8" mdf by me powered by the P200-2 amp which will also be mounted on the enclosure itself and the entire box, amp and sub all stealth under the rear deck carpets.

How does the above sound, is there anything i am missing now?

Q: now that i run the speakers off an amp, do i then just use RCA Cables to feed the signal to the 2 amps? Then I run the speaker wires off the amp to each speaker location? Is this correct?

Thanks for the input guys, i was looking at my first post in this thread and i didnt know crap, i am getting better though!

RyanPerrella

also for mounting the amp, can i mount it to the bottom of the seat, as opposed to the top of the floor which is covered by the seat? Or if its too long then it would look horrible. I would mount to the bottom of the seat cushion if the entire thing could fit there. Is that a possibility? I never took measurements when i had the seat out, didnt think i would need to.

There is no issue with running an amp upside down is there, there are no moving parts i dont think.

RyanPerrella

Alan,

Thanks for the link on that amp, but my head unit puts out 20RMS x 4 already so there would be no benefit to use this one correct?

Alan

Ryan in the config I noted it would be in combo with the head so would work - but overall it would still not be really loud. You have cranked up your power levels there... I still think you could drive the fonts/rear pairs from the head unit if you wanted to (again it would not be really loud - but you said you didn't need that..).

In that case a single 4 channel in the tire well might suffice for subs & woofers... would be cheaper but you have the 2ch amp already.

Anyway you should mount the amps with the heat sink fins up or at 90 degrees vertical - not downwards...

Your assumption of wiring the amps are correct - plus you need the trigger lead from the head unit. You must have good beefy connections from power & ground - its actually best if the amps are near the battery - so the tire well works perfectly - front parcel shelf etc is a long run.

You may want to consider if you need an audio supply capacitor depending on the total amp power. You can live without it - you could add it later.

Alan

VehiGAZ

Whooo-hooo!!! You're going whole hog now Ryan!!! You really have learned a ton since your first post in this thread! Forget the $$ - wait until you hear it before you fret about that!

Yes, RCAs from the headunit to the amps, speaker wire from amps to the speakers. If the h/u has a separate subwoofer output, use that for the sub so you can control it from the h/u.

No, the amp doesn't need to be screwed down, but probably should be if it can slide around too easily. I'm not sure about mounting inverted, since that might channel heat to the base of the amp instead of the heat sinks. Do you have heated seats, btw? If not, you will now! Has anyone ever looked under the seat upholstery? Is there any room to work with in the seatback?

What else? What about up-sizing your door speakers to 5.25"? My installer is going to try like hell to get them in there on Friday. If you can get them to fit, then it's worth it - much better sound quality than from a 4". I can tell you Friday night if he was able to do it or had to revert to 4" speakers.

DEFINITELY run speaker wire for an amp install now if you might do it later - running speaker wire is my least favorite job in a car, and taking everything apart once makes it not go together the same again, so the fewer times you do that, the better.

Good luck!!

RyanPerrella

Alan,

So maybe i do just run all 2 speakers through the radio's built in 20RMS amp and try that. It should sound ok but wont be loud, which yes i dont really need. The amp bill mentioned is $110 shipped so I could add that later or if i added it now it wouldnt kill the bank account.

The 2 channel amp i bought i could just resell, if someone wants it for $100 plus shipping i will just resell it. Its brand new.

What about running a multichannel amp, like a 6 channel or do they call it 4 + 1 where a single amp powers the 4 speaker channels and a seperate sub? Can i find one of those thats however long but not too wide say less then 9" wide. Then i have a single amp, have ample power for everything, its mounted right on top of the battery and it eliminates the hassle of the under seat amp?

Any suggestions on a single amp that can power it all? Perhaps an amp like this MB quart http://cgi.ebay.com/BRAND-New-Pab540...QQcmdZViewItem

Seems perfect but i would prefer something under $200, but i did notice the JL audio amps are $500. But buying a single 5 channel for $200 is more attractive then 2 amps for $200.

Edit: I just saw the dimensions on the MB Quart, and its giant 20 x 10.5 x 2.25" I could deal with the 20" length but thats pushing it. I would prefer something 7-8" wide and 16" long. I am going to keep looking

RyanPerrella

I found the Infinity Reference 5350a, which looks pretty good, although i would prefer it have more then just 150W to the sub.

But considering how large these things are. I dont want to compromise the size of the sub enclosure to mount it on top of the box. So maybe i have to mount it opposite the sub but being that its 3" tall, i could make a partition which half of it would cover the amp and the other half could have a flip up door to hold oddments or something. This would likely take 4" off out of storage space. Doing this would also lead me to make the sub enclosure 4" taller then it would be but this greatly compromises interior space now.

damn, this crap is never easy!

Tom. M

A little late to the game here..but I did something similar to what you are doing..except I moved the sound stage forward on the recommendation of a couple of local car stereo experts..They suggested I get three way component speakers up front (MB Quart 316 with crossovers)..you can mount the tweeter and the 4 inch in the stock location and the 6.5 goes down near the front lower part of the door...little bit of cutting there..but the sound is awesome. I am using an Alpine amp mounted on the passenger rear seat back..with 4 channels..300 watts of power....two channels run the front speakers in the door..and the other two are bridged and feeding a 10" kicker sub in a home made enclosure that fits in the spare tire well (red ufo design..search for it.easy to make and cheap)..the headunit (Blaupunkt Toronto) powers the rear seat speakers...(the upper two are stock..and the big one is a 6.5" alpine). The power goes to the front...for full effect..the sub fills in the low frequencies...and the speakers in the rear just add fill...really nice....Adam B did similar using boston Acoustics in the front rather than the MB Quarts..and his sub enclosure was a custom piece made to use the spare tire as a grill..pretty cool...

Either way..enjoy the new sound..it's nice to have..when you don't want to listen to the BWAHHHH! ..

later,
Tom
89GT

Bill Ball

Strangely enough, I found the lower quality MBQ 6.5s sounded better (tighter, clearer mid-bass thump) than premium ones in our application. Also, I do recommend you try stuffing the area with polyester, obtainable from a craft store like the Michael's chain. Also, the metal dome tweeters in most component sets were way too harsh in the 928 to my ears. I ended up switching them out for some silk dome tweeters. Correct about the wires. Have fun!

Tom. M

I actually like the highs the mb quart tweeters produce..I had Thurston angle them forward..just like the stock one..so they bounce off the windshield.. Funny..Thurston complained that the MB Quarts were too "bright".. ..
Later,
Tom

Alan

Most 6 channel amps (or 4+sub) are going to be high power and quite large - maybe there are exceptions - but I'm not familiar with any. if you do go the path of a sub box and amp space above the fuel tank you may want to get a really large footprint but slim in height. if you like the mounting that would be a good location for an amp. Many 6 channels will have full active crossovers simplifying lots of things.

I happen to like a/d/s/ brand equipment and you can get screaming deals on these on ebay...

Just as an example : http://cgi.ebay.com/a-d-s-P-850-2-P8...QQcmdZViewItem

This is a quite spectacular amp... IMO

Alan