I’m trying to do this question of the week thing, but I haven’t received a lot of good questions! Come on guys, don’t be afraid to ask. Thanks to Google Analytics, I know there’s a lot of readers on this site and I know you all are looking for guidance or information otherwise you wouldn’t be on here. There’s gotta be something I can help you with. So ask away, I look forward to answering.
8 Comments
Hi Annie,
I have a question about running wiring. I’ve read that it’s always good to not run the amp power wire near other wires and especially far away from the speaker or RCA wires (i.e. run them down the other side of the car). However, when I speak to installers, they tell me that they run their power and sometimes speaker and RCA wires through the kick plate where other car wires are running through.
My question is, “Won’t running that power wire along-side other vehicle wire risk electromagnetic interference or is that not really as big of an issue between amp power and the car’s electrical vs. amp power wire and speaker or RCA?” I’m wondering because I’m running a 0 gauge 100% OFC JL Audio wire from my battery to the trunk of my 1997 Toyota Supra and along the driver side, the 0 gauge can fit with the other wires in the vehicle but i’m tempted to run it along the corner edge where the floor meets the wall (i.e. pull out carpet) so that I’m at least 7 inches away from the kick plate where the other vehicle wires are bundled.
Thanks in advance and really like all the great info on this blog. It’s going to be my second install (guinea pig was my wife’s car back in 2004 in her 2001 Nissan Xterra…there was way more room to work with in her SUV).
-billy
Hi Billy,
Usually the biggest interference issue is with RCA cables picking up noise from power wires either existing or added. Speaker wire not really an issue as that’s after the amplification signal. You always want to separate the amp power wires and the RCA wires and try to keep the RCA cables away from any other power wires in the vehicle. It’s harder to pickup noise (or HEAR noise) when running an RCA for subs alone as the audible noise is usually in the higher end of the frequency range which subs won’t be playing. So don’t be so concerned about running the power wire along other wiring in the car as much as where the RCA wires are being run.
Hello! first off let me say this is a great site, hats off for what your doing. My quesstion is fairly simple, I just finish my install on my 93 honda civic del sol. I have two 8′ Dayton Audio RS225-4 woofers in my front doors for my mids, two Dayton Audio RS28A-4 1-1/8″ Aluminum Dome Tweeter for my highs.
I have two Alpine SWR-823D subs in a JL audio stealthbox thats made for my car, its a ported box that sits right behind the two seats. I wanted to ask you about how the subs are wired inside the inclousure, they both share one output, so I have 4 wires 2 from each sub that meet in the middle of the box and they share one neg and one pos connection.
My question is do both subs get the same amount of power to them connected this way? would it be better to have them each have their own ch?
If I choose to have them powerd individually I would have to get another amp because at the moment I have a massive audio NX5 5 ch amp powering everything. I just wanna know the advantages and disadvante of having them powered either way. thanks in advance! I have a alpine 9887 headunit, im not running active yet but plan to do so.
Hi Jimmy,
Well the question I have for you is the 823D subs themselves, do you have those wired in series? As long as you do, it’s okay that they’re both going to the same positive and same negative terminal on the box. I think you got it right.
It sounds like you wired each sub in series then paralleled which would give your amp a 2 ohm load. Your amp is capable of producing 400 watts RMS on the sub channel at 2 ohms. It wouldn’t matter whether you made the double connection in the box or at the amp, it will still see 2 ohms. So you could definitely benefit by upgrading to a higher powered mono amp just for the subs. Something that does 600 watts RMS @ 2 ohms. But it’s such a small car and you’re not that far off from the RMS rating range, I would try it 1st and see how it sounds before buying and installing a separate higher powered mono amp for both subs.
CDA-9887 is a sweet deck by the way, enjoy!
Hey there I’ve got one. I have a kicker box right? its got one wire terminal cup. The box was made for 2 ohm cvrs. I have 4 ohm cvrs, and im putting them into this box. My amp is 4 ohms bridged (idk why they didnt make it 2 ohms bridged). So if i put these subs into this box, they will have to be wired at 2 ohms. Do i just run them at 2 ohm stereo? or what? is there some way they could be run at 4 ohm, with only one terminal? i would like 4 ohm because its max RMS of my amp.
HI David,
I will do a video soon to answer this, but the short answer is you can’t hook it up the way you want to. If your subs are 4 ohms each, chances are the box was set up for those subs to be wired parallel to the one terminal. So in other words both positives together and both negatives together. That would bring the impedance down to 2 ohms. If you have a 2 channel amp and want to bridge it, you can only do that if you have a 4 ohm load. If you were to try to bridge the amp with the 2 ohm load, it wouldn’t work. The amp would overheat and shut down as the impedance is too low for it to handle. So if you bridge it, it’s only 4 ohm stable.
So what you can do is add another terminal to the box and run the amp in stereo. Run each sub to a channel on the amp. This way the amp will see 4 ohms on each channel and will not overheat and shut down on you. I hope that helps! For more info on this subject, check out this video here.
Ok.so Im.getting.my first system installed 1 12″ alpine type r (600 rms) 1 alpine pdx m6 0 gauge amp kit to a 4 gauge wire.in a ported 1.7 cu ft box, and.im using a L.O.C to keepy factory look, 1.) how can I get more deeper /louder bass without another sub?
Check it out the video buddy, hope I answered your question. Thanks for writing!