Car Audio: Is this how you wire up an Amplifier?

[PCMarine]

Diagram

It's my understanding that you wire the speakers directly up to the amp, and then you run the amp signal to the head unit with some RCA wires.

Or do you have the speakers wired up to the head unit, and then have the amp wired up to the head unit (I hope it's this case so then I don't have to run new speaker wire).

Thanks

 

[UnoSigmaPi]

You run the speaker wires from the speakers to the amp, and the RCA cables from the amp to the head unit.

 

[PCMarine]

Originally posted by: UnoSigmaPi
You run the speaker wires from the speakers to the amp, and the RCA cables from the amp to the head unit.

Aight damn Since right now my speakers are running off of my head unit via the stock speaker wires, so if I wanted to hook up an amp, I'd have to run all new wires.

 

[Farbio]

Originally posted by: PCMarine

Originally posted by: UnoSigmaPi
You run the speaker wires from the speakers to the amp, and the RCA cables from the amp to the head unit.

Aight damn Since right now my speakers are running off of my head unit via the stock speaker wires, so if I wanted to hook up an amp, I'd have to run all new wires.

this usually holds true, depends on how strong your amp is though....i have run speaker wire from the amp back to the harness on a job that was only a 30x4 amp, so it wasn't much more power and the stock speakers handled it just fine. in general though, rewiring the whole speakers is usually better.

don't forget the power and ground wires in the diagram either!

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Where's the effin' sub?

- M4H

 

[boomdart]

Depends on your amp and how you want it wired...

If you have a 4 channel amp, wire all the speakers into the amp (using preferably lower gauge wire) in the corresponding locations (front left to front left) and simply hook the amp to the preamp output on the headunit, supply power & ground and you're good to go.

If you have a weak 4 channel amp, you might want to bridge two channels to decrease the impendance and gain more oomph from the amp. (Or buy some attachments that lower the ohms)

If you have a two channel amp you will have to bridge two speakers together, which will drop the impendance whether you want to or not.

 

[boomdart]

Oh, and if you add that tweeter, it'll drop the impendance of the front leaving the rears with half the power the front has.

This is assuming that you bought seperate tweeters and are attempting to splice them into the current system. If the tweeters came with the speakers, don't worry about it.

 

[nan0bug]

Something like this

 

can't forget the crossover

 

[nan0bug]

Ah yes, if you're wiring tweeters you will need crossovers. If not, use separate amps for the subs and speakers and you will be ok with the high/low pass filters on the amps.

 

[ZoNtO]

Make sure also that you route your power wires along one edge of your interior and the RCAs on the other. You'll get a ton less interference that way. Also check the grounds and make sure they are secured tightly and are touching bare metal. This would include the amp, deck, and battery as well. You don't want ground loop hum or alternator whine!

 

[0roo0roo]

you want all new wires anyways