secondary amp install help :|

[changaroo]

hey guys

my car was previously wired for two amps, but when i bought it the secondary amp powering the components was removed. therefore i have the headunit powering the aftermarket components, which sound meh...

i recently picked up an amp to add to the rest of the system, but i'm a bit lost as to how i should hook everything up. i've done installs before, but since i didnt wire this one up i'm not sure how everything works.

when i slide the passenger seat up, i see a power cable, two sets of speaker wire (which i assume are spliced into the components already), and i see a set of RCA's.

what i need help with is:

1) if i have a remote 12v amp wire already hooked to the sub, how do i get another for the 2nd amp?

2) right now the headunit is powering the components, how do i bypass using the headunits power and use the amp?

3) what kind of fuse do i install inline from the battery? something thats rated lower or higher than whats in the secondary amp?

4) is it ok to ground it to the passenger seat bolt?

i think thats it for now... feel free to add anything i might have missed

thanks for any help

[BanginJimmy]

I am assuming you already have an amp and a sub in there so:

1. You just need to get a piece of 16awg wire it and run it from the remote turn on terminal of amp 1 and run it to amp 2.
2. Do you have components (seperate woofer and tweeter) or do you have coax (tweeter as part of the woofer)?
if you have components then get access to your x-over and run your wiring to there. If youhave coax then pull your door panel off, pull out your speaker, rip out the factory wiring and run all new speaker wire from the amp to the speaker.

3. Assuming you have proper awg wire already from the battery then you need to get a FUSED distribution block and run 1 wire to each amp from there. You want to match the fuse size with the manufacturers specs. Also if you have an inline fuse within 18" of your battery then make sure you change that fuse wth the proper size also.

4. That should be fine, but get some sandpaper and get rid of all the pain and primer first. You want your ground to be bare metal.


With the questions you are asking I can tell you have very little experience doing this, so I would further suggest you bring this to a shop and let them do it for you.

[changaroo]

I am assuming you already have an amp and a sub in there so:

1. You just need to get a piece of 16awg wire it and run it from the remote turn on terminal of amp 1 and run it to amp 2.

2. Do you have components (seperate woofer and tweeter) or do you have coax (tweeter as part of the woofer)?

they are components

if you have components then get access to your x-over and run your wiring to there. If youhave coax then pull your door panel off, pull out your speaker, rip out the factory wiring and run all new speaker wire from the amp to the speaker.

well the thing is, im pretty sure that has already been done since there was an amp previously there. theres already speaker wire under the seat.

3. Assuming you have proper awg wire already from the battery then you need to get a FUSED distribution block and run 1 wire to each amp from there. You want to match the fuse size with the manufacturers specs. Also if you have an inline fuse within 18" of your battery then make sure you change that fuse wth the proper size also.

when i look at the positive battery terminal, there are two 8 ga wires.one for the sub and one for the secondary amp (which isnt hooked up) soo i guess the previous install wasnt done right?

thanks for the help

[BanginJimmy]

they are components



well the thing is, im pretty sure that has already been done since there was an amp previously there. theres already speaker wire under the seat.

Then pull the seats and the carpet and look. Its MUCH easier to run all the wiring without all that in the way anyways. You really need to pull the door panels anyways and look at the wiring on there. Hopefully its not too screwed up.

when i look at the positive battery terminal, there are two 8 ga wires.one for the sub and one for the secondary amp (which isnt hooked up) soo i guess the previous install wasnt done right?

Its fine to do it that way so long as both wires are properly fused. My personal preference is to use a single strand of larger wire to a distro block though.

thanks for the help

no problem

[okra1981]

An easy way to hook up the front components is to: 1) cut all of the speaker wires behind the head unit and connect the front right to the rear right and the front left to the rear left, 2) take the rear speaker wires from the rear dash speakers and hook them up to the amp as the front two channels, 3) then run new wires to the rear speakers.
I like this method because it is really simple, basically you are running a long, cheap wire to the front doors without getting through the doors with new wire. Obviously a newer aftermarket wire will be better quality, but it will work fine for now and you probably won't notice that big of a difference.

Now that I look at previous posts, listen to Bangin, he is pointing you in the right direction. Only do my method if good aftermarket wires aren't already there.

[MusicManG3]

Just track down where the speaker wires under your seat are going. If they are running to the factory harness to the speakers, use that if the factory speaker wire doesn't look TOO pathetic. If you care to spend the time, running fresh new wire is always better.

I'd say just reuse whatever the previous guy had going. It'll be easier and should work.

Make sure though, if you use the factory speaker wire from the radio harness that you cut the headunit's speaker leads. This should be a no brainer but, I've seen it done before. I've also seen people run the amplified speaker leads into the radio before haha