Need some advice
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Car: '91 Camaro Z28, '85 Camaro Z28
Engine: LB9, LB9
Transmission: T5, 700r4
Axle/Gears: Eaton 3.73 Posi, 3.23 Posi
Need some advice
So I just put in an Alpine CDE-9852 head unit in the Camaro since I had it just lying around, I'm assuming the car still has stock speakers which I'll be replacing soon with 2 4x6 Alpine SPS-4629P in the dash and 2 6x9 Alpine SPS-6939S in the sail panels. I also have a custom sealed sub box for the rear cargo well. I don't know the volume though. I also just picked up 2 10" Kicker Comp VR's that I'm going to use. The amp I got from Al awhile ago is a Pioneer GM-X252 with an 8g power wire.
I really don't know much about car stereo's and how to match them well. I'm afraid that this amp isn't enough for these subs and I'm starting to think I need a bigger gauge power wire, can anyone give any input on what will work well if what i have is mismatched or how I should wire it?
I really don't know much about car stereo's and how to match them well. I'm afraid that this amp isn't enough for these subs and I'm starting to think I need a bigger gauge power wire, can anyone give any input on what will work well if what i have is mismatched or how I should wire it?
Last edited by DBLTKE; 09-17-2011 at 05:49 PM.
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Re: Need some advice
If you're running the front and rear speakers off the deck and running the subs from the amp, then the amp is powerful enough (you don't want to overpower the speakers).
I'm assuming the sub box is sealed.
8 ga wire is big enough for the amp.
Install what you have, tune it and give a listen.
If the subs are new, give them a few weeks to 'break in' properly before you hit '11' on the volume **** and up the gain control.
I'm assuming the sub box is sealed.
8 ga wire is big enough for the amp.
Install what you have, tune it and give a listen.
If the subs are new, give them a few weeks to 'break in' properly before you hit '11' on the volume **** and up the gain control.
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Re: Need some advice
I went all Alpine head, front and rear speakers and 2-JL subwoofer (1200w amped). It has all the volume, kick and sound quality you could asked for.
Ken C
Ken C
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Car: '91 Camaro Z28, '85 Camaro Z28
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Re: Need some advice
Well doing a little research shows that these subs are good for 800WMAX and 400RMS (continuous) each. My amp can maybe put out 200RMS x @ 4 ohms. It seems like I could use an amp that could put out 1000 to 1200RMS and never hurt these subs. But I think I would need at least a 4AWG power wire for that much power.
Am I right here?
Am I right here?
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Car: '91 Camaro Z28, '85 Camaro Z28
Engine: LB9, LB9
Transmission: T5, 700r4
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Re: Need some advice
Im having an issue here now, I installed my new speakers in the sail panels. I did not install the new speakers in the dash due to fitment issues so even after putting new connectors on the wires I had to revert back to the stock dash speakers. Unfortunately I'm starting to think that I got the polarity mixed up on the dash speakers. The terminals look identical and I could hear no noticeable different when testing out which was positive and negative. If i disconnect both of the rear speakers from the headunit pigtail I can get sound out of the dash speakers, as soon as I reconnect the sail panel speakers I loose all sound. I don't understand what can cause this? Do these speakers pull too much power for the head unit to support alone?
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#8
Re: Need some advice
Power pull is irrelevant. You have a short somewhere. Either speaker wires touching each other, touching ground, or a shorted speaker. Use an ohm meter and check speaker ire to ground. Should read open with the radio unhooked. Make sure the speaker terminals aren't touching the body in the sail panels
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Re: Need some advice
Well doing a little research shows that these subs are good for 800WMAX and 400RMS (continuous) each. My amp can maybe put out 200RMS x @ 4 ohms. It seems like I could use an amp that could put out 1000 to 1200RMS and never hurt these subs. But I think I would need at least a 4AWG power wire for that much power.
Am I right here?
Am I right here?
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Re: Need some advice
Enuff with the caps already O_o
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Car: '91 Camaro Z28, '85 Camaro Z28
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Re: Need some advice
Power pull is irrelevant. You have a short somewhere. Either speaker wires touching each other, touching ground, or a shorted speaker. Use an ohm meter and check speaker ire to ground. Should read open with the radio unhooked. Make sure the speaker terminals aren't touching the body in the sail panels
Thanks, I pulled the speakers and found that one of the connectors on the right rear speaker had slipped off and grounded to the body. I reverted back to the stock speakers. I'm going to get some speaker wire adapters so I don't have this problem in the future. Apparently the front speakers I have will fit if I use a spacer designed for them. I just need to do some research and source a pair of those.
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Re: Need some advice
On my fronts I believe I just used a rubber tie rod end piece I found in an assortment box. Seemed to work out fine. I am running a smaller amp for my fronts and sails. Then a larger for my sub. I noticed my fronts would sound distorted if i turned too loud, and now saound great off thebamp.
#13
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Car: '91 Camaro Z28, '85 Camaro Z28
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Re: Need some advice
Well I think I found a good deal on a used Alpine PDX-1.600 which puts out 600RMS at 2 and 4 ohms. will this be good enough for these subs?
#14
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Car: '91 Camaro Z28, '85 Camaro Z28
Engine: LB9, LB9
Transmission: T5, 700r4
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Re: Need some advice
Alright, so I ended up getting that Alpine PDX 1.600 amp. From what I've researched it's a pretty good amp. It's a class D mono amp rated at 600RMS. I now have 4 gauge power and ground wires although the fuse holder that I have accepts AGU style fuses and apparently they're pretty hard to find in high AMP ratings. The highest I could find was 80amps, originally this Streetwire amp kit used a 150amp fuse. Any thoughts on whether I'll just keep blowing fuses? The amplifier uses 4 20 amp fuses.
Other than that I wired my subs in series and bridged the voice coils on each sub in order to stay at 2 ohms. I followed this diagram...
http://a248.e.akamai.net/pix.crutchf...2-ohm_mono.jpg
I think I measured my power wire to be 15' and my ground wire to be 3'. So a total of 18'. So it seems that I'm well in the clear running 4AWG wire, besides, the terminals on my amp only accept down to 4AWG which is what Alpine recommends too. I also calculated my current draw.. (600x1)2/13.8 ..and it came out to be 87 amps, but can be up to 100amps if my voltage drops down to 12 volts. I'll stick with this 80amp fuse until I find a reason not to.
Anyway, I was able to finish running the wiring and hooking everything up and I got the interior all put back together last night. These subs are awesome! I got these subs used so I don't think I need to break them in. It seems that the lower the bass, the better these sound. The higher pitched bass notes don't sound quite as good but I still need to figure out settings for the subs. It's possible that I may just be hearing interior/exterior vibrations, those should be fun chasing down. :roll:
I missed having a decent stereo in a car. The '85 had a pair of mediocre subs but the amp eventually blew, I ended up taking the stereo out of that car. My GTI had the factory radio delete option. So I wanted to do something nice in this car.
Next up: installing the dash and sail panel speakers. The sail panels will be a breeze, but I remember I had clearance issues when I test fitted the dash speakers. Is there anywhere that I can buy some spacers? Everyone I've talked to says they only come with the speakers and aren't available separately.
Other than that I wired my subs in series and bridged the voice coils on each sub in order to stay at 2 ohms. I followed this diagram...
http://a248.e.akamai.net/pix.crutchf...2-ohm_mono.jpg
I think I measured my power wire to be 15' and my ground wire to be 3'. So a total of 18'. So it seems that I'm well in the clear running 4AWG wire, besides, the terminals on my amp only accept down to 4AWG which is what Alpine recommends too. I also calculated my current draw.. (600x1)2/13.8 ..and it came out to be 87 amps, but can be up to 100amps if my voltage drops down to 12 volts. I'll stick with this 80amp fuse until I find a reason not to.
Anyway, I was able to finish running the wiring and hooking everything up and I got the interior all put back together last night. These subs are awesome! I got these subs used so I don't think I need to break them in. It seems that the lower the bass, the better these sound. The higher pitched bass notes don't sound quite as good but I still need to figure out settings for the subs. It's possible that I may just be hearing interior/exterior vibrations, those should be fun chasing down. :roll:
I missed having a decent stereo in a car. The '85 had a pair of mediocre subs but the amp eventually blew, I ended up taking the stereo out of that car. My GTI had the factory radio delete option. So I wanted to do something nice in this car.
Next up: installing the dash and sail panel speakers. The sail panels will be a breeze, but I remember I had clearance issues when I test fitted the dash speakers. Is there anywhere that I can buy some spacers? Everyone I've talked to says they only come with the speakers and aren't available separately.
#15
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Re: Need some advice
Good thing these subs were already broken in, in my excitement to get everything finished up, I never checked the settings on the amp. Apparently the gain was cranked all the way up so I was in fact hearing a lot of distortion. I turned it down to 3 or 4 and they sound much better now.
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