Finially done with classes and am home for a month, plenty of time to work on my first ever car system install! I have a few questions that I'd like answered before I get to work though.
1.) My amp (which will be powering the component speakers) is going to be placed under my drivers side seat. Are the seat brackets good to use for a ground? Are they a ground at all, and would I get shocked if the amp was on and I reached under the seat for whatever reason and touched metal? If this will not work, what is the best way to ground an amp sitting under the seat?
2.) What is the best way to get wire from the amp to the passenger side? I'd rather not route it up through the front, as that would cause distortion (right?). The only other way I can think of is to remove the center console and run it underneath it somehow. Is that plausable/a good idea?
3.) I know power and RCA wires are not supposed to cross. My power wire is running down the driver side (hence the amp location), and the RCAs for my sub are on the passenger side. Where do regular speaker wires go? The wires going to the rear would most easily run alongside the power wire, and the wire going to the passenger door would cross under the console, along the door (next to the RCAs), and into the door. That one just confuses me in general.
Thanks for any and all help and suggestions!
alkatmsu wrote:
1.) My amp (which will be powering the component speakers) is going to be placed under my drivers side seat. Are the seat brackets good to use for a ground? Are they a ground at all, and would I get shocked if the amp was on and I reached under the seat for whatever reason and touched metal? If this will not work, what is the best way to ground an amp sitting under the seat?
yes it is a good ground.. no you wont get shocked.. how are you able to fit the amp under the seat?? you want good airflow
Quote:
2.) What is the best way to get wire from the amp to the passenger side? I'd rather not route it up through the front, as that would cause distortion (right?). The only other way I can think of is to remove the center console and run it underneath it somehow. Is that plausable/a good idea?
i just ran all mine under the carpet.. got some wire loom and ran it through there
Quote:
3.) I know power and RCA wires are not supposed to cross. My power wire is running down the driver side (hence the amp location), and the RCAs for my sub are on the passenger side. Where do regular speaker wires go? The wires going to the rear would most easily run alongside the power wire, and the wire going to the passenger door would cross under the console, along the door (next to the RCAs), and into the door. That one just confuses me in general.
that sounds about right
thats all i got for info, maybe someone else can help you out with it more then i can
hmmmm.... I am confused, and the Blonde genius that is me,
does not easily get confused
The amp fits under the seat with a few inches of airspace around it. The only thing worrying me at all are the vents under the seats blowing warm air, but I may try to find a way to extend the vent so it's blowing under the amp, and not onto it. Maybe stick a TP roll into it, lol!
Thanks for the help. If it's ok to run the speaker wire along both power and RCA cables, then I'm good to go.
I know how to stop airflow from the vents down there.
Right behind your center consoul is a plastic vent pipe, kinda Y shaped. remove it and all that hot air will end up in the driver and passanger front foot wells.
why put the amp under the seat, that a bad idea to begin with.. i cant think of any reasons for it
wut if u spill a drink dude?
its gonna get hot, nothing u can do about it
i advise against putting it under the seat
dirty elf wrote:why put the amp under the seat, that a bad idea to begin with.. i cant think of any reasons for it
wut if u spill a drink dude?
its gonna get hot, nothing u can do about it
i advise against putting it under the seat
For one, I need every bit of my trunk space that I can conserve. Second, it's a more central location than the trunk.
I've never spilled a drink in 4 years of driving.
It may have less airspace under the seat than it would in the trunk, but the air there would be circulating more than it would in the trunk also.
i would advise against putting it there as well. just mount it to a board, and hide it behind the carpet in the trunk. i have seen people blow lots of fuses putting amps under seats, and then the seat movement interferes with the amp wiring, etc. and the ONLY way to tell if you have a good ground is to run a continuity check with a meter. you cant just tell someone "sight-unseen" that a specific spot will be a good ground. scraped bare metal, or a good factory ground/battery are usually the only good grounds. if you DO get a bad ground spot, it will introduce noise into the system. using a spot as a ground just because it has a bolt, is a mickey-mouse way to wire things. make sure when you find a good ground also that you make sure your battery connections and underhood grounds are good as well. the easy way is rarely the best way.......just my.02
mecp certified installer#39272
So say I do put it in the trunk... should I ground it to the same point my subwoofer amp is grounded to (a seatbelt bolt) or make another ground (a different seatbelt bolt, probably)?
another vote for no amp under the seat. put it in the rear seat when its folded down. when the seat it us. its well hidden and when you need to work on it just drop the seat and everything is accesable
if the you have a good ground you can use the same one.
SomeGuy wrote:another vote for no amp under the seat. put it in the rear seat when its folded down. when the seat it us. its well hidden and when you need to work on it just drop the seat and everything is accesable
I'm not sure I understand you. Do you mean to mount it to the back of the seat? I'm just worried with it being in the trunk that I'll smash something onto it when I have the trunk filled up. Example: my dorm has full carpet, which will have to be moved out when I leave the dorm in May. That carpet, rolled and folded in half, takes up my entire trunk and backseat when the seat is down, so it would be sitting on top of the amp. That's the sort of thing I'm trying to avoid by putting it under the drivers seat.
