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Amplifier/HU wiring

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bigboy

New CEG'er
Joined
Jan 19, 2010
Messages
23
Location
Silver Spring, Maryland
I've been reading online a lot on amplifiers, including wiring and configuring them - among other things. One thing I couldn't really figure out was how all the speakers and subwoofer(s) are connected to the amp. I'm using a stock base audio head unit from when I bypassed the stock amp a while ago.

I was wondering if upgraded head units have dedicated bass outputs? Or something along those lines. I've seen pictures of various head units and only observed like 2 RCA outputs or something similar. Some people recommend mono amps for a subwoofer, but how would I go about connecting only bass to a mono amp without having to connect my speaker output as well? And if I did want to amplify my speakers as well (which I do), how would I go about connecting my woofer to the amp? Just bridge it along with the Left and Right speakers for front or back? Or connect all my left speakers to front left, and all my right speakers to front right, then use the backs for bass (I have a two channel woofer, and this is assuming it's a 4 channel amp)? Or if it was a two channel amp, just bridge all the lefts and rights? But the thing about that is that I'm worried my speakers will be distorting sound because they're receiving the same amount of bass output as my subwoofer, but once again I'm not sure.

Sorry if this is confusing, I've been searching around and the most I've seen is "connect your speakers and woofer", or other similar things. I'm sure this is a pretty basic question to someone who knows what they're doing, so maybe if someone could shed some light on this for me?
 
bigboy said:
I've been reading online a lot on amplifiers, including wiring and configuring them - among other things. One thing I couldn't really figure out was how all the speakers and subwoofer(s) are connected to the amp. I'm using a stock base audio head unit from when I bypassed the stock amp a while ago.
Click to expand...

Stock amplifiers don't follow the rules of most aftermarket amps. Atleast on our cars the amp takes the speaker wire and uses that as the input. While most after marken amps rely on RCA's for their input.

bigboy said:
I was wondering if upgraded head units have dedicated bass outputs? Or something along those lines. I've seen pictures of various head units and only observed like 2 RCA outputs or something similar. Some people recommend mono amps for a subwoofer, but how would I go about connecting only bass to a mono amp without having to connect my speaker output as well? And if I did want to amplify my speakers as well (which I do), how would I go about connecting my woofer to the amp? Just bridge it along with the Left and Right speakers for front or back? Or connect all my left speakers to front left, and all my right speakers to front right, then use the backs for bass (I have a two channel woofer, and this is assuming it's a 4 channel amp)? Or if it was a two channel amp, just bridge all the lefts and rights? But the thing about that is that I'm worried my speakers will be distorting sound because they're receiving the same amount of bass output as my subwoofer, but once again I'm not sure.
Click to expand...

Here there are 2 senerios when it comes to hooking up Amps to a sub and speakers.

First off the headunit has any where from 1 pair to 3 pairs of RCA's. Generally you want to look at a Headunit with 2+ pairs of RCA outputs if you want to run more then 1 amp. Most the time when you have 2 pairs you will have 1 dedicted to a sub and another didcated to the full audio range.

1- 2 amps - In this case you have generally a mono block and a 4 channel amp running all drivers. Now I'm sure you can figure out how to run the wire from here. If you have a headunit with one pair of RCA's and want to run all 4 channels you will need a Y Rca (1 female to 2 male conections) so you can cover all the chanels. However this can mess with your faiding ability.

2 - 1 amp - Depending on channels you can run 4 speakers or 2 speakers and a amp. You can run all 4 speakers on 1 channel of the amp but you will loose faiding control (or you can run just the front speakers), this can alow a sub bridged on the rear channel. You can also pick up a 5 channel amp that would allow all faiding control.

Sorry for grammer and spelling I'm runnen short on time right now. However I would recomend giveing us awhat you are looking to get or what you want to do. From here we can give you a better Idea what you should do. Also are you running stock speakers or after market? In other words do not amplify your stock speakers.
 
Thanks for the reply. For now I'm just planning out what I'll do before I buy the amp and HU. I do already have a 15" Volfenhag sub in my room hooked up to my computer in a box which I'll use in the car, along with some Volfenhag speakers already in the car.

I don't care too much about fade control, it'd be nice, but running one 4 chan amp is a lot cheaper for me than buying two amps.

I've been looking at amps, and thinking about getting this one:
http://cgi.ebay.com/PYLE-PLA4278-20...Amplifiers?hash=item35a7a31649#ht_3305wt_1165

I chose it mainly because of the price. Unless there's something better quality wise in the price range without sacrificing too much power I'll probably stick with it.

I'm not sure what head unit I want to buy though. Something around the ~$100 price range because I can't really do more right now; unless that price range equates to a low quality one, in which case I'd probably prefer to get a more expensive one and wait a bit.

I'll be doing most of the wiring soon so it'll all be ready for when I buy the equipment.
 
Well considering you already have the speakers and sub lets work with what you have. Can I get the rms rateings for your speaker and sub. When I was in High School I used some Volfenhag stuff. May I recomend spending a couple extra bucks on the amp trust me you get what you pay for. I would almost recomend using the amp on a headunit to run the speakers and getting a mono amp for the sub.

Check out www.ikesound.com for some cheaper prices

heres a head unit to check out http://www.ikesound.com/product-product_id/8762

and this amp should be just about right for your 15in sub
http://www.ikesound.com/product-product_id/8758
 
FFE said:
May I recomend spending a couple extra bucks on the amp trust me you get what you pay for.
Click to expand...


DO NOT buy Pyle, Legacy, Pyramid, Lanzar or Boss Audio products. These are absolute garage and put out no where near their power rating as well as put out unclean clipped signals. There are far better products out there even if you are on a budget. Unless its a super quality name brand product, you won't really find a 4ch that does over 200wrms when bridged. Always buy the highest quality wires and connectors when installing too.

If you are unsure about an amplifiers rated power, look at the fuses. Add all the fuses together and take that # and multiply it by 6 if the amp is class a/b and 8 if its a class d. This is a ROUGH ESTIMATION for figuring out an amplifiers rms rating. This gives you a ballpark figure but is not the true output. Usually class A/B amps run at 50-60% efficiency, meaning they turn 50-60% of the input voltage into usable power for the speaker, the rest of the energy is dissipated in heat, ever notice why an a/b is always hotter than a d class? Class D amps run at a higher efficiency, about 70-80%. For standard reference, a cars electrical system is 12v. Therefore 6 is a 50% of 12 and 8 is 75% of 12. The real voltage of your charging system is usually 14.4v. Some reputable, high end manufacturers like JL Audio or Rockford Fosgate rate their products at 12v, when this happens, the amp is usually under rated (see below my Rockford amp)

remember, watts= volts x amps

Some examples

If a 2000w rated Pyle only has a fuse rating of 50-60amps and is an A/B class, which usually operate at 50% efficiency, then by the estimation formula the output is likely around 300-350wrms and any knowledgeable person in car audio can attest to that.

My Alpine MRP-F300 has a 50amp fuse and is an a/b class and Alpine rates it at 75wrms x4 at the lowest impedance it can go. 300 = 50 X 6. This rating is for 14.4v, if it goes to 12v, the power drops to 50wrms per channel. This amp is cea2006 compliant

My old Crunch P1500.1 had a 120a fuse rating, was an a/b class and was rated for 750wrms, so 120 x 6 = 720 this amp is not cea2006 compliant

My Rockford Fosgate p1000-1bd is rated for 1000wrms and has a 140amp internal fuse with class D circuitry. The birthsheet test was conducted at 14.4v and it put out 1399wrms. 140 x 10 =1400. I used 10 as the multiplier because its about 75% of 14.4. When the company rated this amp at 1000wrms, the reading was taken at 12v. The thing really puts out 40% more power than its rated for, talk about being under rated.

CEA 2006 compliance is very important to an amplifier because it is an industry wide standard of measuring power. An amp that is cea 2006 compliant will put out AT LEAST its rated power, sometimes more in certain cases. Ever notice why Pyle, Legacy, Boss and the rest of the cheap brands out there aren't cea 2006 compliant? Because they DONT put out anywhere near their claimed power.
 
Let me recommend watching your local craigslist for amps. You can finds some older alpine amps for a relatively cheap.
 
If you look in the classifieds on here, there is a member with a nice Alpine amp for sale.
 
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