Amp Install How To For Alero?

Exactly what I was looking for, thanks BLK.

In other news...GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

A quick run of price grabber today revealed CIRCUIT CITY has the same sub for $1.00 less, but either free shipping or I can get it in the store. It would have been like $10 less but its too late now because I already got my order from cardomain and they won't refund or pricematch shipping.

[BLK03GXS]

HAHA relax these are CHEEP subs.

I think when the one in my trunk was bought it was like 100$ canadian... lol that was like 2 years ago... or more...

Now that you have it, enjoy... and sell it in a coupple monthes to your buddys, and get somethin better.

Ok, I'm going to get my box 90% complete today, but I have another question about mounting the sub in the box.

The sub came with a speaker gasket tape like this:
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshowdetl.c...r=260-540&DID=7

Do I just need to run that around the rim of the sub like shown in the pics on that page?

Also, is there anything else I need to do to "seal" the sub? I know to set it into place, and drill the holes for however it is going to mount, but is it as simple as doing that and then screwing it in place?

PS. Pics to come soon.

[mikegett]

Most subs have a gasket on them. If they don't, just screw them in place and see if it is air tight prior to buying the seal. Once the sub is secure, a simple push on the woofer will tell you how good the seal is. The cone should feel tight with resistance and bouce back quickly. If there is little bounce or a sucking sound, then seals are needed. In some cases silicone is used. I prefer a gel or light grease instead. It can be wiped off if the sub is sold.

Ok, if all goes as planned, everything is going in on saturday.

A question about that remote power lead though. Does anyone know how I can hook it to the stock radio itself? I am going to have to pull the radio to run speaker wires anyways, and I remember on my old truck all ignition wires were very tight (tight enough it would be near impossible to connect anything to them). So, I need a solid place to run that remote lead to. I have no sunroof either (for a 12V wire)

EDIT-
If anyone has a mastersheet for an '03 Alero from Crutchfield, and could scan it for me, that would be awsome too.

Ok, here is my gear:



I was very happy to see a set of LOC when I opened the box to my amp. I knew it had speaker level inputs, but I thought that meant that speaker wire actually ran into the amp, not through anything else.

Do all amps with speaker level inputs come with LOC's?

I am still finishing my box, but once that is all done I will post a pic of that too. The actual box is built, but I am finishing the outside of it (no carpet).

I was going to run all the wires today but I woke up and heard the dreadful "wwwhhrrrrshhhush" of a car driving by my house in slush and snow. It was beautiful the past few days, but I had school and work and now, my day off and we get like 3" of this junk on the ground.

I don't have a garage.

i'd just tap into your speaker wires at the trunk that way your not messing around with any wires behind the dash.

The ignition wires are not to bad to get at, you just have to remove the tape covering them. YOu can get at them with the radio out so its not a big deal.

Where are you located? it was snowing here today as well.

I am going to run my sub from the rear speaker wire, but I need to run new wire from the HU to the amp and back up to the front speakers. I am amping the stock 4x6 for now (or I may de-amp them seeing how it sounds).

That way I have the wiring all done in 1 shot so when I upgrade to some component speakers, everything will be there for them.

that seems kind of silly to do that, your running a lot of wire for nothing!

put the LOC's behind the dash, and run the RCA's to the trunk, that way if you ever buy a different deck you've already got the RCA's run.

then take the LEFT front speaker and cut the wire, the deck side of the wire goes to the LOC, then the other side joins with the LEFT rear speaker after you cut it and connect the deck side to the LOC. What this does is connects the fornt and rear speakers together. Then go to the trunk and disconect the wires from the 6x9's and put an extension on them that goes to the amp for the front left output. That way you do not have to run any new speaker wires.
Then all you have to do is run the speaker wire from the amp to the subs!

that's by far the best way of doing it, dont run a speaker wire all the way to the back then to the front of the car again. Take advantage of what is already there.

Just do that for both speakers and you'll be set!

FROM CD
Speaker wire from deck -> LOC behind dash -> RCA's run to the trunk
Speaker wire from car -> splice front and rear together for each side, that gets you the wire to the trunk into your amp an dyour done!

if that does not make sense let me know and i'll draw up a wiring diagram for ya

Ok, I understand your idea about wiring it up now, but can someone explain the benefits of running the LOC's behind the radio, then running RCA cables to the trunk and amp vs running speaker wire to the LOC's which would be located at the amp, and using the RCA's on the LOC's to plug into the amp?

Also, about how much RCA cable would I need to run radio to trunk (not a straigh line obviously). I know I would need 2 cables (or speaker wire) one for the front and one for the back channels.

I think I used 15 feet and barely had enough in length, but it was a while ago so I cannot remember for sure.

The main advantage of doing it is that your not running speaker wire for the front speakers all over your car, its a much cleaner install. RCA's generally have better sheilding then speaker wire does, if you ever want to add an aftermarket deck, or if 6 months from now your stock deck dies then you will have it all wired up for preouts, your loc's are hidden behind the dash instead of an ugly mess of wires in the trunk, etc/

I am actually taking your wiring advice, as far as using the already run rear speaker wire, but for the actual run of wire into the amp is what I am debating.

I've got 50' of 16g speaker wire already, and tenatively the amp will be hidden behind the carpet in the trunk (where the monsoon amp is located). Running the actual wire will be fairly easy, and if I am neat about it (maybe heatshrink the connections) The LOC at the amp wouldn't look bad.

I think I am just going to run speaker wire with the LOC's at the amp for now, but use that wiring diagram you gave me for connecting the front speakers to the amp.

Thanks.

i'm sure that will work fine, just make sure the wire you have is sheilded and do not run them down the same side as the power wires. You may not have enough either, because your probably going to need 15 feet for each speaker, so your going ot have to run 4 wires from the deck to the back, at 15 feet long each so thats 60 feet. so you might want to just pick up 30 feet or so because you have to wire up the sub and will need some to extend the rear wires

I was going to finish my box today, but after an hour of making double measurments, then finally cutting the trim I measured, I made mistakes.

issed:

Ok, I'm out trying to install poop right now, and it isn't going good.

I have no idea what all these interconnects that came with the wiring kit are for. Also, I can't get the power wire onto the terminal ring. I tried crimping the terminal ring down, but it was almost impossible, and it wouldn't go far enough. Now I think I wasn't supposed to do that.

I have a feeling that this is not going to go well at all.

Help!

Edit---
turtles_ride told me I should solder the connection, not crimp it. Wonderfully enough, I can't find my solder iron, or solder.

Ok, this is going very bad.

I found the solder, but no solder gun. My neighbor who probably has one isn't home.

So, I figure I can still run the power wire through the grommet. I found it on both the driver and engine side, and I read an old thread where Formula Nerd said to use a hangar to push the power wire through, it only takes 2 minutes max.

I have no friggin clue how to get at this from the engine side. I can see it from above the engine, then I jacked it up so I could get under the car, but I have no idea how I am supposed to reach this thing.

I'm already starting to wish I just taken it somewhere to get put in, and I haven't even gotten to the speaker wiring yet.

relax dude, just be patient.

you definatly want to solder that unless u have a hardcore criming gun. When I did mine I put the wire in, smacked it with a hammer a few times and then soldered it, it will never come out now.

attach the power cable to a hanger and feed it in from inside the car, one you get it out a few inches then go to the engine side and look for the hanger, reach down and pull it up

you dont need to be jacking the car to do any of this stuff.

lol, ok I'm going back out to try again.

tenny, your pm box is full. do you have yahoo messenger or anything?

ok I cleared it out.

P.S interconnects are RCA jacks are they not? if so you said you are not using them, your using speaker wire.