running an amp to speakers

irondiezl3 · 11-26-2010, 03:56 AM

have all after market speakers and new amp. speakers are in. all mb quart also mb quart amp i only had 12 guage speaker wire i know thats thick but i had alot. so when i run the amp i know i have to run speaker wire from amp to speakers obviousley rcas from amp to head unit but what do i do with factory wiring just disconnect the 4 speakers from the radio harness? wil the headunit still try and power the speakers or will the new amp bypass the headunit somehow?

clouseau · 11-26-2010, 08:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by irondiezl3

have all after market speakers and new amp. speakers are in. all mb quart also mb quart amp i only had 12 guage speaker wire i know thats thick but i had alot. so when i run the amp i know i have to run speaker wire from amp to speakers obviousley rcas from amp to head unit but what do i do with factory wiring just disconnect the 4 speakers from the radio harness? wil the headunit still try and power the speakers or will the new amp bypass the headunit somehow?

Most likely the headunit will still try to power the (line outs). Some headunits have the option to shut the (line outs) "OFF" and use only the (pre-amp) outputs (known as RCA's) . Regardless you want to either disconnect the factory speaker wires, or make dang sure the wires and connectors near the factory speakers connections aren't bare nor are they going to short against each other or the cars body. Since electrical shorts are the quickest way to shutdown or fry a headunit, it's always best practice to disconnect power to the factory speakers right at the source, at the headunit.

99.9% of the headunits available have no way of sensing that an amplifier is connected to it. So NO, most likely it won't bypass the (Line out) connections on it's own.

scott192 · 11-26-2010, 10:13 AM

Quote:

99.9% of the headunits available have no way of sensing that an amplifier is connected to it. So NO, most likely it won't bypass the (Line out) connections on it's own.

yup!! just slap some heatshrinks on the end of the wires to keep them from shorting!! wont hurt anything having them on...and your headunit will run cooler

irondiezl3 · 11-26-2010, 01:30 PM

i think my headunit has the option to shut it off if i recall correctly. im thinking run the wires from amp to speaker instead of amp to harness since the wires r thick and will go right to speaker instead of the thin harness wire

cherrington17 · 11-26-2010, 02:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by irondiezl3

i think my headunit has the option to shut it off if i recall correctly. im thinking run the wires from amp to speaker instead of amp to harness since the wires r thick and will go right to speaker instead of the thin harness wire

yes. it would be pointless to run 12g to the harness, which has 22g coming out of it. Totally ruins the whole idea of using higher gauge for better sound.

irondiezl3 · 01-05-2011, 06:24 PM

any tricks to get this wire through the doors its a pain in the ass i cant get the wire through?

robalero · 01-05-2011, 06:32 PM

why didn't you get the wire before the door? I would of cut just before the door and ran it to my amp

irondiezl3 · 01-05-2011, 06:39 PM

huh? sorry i dont get that i ran wire from my amp to the front speakers in the door but i cant get the wire through the rubber tube in the door jamb

cherrington17 · 01-05-2011, 06:45 PM

I fished a small wire though using my fingers (reach in from the door side with one hand, and from inside the car with the other hand)

then tied it to the new speaker wire, and just yanked it though.

irondiezl3 · 01-05-2011, 06:48 PM

i tried that but i couldnt find the small wire when i did it maybe i want to small it was like 24guage

what about a zip tie a long one stiff enough to stay strong but flexible anough to make it through the curves?

robalero · 01-05-2011, 07:25 PM

your running 100% new wires, never what I said I thought you were just splicing into existing ones

irondiezl3 · 01-05-2011, 11:06 PM

wow what a nightmare finally got it damn 12 guage was a bad idea

cherrington17 · 01-06-2011, 09:21 AM

I have 4x22ga wires and 4x16ga wires run through each door. so you can't tell me there isn't room for a couple 12ga wires.

irondiezl3 · 01-06-2011, 10:30 AM

lol idk man it was a pain in the a**** but it got it through. wierd my stereo sound better with the gain lowe on amp and volume louder on stereo i thought the gain up and volume lower on stereo would be better

cherrington17 · 01-06-2011, 11:01 AM

depends on the distortion level on each.

irondiezl3 · 01-06-2011, 01:13 PM

aparently its because my stereo has 6v preamp outputs owell i guess that means my amp doesnt have to work as hard

clutch1 · 01-06-2011, 01:46 PM

6V is legendary line level output.

Anywho, the amp STILL works as hard as it would with a 2V set of preamps.. it still has to put out X amount of wattage for Y amount of sound. Since the gain isn't a volume, it's a control that balances the input voltage of the RCAs to the amp's output. That's why your gain is turned so far down, because the 6V preouts are super high compared to normal outputs.

irondiezl3 · 01-06-2011, 02:04 PM

so then even though it seems wierd your saying it makes sense since my preamps are high thats why it sounds better with amp gain down? so since it sounds good like that keep it then? i was afraid i was underpowering my speakers like that.

cherrington17 · 01-06-2011, 02:16 PM

there is no such thing as "under powering" a speaker.

Gr1m · 01-06-2011, 03:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cherrington17

there is no such thing as "under powering" a speaker.

sure there is