CAr Audio Basics?

[pcgamer4life]

Alright, I just purchased a Memphis 16-ST250D amp (250 watts) for $50 from a friend of mine. I'm getting two 12in subs soon for $30 (very low end, but they'll do for my needs.) And I currently have an 8in sub right now that I want to use to test out my amp.

Basically, I'm a complete and utter newbie to car audio (cars, in fact.)

I don't have any wires, or anything. Just the amp and the sub. Tomorrow, given the weather is good, I want to attempt to hook up the amp and the sub. What do I need?

I have the amp, no wires, nothing. Just the amp.

I have an 8 inch sub that came from a surround sound system (120v... it had a 60w amp built into it, I cut the wires, so now I just have the sub with +/- (red/black) wires extending from it.)

What else do I need? To get it up and going?
I'd post pics of the amp, but my brother has my digital camera right now.

 

[Matt761]

I think there may be a problem with the voltage because car electircity runs off a 12vdc battery. I also recently heard from my electricity teacher that you should put a 1 or 2 uf capacitor in parrelel with the amp. You'll of course need wires. Make sure they are very thick because a sub can suck 50+ amps at a time.

 

[AZNBoiOnFIYA]

i was a complete noob at car stereos but i still managed to install a stereo in my car. it wasnt very hard given all i had to install were 4 speakers and a head unit. the only thing that took up alot of my time was fabricating mounts and routing wire. other than that, i suggest you go and search for some car audio forums like caraudio.com

 

[johnny5c]

I work part time at my brothers custom car audio shop and have been installing systems for over 10 years. The 8" sub you have will work with a 12V amp, might not sound the best but for testing it's fine. Most home speaker are 8 ohm's and most car ones are 4 ohm's but the input power of the amp don't matter.

To install it you will need a wiring kit that has the following,

Main power wire - 8ga is fine for a 250 watt amp, 15-20 feet to run from the batt to the trunk.

Ground wire - 2-5 feet to run from the amp to the cars body, same gauge as the power wire.

Remote wire - 10-15 feet of 22g with to run from the deck to the amp so the amp will turn on with the deck.

RCA cables - 10-15 feet long, run from the pre-outs on the deck to the inputs on the amp. If you have a deck without pre-outs you can use the high level inputs on the amp of get a line converter if the amp don't have them.

This kit is about the cheapest you can get that has all the stuff you'll need http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=265-035

If you need any help, just PM me and I'll try my best to walk you through it.

 

[Wicked Klown]

I also recently heard from my electricity teacher that you should put a 1 or 2 uf capacitor in parrelel with the amp. You'll of course need wires. Make sure they are very thick because a sub can suck 50+ amps at a time.

Hate to say it but your teacher is wrong. Caps for cars in the 0.5 to 5 Farad really do nothing for you. If you hit a deep bass not and your lights go dim best bet get a better alt. for your car. Also your kinda wrong on the as you say thick wire. Wire goes according to watts and amps as well as how long the power cable will be. For a 250watt amp 8 to 10gauge would work. This comes from competing in DB Drag and having friends who are record makers, breakers and holders of DB Drag, USAC as well as IASCA.

 

[Caeberos]

This might be a thread hack, but does it make all that much difference if one uses 8gauge as opposed to 10gauge wire in term of price, since you have stated that it doesn't affect perfomance. Also would it be a good idea to invest in shielded wires? Also a total n00b might help a friend do this over the summer

 

[Camacho111]

This might be a thread hack, but does it make all that much difference if one uses 8gauge as opposed to 10gauge wire in term of price, since you have stated that it doesn't affect perfomance. Also would it be a good idea to invest in shielded wires? Also a total n00b might help a friend do this over the summer

When it comes to wiring, always leave room for upgrades. If he decides later to lets say put a 500watter, he maybe just fine with 8awg-any higher wattage he may need to upgrade wiring again, which is costly. Most caraudio wiring has decent shielding even for a car evrionment. The biggest to me is that it is much easier to work with unlike stiff residential wiring.

PCgamer, do you plan to add another amp for speaker like components or 6x9.
This is when I I'd recommend 4awg. I'd hate you to spend more money to upgrade wiring.

Caraudio is just as bad as computers. I have both bugs.

 

[enduro]

Hmmm subscribed because I'm interested in car audio too.

So you recommend buying 4 gauge wire just to get that out of the way? How does that affect performance of a low power amp? Or does it? I know it will have less resistance.......a lot less......but is there a downside other than cost?

I have another question as well. I have a 98 Integra GSR and at some point I will be buying a new sound system because mine sucks bad. Will I have to buy a new HU or can a just use my stock one and run the wires out of it?

 

[Camacho111]

Wire performance wise would depend on the amp. 250watts vs 250watts? The more effecient one would win cause it uses less ampage, less ampage on the small wire. This is common, Headlights will blink if the wire is too small.

Some entry level amps have hi-level signal inputs that you can use the stock radio output(speaker wire) to an amps inputs. My last MTX had hi level. never used it though. As for the aftermarket HU, use a wiring harness adapter. Matra has harness for XXXbrand car to XXXbrand HU. I think partexpress has some metra stuff.

 

[pcgamer4life]

It was reccomended by a friend of mine that specializes in car audio the 4 gauge kit. He said it's better wire for later on, and comes with more stuff than the 8 gauge kit (from walmart.. but wire is wire)

Yes, I plan on eventually getting some 6x9s and some door speakers, and probably another amp to handle those. So 4 gauge is what I'll do, I suppose.

Thanks for all the input. I'm going to get a guy I work with to show me how to wire it up, that way I'll be a little bit more understanding.

[edit] I don't have a new head unit, I'm using my stock one. I've been told that it will boost my sound quality up pretty high once I get one... so that will probably come birthday/christmas/when I get back on my feet with $ situation..I just spend all of my money on this car. Not much room to upgrade.

I'll probably get a set of 6x9s around the $40 range... and I'll probably get some door speakers for a little less than that... but this will be a while.
I still have yet to receive the two subs, hopefully I get them tonight, so I haven't started on the box yet. Still not quite sure how the construction of the thing is going to go... I've never built anything really.

 

[Wicked Klown]

I would say get the best you can as to save money later. So with that here is a short story. When I first started I had a 250watt Thumper amp(don't laugh) that I ran off of a cheap walk mart 8 gauge kit. I later get an Orion amp and went to Monster cable 4 gauge. I then went to an Orion HCCA( ran two of them) and went with Monster cable 4gauge. Later on car got broke in to lost 8grand so I stopped for a few. Then the wife and I did the camaro, my buddy put the wrong wires in. So I had took out the Lightning Audio 4gaige stuff and put in tinger HPM 4gauge (not the one I got but close). In the lnog run if you get the biggest and best you can you'll have more money in the long run.

 

[pcgamer4life]

I don't know what the "biggest and best" are, I'm a total newbie to this stuff.

Is 8 better and bigger than 10, or better and bigegr than 4?

 

[Mr. Chambers]

I would do AT LEAST 4ga. now, to allow room for any future upgrades. I started with 8ga, then had to upgrade to 4ga, and most recently had to upgrade again to 2ga. It's alot of work running the stuff, so just do it right the first time.

 

[pcgamer4life]

What I'm asking is: Is 8gauge better than 4 gauge?

 

[Matt761]

The lower the gauge rating, the thicker the wire is. So 4 gauge is better then 8 gauge.

 

[JerMe]

What I'm asking is: Is 8gauge better than 4 gauge?

For your application, "eh". What everyone is trying to tell you is once you decide on upgrading (say mating another amp with another sub, or upgrading any components) you're going to need deliver more juice, and 8ga wire isn't going to cut it. Once you have the 8ga in, it's going to be a PITA as well as $$$ to change to 4ga wire. Using 4ga right now won't hurt you, but using 8ga later will.

Also, if you're using your stock head unit, you might not have the proper pre-outs or antenna connections, which will require slight mods and adapters. Sometimes it's just cheaper to get the HU now, rather than spend for the adapters.

 

[enduro]

What do yall think about these HU's?

I'm looking either at Alpine or Pioneer

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-jVK9f5Ph2Dv/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=62700&I=130DEHP670

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-jVK9f5Ph2Dv/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=62700&I=500CDA9847

 

[Wicked Klown]

Here is a better price on the Pioneer DEH-P6700MP Myself I'd pick the Pioneer but hey thats me.

 

[enduro]

sweet thanks. Now all I have to do is wait for my brother (mtb856) to get his money situation back up cause we share the Teg and he's paying half Just to ask since our stock HU doesn't put out 18W per channel will getting a new HU give us noticeable power increase or just better sound and looks?

 

[Wicked Klown]

You'll notice a diff between the stock and after market HU. Also you might want to look at some new speakers since the new HU does put out more power.