where to fit hi-fi amp
Discussion
RCA said:
why a play station ????
why not??, No really, I did it just because I wanted to see if I could!!, + on long journeys the passenger can play on it or watch DVD's!!
so where's the screen? got any pics? not that I want to fit one myself, but I'm very intreagued (sp?)
TheHobbit said:
raceboy: is that screen part of the head unit (and therefore folds "into" teh head unit?)
...looks good
Well it is actually Rich's car, the photo was on his profile
The headunit is indeed one of those fold out styleee ones, I think it's an Alpine unit, but a number of manufacturers knock them out these days
Ideal for watching your Busted DVD's on as well Rich
... the view out the front generally keeps the passengers awake and interested 
Cars are for driving, not playing games in.......apart from with the ladeees of course!!
Ive just discovered that the amp i have is only a 2 channel 
Not sure if its still worth fitting, just for the rear speakers. If i do decide to fit it, is there a suitable power supply and earth somewhere in the boot, or do i have to run cables directly from the battery?
Thanks
Jeremy
>> Edited by SlowRider on Wednesday 14th January 23:13
Not sure if its still worth fitting, just for the rear speakers. If i do decide to fit it, is there a suitable power supply and earth somewhere in the boot, or do i have to run cables directly from the battery?
Thanks
Jeremy
>> Edited by SlowRider on Wednesday 14th January 23:13
I've run cables directly from the battery, you know you are getting good connections then. You have to run the power from the battery so running the earth at the same time is not a problem!!. Make sure you have a good gauge cable incase you want to upgrade the amp(s) at a later date to more powerful ones. You could just use it for the rears or do the fronts and rears together. Having a channel for left and one for right. I have done this before when I only had a 2 channel amp and still works well!!. Which amp do you have and what is the power rating on it??
bassfiend said:
Oooooo...
Gotta say I'd never have dared leave so many vulnerable wires when I used to do installs.
Phil
Could you go and teach the guys a the factory how to do it properly please!
Oh and do you know where I could get a chrome 'grille' to cover my 'rather large' rear speaker? It is about the same size as a dinner plate.
I can post pics - If I really have to
I don't want to teach anyone to such eggs BUT, linking your speakers together like that will either reduce impedence (ohms) if arranged in parallel.....i.e. amp fries, possibly taking speakers with it, or if arranged in series your amp will make your headunit sound massively powerful. If the Alpine is rated at 2ohms then disregard the above but i'd be suprised.
You could buy another small/cheap amp to run the rears and use the Alpine to run the fronts. This wouldn't cost much(Ebay anyone?)and is much safer/more reliable. You could even use the head-unit to run the rears and the amp for the fronts. Either way the wiring is pretty much the same.
On the wiring front, you will have to run a power and earth wire straight off the battery as there won't be a supply with enough guts in the boot. In the same vein as above, short cuts here can cause reliability problems but could actually be dangerous. Overloading any circuit can cause fire in extreme circumstances.
So, while you're doing all this wiring, run an earth from the head-unit to the amp's earth and use that wire rather than the earth behind the dash. This will remove a lot of problems with interference/earth loops. Also don't forget your switching wire for the amp.
I know this sounds like grief but the end results will be worth it. I have an Alpine 7939 CD unit runing an active Soundstream Piccasso and Dynaudio speakers. It sound the b****x and has enough grunt to overcome the exhaust note (de-catted!!!) at cruise.
All obviously IMHO
Kevin
You could buy another small/cheap amp to run the rears and use the Alpine to run the fronts. This wouldn't cost much(Ebay anyone?)and is much safer/more reliable. You could even use the head-unit to run the rears and the amp for the fronts. Either way the wiring is pretty much the same.
On the wiring front, you will have to run a power and earth wire straight off the battery as there won't be a supply with enough guts in the boot. In the same vein as above, short cuts here can cause reliability problems but could actually be dangerous. Overloading any circuit can cause fire in extreme circumstances.
So, while you're doing all this wiring, run an earth from the head-unit to the amp's earth and use that wire rather than the earth behind the dash. This will remove a lot of problems with interference/earth loops. Also don't forget your switching wire for the amp.
I know this sounds like grief but the end results will be worth it. I have an Alpine 7939 CD unit runing an active Soundstream Piccasso and Dynaudio speakers. It sound the b****x and has enough grunt to overcome the exhaust note (de-catted!!!) at cruise.
All obviously IMHO
Kevin
Jeremy, I'm not a techy, but when I had my Chimaera, I fitted a small amp into the covered pocket behind the passengers seat, made all the difference, was not in your face, sounded superb, and you could still get the roof & golf clubs in the boot, without the hint of screwing up any boot install stuff. Only slight problem that can give is to the amp getting a bit hot, but this can be solved by venting the pocket cover, or removing it all together.
chim_girl said:
Oh and do you know where I could get a chrome 'grille' to cover my 'rather large' rear speaker? It is about the same size as a dinner plate.
I can post pics - If I really have to
I would advise against anything flashy as an install in a Chimaera, the roof was slashed in my 1st one to aleviate me of about a grands worth of hi-fi. My second one had a stealth install where I fabricated a panel to hide the subs and rears. I left the stock (cheapo) pioneer grilles over the front mids and hid the front tweeters too.
Its quite easy to get acoustic carpet in the same colour as your car and have a panel with the appropriate cut-outs trimmed and finished with the same ambla as is used in the rest of the car. This can be used to hide the rear shelf. The only issue is making sure it doesn't foul the roof struts when they are down.
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