I got an amp running my two 12's right now. I just bought all new speakers and an amp and was wondering what's the best way to run it. Should i just run power, ground, and 12V remote from my existing amp or should i run all new wires? Also, should i use the rear output, front output, or come off the sub output for the rca cables.

Any diagrams would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Brandon

by the way
500/1 jl amp to 2 12 w3
700/1 alpine v power amp to
2 alpine type r 5.25 and
2 alpine type r 6x9

 

What size power wire did you run for your first amp? If you ran 4 gauge or larger (smaller numerically) you should just buy a fused distribution block and split your existing power wire by your amps to get the additional power line. Find a block that works with the wire sizes you’re using.

Remote wire: the right way of doing this is to use a relay to turn both amps on or to install a switch to turn them on. Headunits don't provide a lot of current on the remote wire and two amps is pushing it.

The rest of your questions center around this: what amp are you running? There is no Alpine 700/1. Post a model # (MRP###, MRD###, etc). If I had to guess I would say that you're talking about a mono amp (700 watts x 1 channel)? If this is correct you can't use it to power full range speakers.

 

I think the original is a 4 gauge wire so if it is I'll go that route otherwise i'll run all new wires. For the remote i think i'm gonna try to run it off the deck until i see some problems. Yes it is a 700 x 1chanel amp. It came with the car and I assumed my Jl amp that i already had would be better than it for the subs. So... what amp should i be running with these then? I could always sell this amp and get another one. And lastly, what would be the best way to handle the rca cables?

 

i was thinking someting liek this

 

Your thumbnail is pretty accurate except you will have to run a wire between the two amps for the remote wire. You have to turn on both amps after all

You will need to sell one of the two amps and/or buy another amp. You can't drive full range speakers off a monoblock. You're best bet is looking for a 4 channel amp so that you can still have control over front/rear fade. Your other two options include buying two 2 channel amps, one for the front and one for the rear, or one 2 channel amp and bridge the FL/RL and FR/RR. The only problem with this method is that you will lose the ability to fade front/rear and one stage might overpower the other. Your best/cheapest choice is a 4 channel amp. If you want advice here feel free to ask but as of now I’m assuming you’re ok with finding amps on your own.

RCAs – how many preouts does your deck have? If it has sub, front, and rear you’re best off going with 3 sets of RCAs that way you have complete control from the deck over front/rear fade and subwoofer volume. If you want to cut corners you can run one rca set to the back off the front channel and then jump from amp to amp and use gains/crossovers to achieve the same thing but it will a lot harder to fine tune and impossible to change while driving.

Get your RCAs here: KNUKONCEPTZ - VIEW PRODUCTS FOR CATEGORY KRYSTAL RCA KABLES

They’re cheap and are great cables. I’m running them in my car.

 

I was thinking of buying this one

eBay: ALPINE MRP-F250 4 2 Channel Amp Amplifier 250 New 06 ! (item 9718528623 end time May-06-06 12:54:03 PDT)

Would this be enough power, and assuming i know how to pick an amp is wrong. Im a retard that knows how run wires.

Running a wire between the two amps for the remote turn on? Wouldn't just spitting the wire and running it to both of them work? Why would i run a wire in between? Or were you thinking i would just run the remote wire to one amp and then from that amp to the other? I would do that also.

By the way, thanks Gummie, you and Jim always help me out.

 

ok. You will more than likely have issues with your deck trying to turn on both amps. here is a simple solution. get a small relay like you would have for add on fog lights or such. these only cost about 6 bucks. run your HU's remote wire to the trigger on the relay. from your fused Distro block run power to the relays power in terminal. run a wire from the relays power output to a small fuse block (spade 6 circut blok was about 4 bucks for me.). Ground the relay. run wires from the amps turn on terminal to seperate fuses on the small block.

what this does... when you HU turns on it will trip the relay and send power tothe fuse block in turn swithing on the amps. it also gives yo a bit more flexibility as far as adding gizmos to your car that need power or you can pull the fuse shutiting off one amp if you are trying to tune the other. they will only be powered up when the radio is on, and therefore wont be draining your battery all day when you arent in the car. (I have a rechargeable flash light in my car. this way it is fused and the charger is only powered when the car is running.)

I was tryig to use the HU remote lead t switch on a 400W mono amp and a 75W 2 channel amp and it wouldnt work. HU kept cutting out. remote wa trying to draw to much power.

 

that seems like a great idea. What part #'s or where can you buy these? I know i can run the wires but i need a little more info on what exactly to use. Also, how does that amp seem to be? Is it a good amp for my application. I like alpine and pretty much run all alpine products.

 

If those are the two amps you are going to be running you'll be fine not running a relay on the 'rem' line. So if you're fuzzy on that, don't over complicate. If you want to run more off the 'rem' line then go with the relay.
Now that's scary. Good way to kill the amp IC. Most HUs use an output from the amp IC as the 'rem' out. Don't just assume or wait for a problem, once you have one it may be to late. Post here, we'll keep you on the straight and narrow. But like I said, with THOSE two amps you'll be fine.
What HU are you running?
And as fair as if thats a good amp for you, it's a two channel amp. Do you what to amp all four interior speakers and the sub?

PS: I hate Alpine.....

 

I already have an amp for the subs, i just need one for the 5.25 and 6x9 alpines. The amp says 4/3/2 channel operation, I assumed it would be a four chanel if you want it to. I want a 4 chanel amp but not sure how much power i need.

5.25- 140 max, 50 rms
6x9- 275 max, 55 rms

 

It's a 4 channel:into 4 ohms: 40W x 4 (0.08% THD)

40x4 really isn't a lot of power. I'm going to side with NEEDAZ on this one - Alpine makes a decent deck but I'm not a big fan of their amps. You might want to check out ED’s NINe.4 or head over to ikesound and see what you can find there.

What Stealthy-One was talking about is exactly what I meant with the relay but if NEEDAZ says you won't need one I wouldn't worry about it. He deals with decks on a professional level doing repairs, etc. Running a wire between the amps for the remote turn on is the same thing as splitting the wire before the amps. Either way you’re still running them in parallel.

edit: this is for amp power.

Completely ignore all max ratings, etc. All you really care about are RMS ratings. My comps are rated for something like 85 watts RMS but I'm feeding them each 200 watts RMS. Having too much power on tap is never a bad thing and is probably better than having too little. You want to avoid clipping your amp at all costs (pushing it too far and making the sin wave have flat spots on the top of the bottom). You can always turn the gains down a little.

 

I really don't want to blow out my speakers so i think i'm gonna get a 200 rms 4 channel amp. Thanks guys, I'll let you know what i get.

 

You are absolute right, I'm wrong, it is a 4 channel amp. I was thinking of the wrong amp. And I'll state again that with THOSE two amp you'll be OK. I Don't what someone to read this and think it would always be OK.

 

I used to run an alpine V12 4ch amp and a Fosgate 500a2 for my sub.
4guage from the battery to the back of the car to a fuse block and then 8 guage to each amp. did the same for the ground but ran it to the body.
Remote came from the headunit to the Alpine and then from the Alpine to the fosgate.

Now I just run the alpine and a powered Kenwood sub since I don't need all that bass, but it's still wired up the same as before.
old setup below,

 

Clipping is more likely to kill your speakers than overpowering them IMO.



As the labels say, the wave on the left is a normal signal coming out from an amp at the maximum volume the amp is capable of putting out. The sign wave on the right is a clipped wave showing what an amplifier will do if it tries to produce more power than it's capable of. Ideally it would follow the red dotted line but it can't exceed its maximum output so the signal gets 'clipped'. That’s why there’s a flat spot.

Enter your speakers. They’re moving nicely and then you turn it up a little bit more. Now they move one way stop, move all the way to the other extreme, stop, and repeat. While they’re being held at the extremes they still have current going through their voice coils. Without the motion of the cone there’s no air moving around to cool their coils.

Clipping is the reason why some stock decks can kill speakers with less than 25 watts of power. If you’ve ever blown a speaker with a deck it’s because the deck was clipping not because the deck puts out massive power.

By running a bigger amp you eliminate the possibility of clipping. When you’re setting your gains you can dictate how much voltage/wattage gets to the speakers so you won’t overpower them.

 

alright, that makes sense. So what would you suggest for teh speakers i have listed above. I was thinking of givng each speaker 60 watts rms as the max is 55 rms. Would that avoid clipping and also not overpower them?

 

well i was looking at the amp i posted earlier and it says it can give 75 watts rms per channel. How would i go about wiring it @ 2 ohms and are those speakers stable @ 2 ohms? Sorry if I'm asking too much.

 

You can never ask too much. It's how most of us learn and it's better than assuming that you know what you're doing when you really don't have any idea.

power - I would shoot for anything around 60-75 watts per channel but more isn't a bad thing if the price is right on the amp. Remember, you can always turn down the gains on an amp but you can't make it make more than its maximum power.

2 ohms vs 4 ohms, etc. I'm willing to bet that your speakers are all 4 ohms because 99.9% of all car speakers are (excluding subs). The load is static - it won't change unless you add more load or take load away. You can do this by wiring additional speakers in series and/or parallel but you will lose the ability to fade front/rear by doing so.

For your case you want one of two things.
- A 4 channel amp that does 60+watts per channel @ 4 ohms (60x4 @ 4 ohms)
- A 2 channel amp that does 120+ watts per channel @ 2 ohms (120x2 @ 2 ohms)

The 2 channel will be easier to find but the 4 channel is much more ideal because it will yield you a greater level of control. You don’t want the rears overpowering the front and vice versa

Personally, ED's NINe.4 fits your bill nicely but I find myself pushing their products too often so I'm going to try to stop. You really can't beat the price/product ratio IHMO.

 

That ed nine.4looks ideal btu that a bit much for me right now. I may buy a temp amp right now and later upgrade.

 

New Alpine MRP F450 is what i ended up with, 4 chanel, 70x4 rms @ 4 ohm, and only 200 shipped. I think i will be happy with it.

 

Sounds good. Let us know if you need any help installing, have any more questions, etc.