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Amp Placement

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Old Mar 6, 2015 | 01:23 PM
  #1  
dibella989's Avatar
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Car: 1988 Trans Am GTA
Engine: 305 TPI
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Amp Placement

So the previous owner of my car built a sub box for two 12". The issue is that he didn't buy very high quality equipment, and first I'd like to get a better amp so I can run both of the subs (the current amp is 600W so I rewired it to only power one) when I do get an amp, it will probably need to be bigger in size, and won't fit in between them like the current amp does. Then further down the road I will purchase new subs as well. The sub box doesn't go all the way down in the trunk, it just sits on top of the two edges that come towards the center. I was wondering if this would be a good place for the new amp, or if it would generate too much heat cooped up down there and could potentially be a hazard. Another place I have seen is under the panel covering the spare but just farther forward, I will include the image I found of this on another forum. Any ideas on placement would be appreciated, or just which of the two mentioned locations would be less hazardous.


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Old Mar 6, 2015 | 01:54 PM
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From: Buffalo, NY
Car: 85 Silver Iroc, 79 Camaro
Engine: LB9, 500+ ci BBC
Transmission: 700R4, th400 with brake
Axle/Gears: 3.42, hand made 40 spline 9"
Re: Amp Placement

It's a hazard putting a hot amp down in the well under the box. I'd build a 1/2" thick panel and mount it where the spare tire sits. Then you'd have plenty if room to mount two amps.


Or you can install one amp on the divers Sid and the other on the passenger side.
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Old Mar 7, 2015 | 09:19 AM
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Re: Amp Placement

I have a MMAT1400.1 and a PPI600 mounted on the drivers side inside where that glove box used to be. I removed the box, and built a little rack to hold them. THere was just enough room for both amps to be mounted in there. So it's totally hidden and out of site.

Sorry don't have any pics of it
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Old Mar 7, 2015 | 11:31 PM
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Re: Amp Placement

The locations you suggets will be fine, you just need to make sure there is adequate ventilation. Most of the time no additional modifications are needed, in some cases adding some opening with fans will be necessary to move the hot air out and cool air in.

Also connect that other sub, your system will be twice as loud (3db), with the same power. For every doubling of cone area and every doubling of power the system will be twice as loud.
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Old Mar 7, 2015 | 11:38 PM
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Car: 1988 Trans Am GTA
Engine: 305 TPI
Transmission: 5-Speed
Axle/Gears: 3:45
Re: Amp Placement

Originally Posted by Six_Shooter
The locations you suggets will be fine, you just need to make sure there is adequate ventilation. Most of the time no additional modifications are needed, in some cases adding some opening with fans will be necessary to move the hot air out and cool air in.

Also connect that other sub, your system will be twice as loud (3db), with the same power. For every doubling of cone area and every doubling of power the system will be twice as loud.
The issue used to be that it wasn't loud at all, because neither sub was reaching it's rms wattage, so I ended up bridging a single sub, and it sounds 4x better and louder now, I'd like to do underneath the box, but ventilation would be an issue.
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Old Mar 7, 2015 | 11:40 PM
  #6  
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From: Indiana
Car: 1988 Trans Am GTA
Engine: 305 TPI
Transmission: 5-Speed
Axle/Gears: 3:45
Re: Amp Placement

Also, I have ttops, so would it be possible to mount the amp on the support right behind them?
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Old Mar 7, 2015 | 11:58 PM
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From: West Kentucky
Car: '87 Iroc
Engine: 350 TPI with Holley Terminator X
Transmission: 4L60e
Axle/Gears: Stock/ Factory
My amp mount above the spare tire has ran great so far and has yet to get hot.
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Old Mar 8, 2015 | 12:08 AM
  #8  
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From: Indiana
Car: 1988 Trans Am GTA
Engine: 305 TPI
Transmission: 5-Speed
Axle/Gears: 3:45
Re: Amp Placement

Originally Posted by jpearcy1
My amp mount above the spare tire has ran great so far and has yet to get hot.
What kind of wattage are you putting out?
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Old Mar 8, 2015 | 12:19 AM
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From: West Kentucky
Car: '87 Iroc
Engine: 350 TPI with Holley Terminator X
Transmission: 4L60e
Axle/Gears: Stock/ Factory
It's the Rocksford pictured above if I remember rights it's ~400 watts.
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Old Mar 8, 2015 | 12:30 AM
  #10  
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Car: 1988 Trans Am GTA
Engine: 305 TPI
Transmission: 5-Speed
Axle/Gears: 3:45
Re: Amp Placement

Originally Posted by jpearcy1
It's the Rocksford pictured above if I remember rights it's ~400 watts.
Forgot that was your picture XD my bad. I'm trying to do something around 900-1,000W. So I think that might be too much for that location, if I could find an amp with that power to fit in anyways. The only thing stopping me from slapping it in the trunk is the ttops.
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Old Mar 8, 2015 | 12:41 AM
  #11  
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From: West Kentucky
Car: '87 Iroc
Engine: 350 TPI with Holley Terminator X
Transmission: 4L60e
Axle/Gears: Stock/ Factory
Two small fans like ones in laptop size pushing and pulling air on a larger amp would work fine. You and wire to run once amp comes on or put a temp sensor on the amp and have them cut on.
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Old Mar 8, 2015 | 12:44 AM
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Axle/Gears: R200 3.90/7.5" 3.73
Re: Amp Placement

Originally Posted by dibella989
The issue used to be that it wasn't loud at all, because neither sub was reaching it's rms wattage, so I ended up bridging a single sub, and it sounds 4x better and louder now, I'd like to do underneath the box, but ventilation would be an issue.

That's not how that works.

It sounds like one sub or voice coil (on dual voice coil subs, not sure what type your subs are) were wired backwards, or out of polarity. When a speaker in a paired set-up is wired backwards this effectively cancels out the output, due to one speaker moving out, while the other moves in.

Speakers will play plenty loud at far less than rated power input.
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Old Mar 8, 2015 | 12:55 AM
  #13  
dibella989's Avatar
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From: Indiana
Car: 1988 Trans Am GTA
Engine: 305 TPI
Transmission: 5-Speed
Axle/Gears: 3:45
Re: Amp Placement

Originally Posted by Six_Shooter
That's not how that works.

It sounds like one sub or voice coil (on dual voice coil subs, not sure what type your subs are) were wired backwards, or out of polarity. When a speaker in a paired set-up is wired backwards this effectively cancels out the output, due to one speaker moving out, while the other moves in.

Speakers will play plenty loud at far less than rated power input.
I'm still new to the whole subs game, so I could be wrong. A buddy of mine said that he could make it sound better if I rewired it to one, I have a four channel amp and I believe the subs are single coil, only had one post for positive and another post for negative. So I have it wired so that it uses the positive and negative posts furthest from each other on the amp. Either way, I know it sounds better than it did prior. If you are saying the previous owner just wired it badly and I could still get more output by wiring them both up the right way then I guess it's worth a shot.
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Old Mar 8, 2015 | 12:59 AM
  #14  
dibella989's Avatar
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From: Indiana
Car: 1988 Trans Am GTA
Engine: 305 TPI
Transmission: 5-Speed
Axle/Gears: 3:45
Re: Amp Placement

Originally Posted by jpearcy1
Two small fans like ones in laptop size pushing and pulling air on a larger amp would work fine. You and wire to run once amp comes on or put a temp sensor on the amp and have them cut on.
I was thinking about that, and asked a friend running two 1400W amps (this is a focus that is REALLY bumping ) but he said that much heat in an enclosed area would be bad over time whether I have a fan or not, meaning longer distance drives.
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Old Mar 26, 2015 | 01:13 PM
  #15  
dibella989's Avatar
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From: Indiana
Car: 1988 Trans Am GTA
Engine: 305 TPI
Transmission: 5-Speed
Axle/Gears: 3:45
Re: Amp Placement

So I found out that the rockford fosgate 1200 1-D fits just fine.
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