New Speaker setup question
02-08-2010, 01:00 AM
#1
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Location: Mount Holly, Vermont
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New Speaker setup question
Alright,
I have a Rockford Fosgate Amp,with a 8 inch Kicker CVR....sadly with the stock headunit.
Now, the 8 inch rips...honestly, works amazingly.
I want to add in 6 and 1/2 Alpine Type-R's in.
Now, my question isnt how to put them in, I can do that, thats easy.
I want to amp them from my amp, run wire to them, then series connect them to each other...now...my bass in the car is pretty ridiculous in my car, and almost everyone I drive with that has danty ears, always wants the bass cut, so I wired my relay wire onto a switch and I cut the whole amp when people cant stand bass that thumping. Soo...what I am really wondering is..
I want to keep the cut off there, in case someone honestly cant stand the bass thumping out the amp making them hardcore...so I want to wire my existing speaker wire from the headunit (WHICH I will upgrade in time) so that I can cut my amp, and then the speakers run off the headunit power, and cuts out the sub, so bass is seriously reduced, and kinda frees up my amp, so to speak. Also, sometimes my sub is too much on days I have a headache, so....
I was thinking maybe running the speaker wires to another switch, and then run that and flip that switch when I switch off my amp switch....
Ideas? Much, muchly appreciated.
I have a Rockford Fosgate Amp,with a 8 inch Kicker CVR....sadly with the stock headunit.
Now, the 8 inch rips...honestly, works amazingly.
I want to add in 6 and 1/2 Alpine Type-R's in.
Now, my question isnt how to put them in, I can do that, thats easy.
I want to amp them from my amp, run wire to them, then series connect them to each other...now...my bass in the car is pretty ridiculous in my car, and almost everyone I drive with that has danty ears, always wants the bass cut, so I wired my relay wire onto a switch and I cut the whole amp when people cant stand bass that thumping. Soo...what I am really wondering is..
I want to keep the cut off there, in case someone honestly cant stand the bass thumping out the amp making them hardcore...so I want to wire my existing speaker wire from the headunit (WHICH I will upgrade in time) so that I can cut my amp, and then the speakers run off the headunit power, and cuts out the sub, so bass is seriously reduced, and kinda frees up my amp, so to speak. Also, sometimes my sub is too much on days I have a headache, so....
I was thinking maybe running the speaker wires to another switch, and then run that and flip that switch when I switch off my amp switch....
Ideas? Much, muchly appreciated.
02-08-2010, 05:08 AM
#3
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Location: San Jose, CA
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Alright,
I have a Rockford Fosgate Amp,with a 8 inch Kicker CVR....sadly with the stock headunit.
Now, the 8 inch rips...honestly, works amazingly.
I want to add in 6 and 1/2 Alpine Type-R's in.
Now, my question isnt how to put them in, I can do that, thats easy.
I want to amp them from my amp, run wire to them, then series connect them to each other...now...my bass in the car is pretty ridiculous in my car, and almost everyone I drive with that has danty ears, always wants the bass cut, so I wired my relay wire onto a switch and I cut the whole amp when people cant stand bass that thumping. Soo...what I am really wondering is..
I want to keep the cut off there, in case someone honestly cant stand the bass thumping out the amp making them hardcore...so I want to wire my existing speaker wire from the headunit (WHICH I will upgrade in time) so that I can cut my amp, and then the speakers run off the headunit power, and cuts out the sub, so bass is seriously reduced, and kinda frees up my amp, so to speak. Also, sometimes my sub is too much on days I have a headache, so....
I was thinking maybe running the speaker wires to another switch, and then run that and flip that switch when I switch off my amp switch....
Ideas? Much, muchly appreciated.
I have a Rockford Fosgate Amp,with a 8 inch Kicker CVR....sadly with the stock headunit.
Now, the 8 inch rips...honestly, works amazingly.
I want to add in 6 and 1/2 Alpine Type-R's in.
Now, my question isnt how to put them in, I can do that, thats easy.
I want to amp them from my amp, run wire to them, then series connect them to each other...now...my bass in the car is pretty ridiculous in my car, and almost everyone I drive with that has danty ears, always wants the bass cut, so I wired my relay wire onto a switch and I cut the whole amp when people cant stand bass that thumping. Soo...what I am really wondering is..
I want to keep the cut off there, in case someone honestly cant stand the bass thumping out the amp making them hardcore...so I want to wire my existing speaker wire from the headunit (WHICH I will upgrade in time) so that I can cut my amp, and then the speakers run off the headunit power, and cuts out the sub, so bass is seriously reduced, and kinda frees up my amp, so to speak. Also, sometimes my sub is too much on days I have a headache, so....
I was thinking maybe running the speaker wires to another switch, and then run that and flip that switch when I switch off my amp switch....
Ideas? Much, muchly appreciated.
just keep it simple. Get a mono for your sub. get a 4 ch or 2 ch for your speakers. You can get components to balance out the sound. Id say invest in some components rather just just buying speakers.
Also, your sound quality is gonna be as good as the source. Upgrade the HU.
As for the sub, your amp should come with a low pass filter. Make sure its tuned correctly. I cant imagine an 8in sub hitting harder than a 12in sub and that 12in subs are well sized for the tc
02-08-2010, 02:06 PM
#4
It sounds like he wants to be able to cancel the sound going to the front door speakers which he upgraded to Alpine Type-R (coax or component we dont know) and he then wired them to his amp that also powers his sub-woofer. Yes you can put switches in line with the speaker leads but adding all these switches makes a wiring nightmare. The factory head unit has "switches" built in to control bass, treble, balance, and fade. So if the front speakers were just connected to that there wouldn't be a problem. Since they are run by the amplifier, which we have no specifications on besides that Rockford Fosgate made it. Odds are if it is a 2-ch he has lost the ability to fade since one channel is being used by the sub-woofer and the other is essentially treating the front door speakers as another sub (even though it is 2 speakers).
Cliff notes: Keep adding switches if you want working on electronics in your car to be a PITA. OR get a radio that has better sound control than the factory radio and be happy with it. And get a 4-ch amp to run the door speakers and a 2 or 1 ch amp to run the sub-woofer. Do it right the first time, do it once and be done.
Cliff notes: Keep adding switches if you want working on electronics in your car to be a PITA. OR get a radio that has better sound control than the factory radio and be happy with it. And get a 4-ch amp to run the door speakers and a 2 or 1 ch amp to run the sub-woofer. Do it right the first time, do it once and be done.
02-08-2010, 03:55 PM
#5
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Location: Mount Holly, Vermont
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Alright, a little easier.
Not sure on my Rockford Fosgate size AMP, but I am going to run everything just off that one amp.
My question is, and YES I am going to upgrade my headunit, just not now...cant afford that. So I want to run my speakers to my amp, but also hook up the existing speaker wire connections from the headunit, so I can cut the amp power, and the speakers will run off the headunit power, not the amp.
My real question is guess is, if I did this, would there be two seperate signals to speakers, and in turn make them distorted and possibly screw them up?
Or the speakers will run fine, and when I switch off the amp, the speakers just run by themselfs with some seriously low wattage, but still work?
And...there is no such thing as a wiring nightmare...sometimes you hafta think of things really really hard to get them to work...
EDIT: Its also not JUST the front door speakers I want to cancel out, its all the speakers hooked to the amp.
EDIT 2: Also, I had two 12 inch subs in my tc at one point, and it rattle off my molding by the rear window, and you couldnt lean back in the back seats and there was no cargo room anymore...they were too clunky and for the bass output was ridiculous, so I just got a little 8...and friend of mine with two 10's and a amp the size of mine, thought I had one 10 in the back...he was shocked.
Not sure on my Rockford Fosgate size AMP, but I am going to run everything just off that one amp.
My question is, and YES I am going to upgrade my headunit, just not now...cant afford that. So I want to run my speakers to my amp, but also hook up the existing speaker wire connections from the headunit, so I can cut the amp power, and the speakers will run off the headunit power, not the amp.
My real question is guess is, if I did this, would there be two seperate signals to speakers, and in turn make them distorted and possibly screw them up?
Or the speakers will run fine, and when I switch off the amp, the speakers just run by themselfs with some seriously low wattage, but still work?
And...there is no such thing as a wiring nightmare...sometimes you hafta think of things really really hard to get them to work...
EDIT: Its also not JUST the front door speakers I want to cancel out, its all the speakers hooked to the amp.
EDIT 2: Also, I had two 12 inch subs in my tc at one point, and it rattle off my molding by the rear window, and you couldnt lean back in the back seats and there was no cargo room anymore...they were too clunky and for the bass output was ridiculous, so I just got a little 8...and friend of mine with two 10's and a amp the size of mine, thought I had one 10 in the back...he was shocked.
02-13-2010, 06:50 PM
#6
A sub-woofer in the properly sized box will always catch people off guard with out good the sound quality and quantity is coming from the speaker.
Yes, there are wiring nightmares, if you ever own a car that some hack shop or a novice DIY has attempted work in and you are left trying to figure out what the heck they wired what into, you'll call it a nightmare.
The problem with having the two lines connected to the amp for the speakers so you can cut the amplified sound when you want less and have the head unit run the speakers is possible backfeeding of the amplified signal into the O.E. radio possibly doing damage to the outputs. Now you could probably isolate the system with diodes and use relays to trigger what source the speakers get their sound from. I.e. one switch position, speakers get sound from amp, other position speakers get sound from radio. I'm too tired to draw up a diagram but I'm sure someone on the12volt has done it before.
Yes, there are wiring nightmares, if you ever own a car that some hack shop or a novice DIY has attempted work in and you are left trying to figure out what the heck they wired what into, you'll call it a nightmare.
The problem with having the two lines connected to the amp for the speakers so you can cut the amplified sound when you want less and have the head unit run the speakers is possible backfeeding of the amplified signal into the O.E. radio possibly doing damage to the outputs. Now you could probably isolate the system with diodes and use relays to trigger what source the speakers get their sound from. I.e. one switch position, speakers get sound from amp, other position speakers get sound from radio. I'm too tired to draw up a diagram but I'm sure someone on the12volt has done it before.
02-13-2010, 09:26 PM
#7
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Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 390
A question or two:
Is your RF amp 2 channel or 4 channel?
If it's a 2 channel amp, are you wired for a tri-mode system (stereo mains with mono bridged sub) and what kind of crossover are you using?
As to wiring the speakers to both head unit and amp, it's doable. You'll need to use a DPDT (double pole, double throw) per speaker, or a 4PDT (4 pole) switch for a pair of speakers. Seriously, it's not worth the effort: you want good power to your mains.
As to turning down the subs, if you're running in trimode, just use your bass control and drop the bass down. Same thing if you're running 4ch off the amp. If you're "loudness contour" is on, turn it off (it's only to be used at really low volumes anyway).
Contrary to common belief, good subs should not stick out from the rest of the sound. If they do, then you've (1) inadequate power to the mains, (2) oversized subs for the mains that fit or (3) wrong box volume for the subs. Just my experience from being in the audio profession for 30 years.
Is your RF amp 2 channel or 4 channel?
If it's a 2 channel amp, are you wired for a tri-mode system (stereo mains with mono bridged sub) and what kind of crossover are you using?
As to wiring the speakers to both head unit and amp, it's doable. You'll need to use a DPDT (double pole, double throw) per speaker, or a 4PDT (4 pole) switch for a pair of speakers. Seriously, it's not worth the effort: you want good power to your mains.
As to turning down the subs, if you're running in trimode, just use your bass control and drop the bass down. Same thing if you're running 4ch off the amp. If you're "loudness contour" is on, turn it off (it's only to be used at really low volumes anyway).
Contrary to common belief, good subs should not stick out from the rest of the sound. If they do, then you've (1) inadequate power to the mains, (2) oversized subs for the mains that fit or (3) wrong box volume for the subs. Just my experience from being in the audio profession for 30 years.
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