Does anyone here have an amp mounted under their front seat? I've been wanting to add a small amp to drive some infinity components in my doors. The best place for me to mount that amp would be under the driver seat. The amp I've been eyeballing is about 10"w x 9"l x 3"d. (Hifonics Hfi100.2 100x2 RMS). I'm sure I might sound lazy for not going under there with a tape measure myself. It is what it is. But beyond that point, I'm curious with others experience in mounting an amp in this specific location. Perhaps some details I'm overlooking.
For what it's worth, I'm choosing that location because I'd rather keep things on the stealth side. I'd also rather not give up any trunk space. Nor do I wish to remove my spare and jack tools. Any input on the subject would be appreciated before I make any final decisions. Espescially on a good ground location in the nearby area.

As a side note (or added details with more questions). I have removed the factory 6" sub under the trunk and put a Hifonics Centurion X (320Wx1 mono RMS) in that location driving a old school Kicker S10d in a air specific Q-Logic box. I'll have to tap into it's power supply which is currently an 8awg cable and the stock Panasonic battery. Will that said cable be sufficiant to power both amps without upgrading? Will just throwing a distribution block in the line do me fine? Should I change the 40amp inline fuse to accomodate this newly added amp? Can I get away with seperate grounding locations? Is a "Big 3" NEEDED in this application? Or should I just take it to Best Buy and let them iron it all out and charge me $60 to $100 for the install
BTW the HU is a Kenwood DDX-418 supplying the direct signals. I'm leaving the stock rears alone and fading foward, at least for now.
Again thanks for any input. I haven't messed with much car stereo stuff in about 10 years, and my memory recall is known to be sketchy.

 

in regards to amps under the seat, i have a mono alpine mrp 400 powering my sub and its just velcro'd under my passenger seat. fits like a glove. best place to put an amp as opposed to keeping it under the cargo cover in the trunk and trapping all the heat inside.

 

the main concerns are the type of amp. If it is a class AB amp then it will get hot and i would not recommend it. If it is a class D amp then you should be fine as long as your gains are not to high. If it is pioneers class FD then there is no issue at all. but be careful of trash blocking all air movement..

 

the hfi is A/B, so it will likely get fairly warm. as long as theres at least an inch or so of space between the bottom of the seat and the amp you should be fine. set the gain appropriately, keep it from clipping, and the amp should be able to cool itself fairly well. a few guys on my audio forum are running the hifonics 2/4 channels and they dont get nearly as hot as some of the other brands out there.

8g is pushing it for 500w, especially since you are dealing with an A/B amp. it works, but 4 gauge would be a much better choice. similarly with the big 3. i noticed a huge difference in my voltage at the amps after doing my big 3, but im running a lot more power than you would be. it certainly wouldnt hurt, and you can get the 10 ft or so of cable in 4g for pretty cheap. i wouldnt expect it to cost you more than 20 bucks for the wire and connectors.

distro block will be fine, but you will definitely need more than 40A. two simple ways to select fuse size is to fuse for the wire's current limit (can be find on awg charts) or to just add up all the fuses on all the amps you are running and pick a fuse that big.

 

I agree go as big as you can on power wire and play nice with gains and run at 4ohm

 

Thanks for the replies fellas. I did decide to upgrade to 4awg. I'll upgrade the fuse as well. I should have the amp in this weekend. There's plenty of room for it to breathe, and I also mounted it on an extremely this piece of wood with a slight gap for air to pass under. There's also still room to add a slim fan like the Stinger SGJ78i if need be. For the 4awg Big 3. I attempted it last weekend but found I needed a different terminal ring to fit one of the grounding locations. I just need to find a terminal ring that has the right size opening before I can throw that in. Something either 7/16 or 1/2". Might be tricky to find, but I haven't really looked yet.
Anyway, thanks again for the input.