4 channel amp install
 

i am thinking about powering the component speakers and 6x9's that i have installed in the car. im also thinking a 4 channel amp is the best way to go. however, i would be real frusterated if i had to reconnect all the speaker wires to the amp haha. however i guess i'll do what it takes...i guess my question is, do i have to reconnect all my speaker wires when i install an amp, or do i just connect it to the head unit? also, would a 4 channel amp provide power for the tweeters, woofers (the component system), and 6x9's in the back?

A four channel amp will power the seperates in the front and the rear speakers for you. The seperates still have just one set of wires going into them and the crossover then splits the frequencies up between the tweeter and the midrange. If you had power going seperately to the tweeters and the midranges in the front, you would be bi-amping, which would be something else, but as is you are fine.
Yeah, I am afraid you will have to mess with all those darned wires!!:p
You will need to take the lines out of the headunit and run into the amp, and then from the amp to the speakers.
Are you useing the stock headunit? There are several good threads on the process of doing this...
Let us all know what you choose to do, and how we can help!! :D

the head unit is a pioneer deh 7400mp. actually, from the explanation it doesnt sound like an overload of work. this is how i see it... you are saying that i can just cut the wires leaving the headunit, connect them to the input of the amp and then just connect back the other end of the cut wire to the output of the amp...eliminating the need to directly mess with the speakers. if you could affirm my interpretation it would be greatly appreciated...thanks for all the help so far.

You will have to run all speaker wires to the amp. The factory wires are so cheap any way that you would be better off getting even 16 gauge speaker wires for your system. Lastly, turn your gains down on your rear speakers so they won't take away from your front soundstage if running front/rear on one amp.

Michael

by 16 gauge wires...are you saying i need to replace all the wires going to my speakers, including the wires leaving the crossovers and going to the crossovers?

The aftermarket headunit makes it a touch easier. It has RCA outs on the back of it. SO- get some RCA lines, plug in the rear of the deck, then run to the RCA in connectors of the amp. Plug in. you have two options to get to the speakers from the amp. One is to run wires from the output of the amp back to the front of the car behind the deck and splice into the original speaker wires. This makes for a long run of wire, but it does indeed work, I have seen it. The other option is the more conventional way aftermarket systems are installed, you run wires from the speaker outs of the amp to the speakers in the door. In the protege the biggest problem is getting aftermarket wires through the doors and to the the speakers in the front and if a p5 the rear doors. There is very little room to play in the connectors. I would suggest for simplicity if you elect to run new wire to the doors and you feel uncomfortable taking a dremel to the wiring harness, simply splice into the exsisting wires at the doors. I would not mess with trying to replace the wires inside of the speaker set... too much trouble, requires soldering to do write, and too easy to damage a speaker or crossover.
does this help at all? :rolleyes:

from my understanding you can probably run about 40W rms to the speakers with the stock wiring... anything higher you will need better wiring to reach the speakers..and reap the benefits..

I would replace the speaker wires so you get a good clean signal going to all of the speakers. I would just unplug the factory wires so if you sell your car down the road, you can easily hook up the factory ones back up. What kind of speakers are you running off the amp, after market speakers? I know that the factory uses cheap wires on their cheap paper made speakers because a, it costs less, and b, the speakers only run around 10 watts max. Are you using the factory head unit or one with pre-outs?

Michael

Okay - lets clear some things up here:

There is NO NEED to run new speaker wire into the doors. Unless you are planning on running 200 watts to each speaker, thicker gauge wire is going to do NOTHING that you can hear. The difference (if any) will not be audible.

I have 90 watts running to the front doors on the STOCK wiring and it's fine - just fine. For well over a year.

Plus - running new wire into the doors is a MAJOR hassle in our cars. I originally was going to do it - tried, and gave up. There's no good reason to even attempt it, and I should have known that.

Trust me - it's an excercise in frustration with no real gains. Don't bother.

<insert room for flames here - let's hear it>

Next - to run your amp, you'll run RCA cables from the deck to the amp - this is how the amp will get the signals to amplify. The easiest way to then run the outputs of the amp is to simply run speaker wire from the amp, to the area behind the head unit. Label your wires from the amp; LF, RF, LR, RR (left front, right front, left rear, right rear) - a little piece of tape with the letters will do. Then just clip the speaker outputs behind the deck one by one, and hook up the proper output from the amp. Soldering the connections is best, covered with shrink wrap. But a good twist and a secure electrical tape covering for each splice will do, also. Whatever you do, just make sure the connections are secure and isolated, with no bare wire exposed - including the now-unconnected original wires from the deck.

~HH