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Aftermarket Car Audio Question


Marylander

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I have an audio issue that's been bugging me for a while, and I'm not sure if its even a problem. But here goes:

 

My car is a 99 Vette. I ripped out the pretty much the entire factory audio system and replaced it with an Avic D1 head unit, component speakers in the doors, 2-way 6.5 inch speakers in the rear, and a 10-inch sub in the back. I have a pretty basic 4-channel Pioneer Amp (maybe 300W?) powering the front two channels and the sub.

 

Everything seems pretty good, except the output to the front speakers seems low. If the fader is set to center the rears seem much louder than the fronts. If I move the fader forward, there's not a lot of output from the fronts until I get about 70% forward, at which point I can hear the front and rear speakers pretty evenly. I have the gain on the amp set at the "normal" position on the dial, and the filter on those channels is set to LPF.

 

Now, set this way it all sounds pretty decent, but it still doesn't seem like it's set right. And to get good listening volume I have to have the Avic's volume indicator around 40-50. By comparison, in my other car I have an Avic D3 running through the Audi's otherwise stock audio system and it pretty much hurts to have it above 30. And every once in a while the amp in the Corvette cuts out for a few seconds, as if it's overloaded or overheated. After a few seconds it will come back on.

 

So, obviously I'm not an audio expert, but is there some obvious thing that I may have done wrong in my setup?

 

Rich

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How many ohms is the sub? Do you have the rear channels bridged? Mono? Stereo?

When you are adjusting your gain' date=' how are you doing it? Volume on head unit all the way up and gain all the way down on amp? Or vice versa?

 

Let us know![/quote']

 

All good questions. I have the rear channels bridged. I'm pretty sure the sub is 4ohms, but I'll have to check. As for adjusting the gain, I simply have both dialed in to the "normal" position on the amp.

 

Thanks for helping out. :thumbsup:

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I would just say that it's a power issue. But not being able to see what's going on or listen to it it's hard to say. 300w to power two component speakers and a sub is not a lot at all IMO. Also how many ohms are your front components running at? If they are running at high ohms that will make them quieter. I never got a chance to use component speakers so there might be something I'm missing but at one point I was very much into car audio. What gauge wire are you running to your amp ect? I would just try to borrow a good amp from a friend hook it up and see what that does. Sorry if this doesn't help.

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I would also say a power issue, when I did mine I removed all of the Infinity Audio and went with Memphis Car Audio, I have a dedicated amp for each subwoofer, and another 4 channel amp for the components. This is how I have mine and it works well, Chrysler RB1 Nav system going to the Memphis 6ix (six channel input/output) then goinig to the 4 channel and the bass boost, out to the amps and out to the subs and speakers. I am running 0 gauge from the front to back and also used it to redo all of the grounds in the Intrepid.

 

Here are a few pics

 

memphis01.jpg

 

up_2cablesrerun10.jpg

 

upload6inside.jpg

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Thanks for all the replies (and nice pics, Ozzy :cheers:)

 

I'm beginning to think it's a power issue, too. If I recall correctly I used 10 gauge wire for the power and ground, so I wouldn't be surprised if I am starving the amp. The amp itself is just a $200 Pioneer thing, so it's probably not terribly efficient anyway. I'm going to try some bigger wire and see if that makes a difference.

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It's not so much a power issue as the amps not getting enough power, as it is the amp isn't powerful enough. But I would be running at least 8 gauge wire to it. I used to know how to calculate what wire gauge to use :( but I wouldn't run anything less than 8 gauge to that amp. I was running 4 gauge to an 1100w Eclipse amp and 4 12s. Any more power and I would of had to step up the gauge. Those 12's could really hit with only 1100 watts (150db). I would do like Ozzy did and run a separate amp to your sub and get another good 4 channel to run your door speakers. That's a nice looking setup btw Ozzy very clean good work.

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change the wire first and see what that does....my amp was cutting in and out and it was the wire running to the inline fuse under the hood.

 

ive got 1 rockford 10" sub runnin off a 300 watt fusion amp w/crossfire components that just run off my pioneer avic-z2....that built in equalizer comes in handy to tune everything just right since im not pushin that much power.....does urs have a built in EQ?

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I also agree you need seperate amps for subs and component sets, with your amp set on low pass you only get low hertz (bass) you want high frequency out of your components and can't accomplish both with one amp. What is your amp a 2 channel??? I have 2 - 15" T2 rockford subs and a BD2500 2500 watt amp to push these subs, I also have 2 sets of 6.5" power series rockford component sets with a 600.4 amp pushing them. Powering these amps is 4ga wire off of one of the rear batteries. I have 3 Kinetik batteries and 2 200 amp alternators let me know if this helps

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I also agree you need seperate amps for subs and component sets, with your amp set on low pass you only get low hertz (bass) you want high frequency out of your components and can't accomplish both with one amp. What is your amp a 2 channel??? I have 2 - 15" T2 rockford subs and a BD2500 2500 watt amp to push these subs, I also have 2 sets of 6.5" power series rockford component sets with a 600.4 amp pushing them. Powering these amps is 4ga wire off of one of the rear batteries. I have 3 Kinetik batteries and 2 200 amp alternators let me know if this helps

 

The amp is a 4-channel amp and has two LPF/HPF switches, one for each a/b input. It's a Pioneer "600W" amp (as far as one wants to believe that packaging/case detailing hype) but it's not a high-end amp by any means.

 

My next thing is going to be to run some HQ 4-gauge wire to it and see if that makes any difference. Unfortunately it will be a few days before I can get my hands on the wire and give it a try.

 

THanks for all the input so far, guys. :glasses:

 

Rich

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sounds to me like its not that your 600w amp is getting enough power. for a 600 all you need is 8guage, 6 at the most. 4 wont hurt but the reason your amp is cutting out is either overheating just due to how its mounted or because your overworking it. like someone said before, you really dont want the amp trying to power both the front and sub. needs to be one or the other. by making it try and power the front and turning the head unit up so much, the amp is receiving a signal saying "hey push more power!!" even though you cant hear the power it is really pushing. they dont make a amp that is set up to power subs and component speakers. only one or the other. my suggestion is buy another amp, even one exactly like you have already would be fine. then set one on LPF and hook it to the sub by itself, and on the other one set it to HPF. have fun tuning it in to get it exactly how you want it to sound and if you ever hit 30 and above, you'll probably blow your speakers out lol.

 

Im running 1 1200w amp solely for my 2 10" Pioneer Premier subs which is enough to rattle your fillings loose, and another 1200w amp to power the rest of my setup. Using passive crossovers for the mids and highs(2 6x9 in the rear, 2 6 1/4 in the front doors, and 2 tweeters). Also using a 1farad capacitor(even though i really should be using more and will be getting a 5 farad cap soon)

with this setup I can play anything from rock to country to rap and get any tonal variety I desire with perfect clarity.

 

 

like I said, get yourself another amp(could even get a 200w or 400w amp to use on your components as you dont need that much for them), and Id recommend 1farad capacitor also(the recommendation is 1farad per 1000w that your running). another nice thing about getting the capacitor, you wont have to run more power wires from the amp to the battery, use it as a splitter. the capacitor will save your from ruining your alternator, and also helps as a power conditioner from the voltage it receives from the car before it goes into the amps. keeps the spikes down.

Edited by Kwhite
made some spelling mistakes lol
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they dont make a amp that is set up to power subs and component speakers. only one or the other.

 

The Memphis MClass have a 5 channel amp, it is for powering a total system, it's kinda pricey but it's nice.

 

Memphis HYBRID MClass Amplifier 16-MC5.1400

 

RMS POWER @ 4ohms 75W x 4/275W x 1

RMS POWER @ 2ohms 115W x 4/550W x 1

RMS POWER @ 1ohms N/A 1100W x 1

BRIDGE MONO POWER @ 4ohms 230W x 2/N/A

THD% @ 4ohms 0.1 / 0.45

FREQUENCY RESPONSE 20Hz - 20kHz/20Hz - 650Hz

DIMENSIONS (7.77"x2.24"x) 30.31"

16-MC5.1400

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lol ahh got me there. hadnt heard of it. but im willing to bet kinda pricey is more expensive than 2 amps lol

 

 

actually, just did a quick google. and saw one listed at 650. so not too bad for what your getting. wouldnt come clos to the power I need/use. but for someone just wanting a better than stock sound system, not too bad at all

Edited by Kwhite
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