Question for the Amp gods

[ArunSenior04]

Today looks like a beautiful weekend to install my amp. I have Infinity Reference speakers all around, with tweeters in the front. My fronts are 6.5 Comp (90RMS), and my rear 6x9s are (100RMS). So far, Ive been riding around with them running off the headunit, and they sound great, but now I think ready to take it to the next level lol.

I was planning on purchasing the Infiniy Reference Amp they sell at Best Buy. Its 110RMS x 4 @ 4ohms. I was planning to run the power through the grommet in the door. I was going to mount the amp on the back of the rear seat. The only thing I was wondering, how do you install the speaker wires? Do splice into the headunit wires, or do you completely cut the ones going from the headunit?

Thats my only question lol.

[lcanajoharie]

On mine, there are RCA outputs for the front speakers and the SUB. For the rear, I used the high level output from the back speakers. The amp should have a high level source input where you can snip the wires running to the rear speakers, run them into the amp, and then run speaker wire from the amp to the speakers. Then the front speakers can be run from the RCA cables coming from the deck, to the amp, and then back to the front speakers using speaker wire.

[ArunSenior04]

I know you run RCA cables from the headunit to the amp, but when runnign speaker wire from the amp to the speakers, do you cut the wires, or splice into them?

BTW, my pioneer has 4 RCA inputs on the back. Each pair controls a pair of speakers.

[xxxmonoxidechil]

just unplug the factory wiring going to the speakers, if its a big protected plug, its fine to just lay in the door, but if it has bare connections, just use some electrical tape, and wrap it good so it wont ground out and cause issues with your head unit.

just run new wires from you amp, directly to the new speakers. leave all the OEM wires in place and not cut. you never know when your gonna go to sell the car or need to hook up all the OEM stuff again.

[ArunSenior04]

Well my new speakers are spliced into the old factory wiring, so there are no connectors. So your saying to run amp wire straight into the new speakers, no splicing into original wires. Once I cut it from the original harness, will there be an issue with the headunit, since its still sending out that power? or will it be fine as long as the wires arent hitting anything or each other?

[xxxmonoxidechil]

it be fine as long as the wires arent hitting anything or each other.

[Biff]

Which head unit do you have?

Both suggested methods are acceptable, but having seperate RCA outputs for every speaker is something I haven't seen. Go with xxxmonoxidechill's suggestion. That is the way I have always seen it done.

[2loud2k2xd]

deffiantly run ALL your rca's from the deck to the amp. then run NEW speaker wires from the amp to the speakers. the best way for a cleaner signal and no hacking inot factory wires.

i have 3 sets of pre-amp outputs. 1- front, 1-rear, 1 sub

[Cypher]

dave is THE ICE master!!!! its been a while since we've talked man. good times good times they where. wish i could've visited...

[2loud2k2xd]

yeah dude. getting ready to make a post about trading my light werght oz 15's for a set of 17's. and they were indeed good times. but most of my time is occupied by this smoking hot chick, my bike and quitting smoking. the xd is on the back burner unfortunately.

[Ugzz]

deffiantly run ALL your rca's from the deck to the amp. then run NEW speaker wires from the amp to the speakers. the best way for a cleaner signal and no hacking inot factory wires.

i have 3 sets of pre-amp outputs. 1- front, 1-rear, 1 sub

i 2nd this, thought i did most of my work i did have a local shop do some wireing and i had them run NEW spkr for my front speakers. if you amp is on the back seat wiring the rear speakers is a breeze, you have like 2 feet to go for the RR and like 4 for the LR. So my circuit goes Hu->rca->down the side molding->into trunk->to amp->aftermarket wire->back down sidemolding->into dash->through each door->into each speaker

Now thats the quote "right" way to do it. but in my old setup i ran my infinity amp right through the factory wiring. some people said 111rms was too much for the factory wire, but others said it was fine. i went for it and i thought it sounded fine. and in the elantra i did it the "right" way and i dont realy notice any diff, its done with aftermarket wireing just for the sake of it basically. Also my old car had a rear amp so the wires were already there and in the elantra this wasnt the case.. so why not just run new?

i chilled at the shop during the install, most painfull thing was just getting the wire back through the doors. i didnt watch the whole thing cause i was lookin at subs and such heh.. but it looked like a pain in the @$$

[mlrman]

You got some good advice dude. As for amp, there are just so many good choices, make sure you get sufficient quality power to really work those drivers. Run a decent size power wire to the amp....you may want to add more amps later...you will dude believe me. Same goes for the RCA pre amp outs as 2loud said. Run all sets available, you will use them down the road.

I recommend running aftermarket wire to all speakers. as Ugzz said, it's a short run to the rear deck drivers, and it's not too difficult feeding wire to the front door drivers. here's how I did it in my 01....

http://www.elantraxd.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15013

hope this helps

[DJ Hellfire]

Here is how I did mine:

Instead of running directly to the speakers, I just ran the speaker wire from the amp to the back of the radio. Then I just connected them to the stock speaker wires through the radio harness. This makes for a clean easy install without having to hack up your factory wires. It may not be the way most people prefer, but since you are running such low power speakers, you'll barely lose any sound quality by going through the stock wiring. Just keep your connections clean.


Also, take this very important advice. What ever amp you buy, make sure the cross-over frequencies are adjustable. If your component speakers have adjustable cross-overs, than this won't matter. But just make sure you can fully tune your system.

[kizzo]

youre going to be better off just running new speaker wires for everything. if youre feeding those speakers higher current with stock wiring theres a probability of noise issues and some small problems.