[CL9] Has anyone amplified in-cabin speakers??

[wammies]

Tried searching for other threads on this, but haven't really found anything on it.

Just wondering if anyone's re-wired and amplified the door speakers and if so, would you be able to give me some instructions on how to go about going it.


I'm running the power wires down the left panels and RCA's down the right (speaker RCA's aren't plugged in). Got stuck trying to run the wires down the middle, but if there's a way you run the wires down the middle (under the carpet and centre console), I'd love to know about it.
Coz I'm not sure if putting the RCA's and speaker wires together is gonna cause any noise, coz I know running them parallel to the power wires will.

Just in case anyone wanted to know/ask, the setup I have right now is:

- Alpine IDA-X305S H/U
- JL C2-650 [front] (got tweeters too, but they're not hooked up)
- JL C2-690TX [rear] (want to wire up JL C2-600's in the rear passenger doors)
- Kicker ZX700.5 amp
- 15" Alpine R-series sub


Also, I'm intendng to get a sound processor as well. Right now I'm in between the JBL's MS-8 and Alpine's PXA-H800, but not sure which one I should get.


Any advice/input would be greatly appreciated.

[Cookee]

I had my audio system installed by freeway audio, they ran the power down the left and RCAs down the right.
Speaker wires are running both on the left and right, there is no noticable noise with my system. same C2-650 and Boston SR95 hooked up to amps, though I have this running off an ALpine CDE-177e which apparently is really good for reducing any kind of interference.

[BraXta]

i ran my cables under the door sills.... better and neater lol
I just mounted my amps on the back of seats and ran cables under back seat... piece of piss really .... just shit thing is getting the damn head unit off... lol

i got Rockford Fosgates punch 6.5 inch 3 ways on front doors and 6x9 4 way on back tray... with 2 punch 12s subs in the boot with a 4 channel and monoblock amp

[wammies]

Nice. Yeah, I've done pretty much the same (don't think I'd ever accept cables running inside the cabin on the ground, though if you're really a sound freak (guys with like 6+ 15" subs and 4+ amps... then yeah, guess there's not really any more room under the side panels)

Anyways, what I'm asking is if anyone's re-wired the factory wiring and changed it with i.e. 10 or 12 gauge speaker wire running from the amp to the door speakers.

And if they have, I'd just like to know how they went about doing it, i.e. instructions or if they can direct me to a DIY or any photos would be good.


@Braxta: did you do the 4-channel wiring yourself, or was it done professionally? Lol, I know what you mean with the headunit, but I've done it enough times that it's a piece of cake too..
Handy trick is to grab it at the back of the dash and pull back so it arches a little bit, makes popping it out a lot easier, especially if you have panel removing tools.

[Neilz]

Anyways, what I'm asking is if anyone's re-wired the factory wiring and changed it with i.e. 10 or 12 gauge speaker wire running from the amp to the door speakers.



I have rewired with 10AWG cablings (6 x 0.5mm threads) and have noticed a difference personally with just stock speakers... i used 99% silver as the solder direct joints also so there's no copper joints in the way ( except the speaker/connections terminals where I coated the entire connector in silver) lol

[BraXta]

yeh well my wiring is changed too =D i would never keep stock wiring its poop =D and there will always be a difference with better cable. =D

[wammies]

LOL, you guys are so funny, you all tell me how good it is and whatnot, think we all know that replacing the wiring is DEFINITELY GOOD and there'll be an improvement in sound quality.

What I want to know is:

HOW DID YOU CHANGE THE WIRES..what did you do?

For example, I want to know how you get the wires into the doors. Will I need to remove the panels in the middle, between the front and rear door sills?? There's some sort of rubber hose/tubing that connects between the chassis and the doors which I think is where all the wiring goes, how do I access all that?

[BraXta]

ooooohhh... lol

i just poked a hole in the rubber that joins the wiring and fed cables through there... too tight to feed through tube =D

[wammies]

Do you reckon spraying silicone or lubricant will help or is there no room for 10 or 12 AWG speaker wire?

[BraXta]

I used wire loob which i used at work to pull thick 2 inch cable through conduits and it still didnt work just made a mess (lube everywhere)
=D

like a porn gone wrong lol

[BraXta]

@Braxta: did you do the 4-channel wiring yourself, or was it done professionally? Lol, I know what you mean with the headunit, but I've done it enough times that it's a piece of cake too..
Handy trick is to grab it at the back of the dash and pull back so it arches a little bit, makes popping it out a lot easier, especially if you have panel removing tools.

sorry didnt notice u asked me something lol.. yeh i did the whole thing my self.... funny thing about it was that the new stereo killed the standard Battery so tip if your getting big steza... get a better battery (der =P)

[wammies]

I'm gonna do the big 3 upgrade. Should be okay. I'm considering doing a relocation or having a 2nd battery hooked up at the back. Though I don't think that's gonna be necessary since I'm not gonna be running any more amps and the music won't be thumping loud.
Just want good sound quality and better control.

Btw, I'm still trying to see if I can run any wires down the middle under the centre console and under the carpet. That way, not gonna get any possible noise from power and speaker wires crossing.
May need to take the seats out for that, but if there's a way that I can do that without having to dismount all the seats then I'm sure me along with quite a few other people would love to know.

[wammies]

Alright, decided to play around with my car yesterday since no one really replied on how to route the wires through the middle/centre console..

I re-did my wiring, so I've got my power wire and REM going through the middle. So essentially from the grommet, straight into the centre console. It helps to have everything removed first. Also, it really helps to remove the back portion of the centre arm rest/storage compartment so you can feed the wire through easily. Just pull it out, it'll unclip.

For those that want to or are interested in doing so, you're going to need to put in quite a bit of force, as the carpet's held down by glue/adhesive, so you'll need quite a bit of pulling power with little leverage. What I found worked best was to sit right in the middle of the back, and pull the middle bit up since that was the easier to move and then pull one corner up, it's quite hard since it'll be stuck down, but if you get your foot as a wedge in between the gap that you can make, you can yank it out more then eventually it'll come out once you overcome the adhesive forces. (It helps to remove the door panels, especially the middle one where the seat belts are, which I found that removing the rubber door sills makes it a lot easier to remove as it gives you more access to remove the tab at the top which was rather difficult to remove otherwise).

Keeping your foot there to hold it like that, you can pull on the carpet so that it makes an arc so you can feed the power wire through easier (helps to hold the REM and power wire together to save you doing this twice). I just fed it to about 3/4 of the way and then just stuck my hand in from the back and pulled the rest through.

I can say that the sound quality has improved as the speaker and RCA cables aren't crossing or even near the power wires at all. So there's no noise at all, I think it's less noticeable on smaller sound systems, but if you're going to go above 1000W RMS then it'd be better if you could avoid any possible noise from the wires crossing.

I managed to get 12AWG speaker wire through the rubber tubing into the door, 10AWG was just too big, but I 12AWG is a MASSIVE improvement from factory wiring, needless to say.


I'm thinking about getting a circuit breaker and possibly a 3 or 4 farat capacitor as well, does anyone have anything to say about this, any advise, anything I should know about before I jump into it?




Side note: I ran twin subs and my lights started to flickered and everything, so I'm going to do the big 3 upgrade, hopefully that should fix the problem. If the problem still persists then I'll go with a bigger battery.