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im goin to get a couple subs for my car and was goin to wire the amp and HU and subs by myself to save the money. i was wondering how hard it is to wire all this and how much time it takes. i have friends that will help me too so its not just goin to be a one man show.

 
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I'd say for a novice about 6hrs. I'm very particular though. Read the DIY's or get the very detailed master sheets from Crutchfield.

 
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It would prolly take me the whole weekend...and I have done it before...a few times

 
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id go with 3-4 hours for a rookie. especially with all the DIY's on the site...

just be sure to run your RCAs and remote wire when you have your headunit out of the dash

 
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I would say anywhere between 4-12 hours depending on how thorough you are and how much help you get. If you are replacing door speakers add another 2-3 hours. Make sure when you do it your RCA wires are not run along side the power or ground wires. This will help eliminate any alternator whine you may get......Good luck..

 
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thanks for all the advice. does crutchfield give you very detailed info cuz thats probably were im goin to get my subs at?

 
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when i installed my friends system, we used the crutchfiled master sheets to disassemble his ion, the sheets were very helpful. They were detailed about how to take apart pretty much the whole car. They didnt go over how to run wiring for amps and stuff like that, but the DIY section will take care of that.

 
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I'd say plan on a whole weekend. Get a garage where you can put the car in and take out all the trim panels and such. It isn't hard per say, but doing it right will take time. Making sure all the connections are good, hiding all the wires, etc ....

Its also handy to have another vehicle around that you can use when you need to take a trip to get something you forgot quick ....

 
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Yes, ask for the master sheets, they are VERY detailed. If you can't figure something out, their technical advisors are usually helpful.

Good luck.

 
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You shouldn't have to ask for the mastersheets from them, they include them with a sale. For wiring, there is a DIY on here as well. Use both of them, as I'm not sure if the crutchfield one has very detailed pics. Take your time, and it should be easy. Oh, and don't be scared of the door speaker replacement. Lakeland civic figured that number off by about an hour or 2. It should take the average novice 1 hour tops to replace them.

 
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Took me and my buddys about 10 hours yesterday to wire mine...but I was also building a new sub box, and carpeting it too. Im pretty new to doing this stuff and all you have to do is find out what the wiring pattern is and get it done. Also it took a long time cuz we were runnin the wires real clean, you can't see the wires until they plug into the amp and then from the amp to the subs. So like lakelandcivic said it depends on how thorough you are.

 
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i was thinking of running all the wires under the carpet or someone where that they r hidden. i dont want all the wires showing and making it look clustered. is it hard to figure out the wiring on the HU or is it just figuring out the master sheets and going from there.

 
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Yeah, I think we all figured that they would be under the carpet.

Hard is a relative term to the installer. I think any novice should be able to handle the install of the HU. It's generally just crimping/soldering the same colors together. Although, I would still read the directions that come with the wiring harness just to make sure.

####They don't give you instructions on how to remove the panels for putting the wiring under the carpet, but just look for screws, and then just pop out the trim panels.

 
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guys, what kind of wires do I need to get to hook up an amp to a single 10"

I dad gave me an used amp from a car he bought, its an Alpine V12 - MRV-F353

have you guys hear of it? is it any good?

Thanks

 
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Power, Ground, Remote, RCA's, speaker wire should be all you need. Does it have hi level inputs, and are you running it off of an aftermarket or the stock head unit? If the stock, you may need a line out convertor unless your amp accepts hi level input.

 
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as far as RCA's is there anything special I need to look for?


yes for now it will run from the stock head unit.

 
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Running off of a stock HU, ou might need a hi-level/line-out convertor. Check first to see if your amp accepts hi-level input. If it doesn't, you'll need one of the convertors. As for RCA's, make sure they're well shielded. Were I buying, I'd spend at least 50% of my wiring budget on the RCA's (make sure you get good RCA's, for the rest, wire is wire, get the largest gauge your amp accepts, or go larger to the back, and distro down to the gauge the amp accepts). The reason for saying this (going largest or larger) is if you ever decide to upgrade, depending on how large you go the the back, you more than likely, won't have to rewire it, making it easier on you.

 
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Oh, and when you go to buy wire, buy it off of a roll, as opposed to a buying a wiring kit. It'll save you some money.

 
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"make sure you get good RCA's"

thanks, so what makes a good set of RCA's anything with a shield and 24K gold plated ends? any particular brand or brands to stay away from or buy?

Thanks

also how hard it is really to run the wire?

 
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go to etronics.com and type in wiring kit. you get the whole kit for 20 bucks

 
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"go to etronics.com and type in wiring kit. you get the whole kit for 20 bucks "

yeah but how good is this stuff? I dont want to put cheap stuff in my car this time around.. I want stuff that will last and perform you know? now correct me if I am wrong. thanks

 
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Ive used it for about a year and a half now with no problems at all. comes with everything you need too.

 
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People on here swear by Knuconceptz wires. The RCA's at least. I think the Krystal line is their low end line. But from everything I've heard and read, they perform on par with several of the other well known manufacturers, such as street wires, monster, etc. I get my wire for free, so whatever they want to give me is what I use. Were I buying, I'd probably look at Knu or Monster, just from everything I've read about Knu, and I know monster makes good wire/patch cables.

 
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I wouldn't buy a kit, mainly because the majority of kits come with their base wire, because they are making it convenient on the consumer, so they'll naturally use some of their lower end stuff because of profit margin. It's also cheaper to buy it off of a roll from an audio shop, all except for the RCA's, mainly cause I doubt many shops would be able to make a set of patch cables worth a crap. I know Ludlam was going to make his own at one time, but I think he decided to use Knu wires instead.

 
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Thanks you very much !

 
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where can i go to look at some setup ideas? like layouts and stuff? I want a small box or something that i can take out if i wanna race,

 
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You can buy generic boxes anywhere that sells car audio. For convenience, and ease, that's probably the best bet. On the other hand, they're made for a broad range of subs, and not specifically built to accomodate a certain sub. If you have any building skills, I'd say to build your own. Often times, you can find designs on the manufacturer's website (manufacturer for teh sub). They give you the cut sizes, etc. This would be more optimal in mind of having what's best for your specific sub. You can build it to the optimal operating parameters of your sub, and tune it (should you choose to go with a ported enclosure) to your sub. The prefab, generic boxes are alright but if you want the best performance build, or haev one built to spec for your sub. As for having it removable, you don't want to make it too easily removable if you are worried about thieves in your area. A sub that's not secured is an easy target. That and the fact that, should it happen, in an accident, or when you're driving hard, cornering hard, etc, your box will slide around in your trunk. The easiest I can think of here for removal would be velcor. Then you step up to other, more secured techniques, such as bolting down, strapping down, etc. You can make it as easy or as hard to remove as you choose.

 
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Here's a few sites you can look at product lines at:

www.woofersetc.com
www.onlinecarstereo.com
www.cardomain.com
www.thezeb.com
www.ikesound.com

They have a lot of stuff at those, if you can't find anything you like at those, I guess I could giev you some more manufacturer specific sites. All of the above sites have a broad range of product available. You can also look at Crutchfield, should you choose, I personally wouldn't recommend it because they are overpriced, but they do have decent customer service, and provide tech support when installing, along with vehicle mastersheets and giving you dash kits and wiring harnesses for your equipment. Personally, the only think I see a point in giving you a harness for is the headunit, because if you're upgrading the speakers without amping them, you're defeating the purpose. I have never used an amp that gives you plug ins for speakers yet. There may be some, but the ones I've seen or used all have set screws for either bare wire or connectors, but no plugs.

 
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is there any direction the subs need to point? i see some are installed with the magnets showing... which i think look hot

 
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http://www.7thgencivic.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=180924

Unless you're talking about a bandpass box, I think it's covered in this thread. More can be read about this type of stuff on here or by reading some of teh other forums in the link stickied by Ludlam here:
http://www.7thgencivic.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=108616