n00b with headache
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n00b with headache
All right I've been reading up some and am still pretty much clueless. [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/IMG]
I'm gonna be setting up some components and an amp soon and I am
a perfectionist (and refuse to pay some shmuck to set up my ****) so everything
must be perfect and ready with nothing to question when I start work [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif[/IMG]
Questions:
1. I am pretty sure I'll be running amp power cable down the passanger side
and the rcas down the center console. Where should I run the speaker wires?
2. Are there any good wire packages I could buy or what lengths am I going to need
(I did see some posted lengths for rca and amp power but not speaker wire)?
3. How many cubic feet of sound dampening would I need for just the doors
(sorry I didn't search on this, just thought of it [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif[/IMG])?
4. How much drilling am I gonna be doing and what kind of bits will I need?
5. If the mount depth is 62mm what kind of spacer will I need and any kinda
specific screws I will need to buy to install speakers with the spacers?
6. Anything else I should know before I destroy my car?
Ok that's all for now...... can't think of anything else....... hopefully I'm somewhat
intelligible despite my lack of spelling ability and utter ignorance of car audio.
/me prays to the car audio gods for answers.
I'm gonna be setting up some components and an amp soon and I am
a perfectionist (and refuse to pay some shmuck to set up my ****) so everything
must be perfect and ready with nothing to question when I start work [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif[/IMG]
Questions:
1. I am pretty sure I'll be running amp power cable down the passanger side
and the rcas down the center console. Where should I run the speaker wires?
2. Are there any good wire packages I could buy or what lengths am I going to need
(I did see some posted lengths for rca and amp power but not speaker wire)?
3. How many cubic feet of sound dampening would I need for just the doors
(sorry I didn't search on this, just thought of it [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif[/IMG])?
4. How much drilling am I gonna be doing and what kind of bits will I need?
5. If the mount depth is 62mm what kind of spacer will I need and any kinda
specific screws I will need to buy to install speakers with the spacers?
6. Anything else I should know before I destroy my car?
Ok that's all for now...... can't think of anything else....... hopefully I'm somewhat
intelligible despite my lack of spelling ability and utter ignorance of car audio.
/me prays to the car audio gods for answers.
The LA Clipper
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Ok, i will try to answer some of your questions to the best of my ability since no one else has....if I am wrong on something someone will say so [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/IMG]
1.The speaker wires can be ran anywhere you like (including by the power wire). Speaker wire does not pick up the same interference that RCAs do when ran next to a power wire. IMO it is cleaner to run the RCAs on the passenger's side instead of the center console, so you don't have wire clumps in the center of your carpet.
2.Sounddomain.com has some nice amp wiring packs (good service and quick delivery too!), and I am sure people can reccomend other, cheaper places. Usually most kits have wires that are 15-18 feet in legth, but the longer the better [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif[/IMG]
3. I am not sure for the doors, but check out fatmat.com. It is qulity insulation, and I have used both fatmat and dynamat xtreme in my car and for half the price fatmat can't be beat!! The 25 square feet for the doors should be enough.
I don't really know the answers to the other questions, so i will pass that off to someone else. I have made a ton of mistakes while installing my sonds, so I can give ya alot of advice on what not to do [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif[/IMG]
1.The speaker wires can be ran anywhere you like (including by the power wire). Speaker wire does not pick up the same interference that RCAs do when ran next to a power wire. IMO it is cleaner to run the RCAs on the passenger's side instead of the center console, so you don't have wire clumps in the center of your carpet.
2.Sounddomain.com has some nice amp wiring packs (good service and quick delivery too!), and I am sure people can reccomend other, cheaper places. Usually most kits have wires that are 15-18 feet in legth, but the longer the better [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif[/IMG]
3. I am not sure for the doors, but check out fatmat.com. It is qulity insulation, and I have used both fatmat and dynamat xtreme in my car and for half the price fatmat can't be beat!! The 25 square feet for the doors should be enough.
I don't really know the answers to the other questions, so i will pass that off to someone else. I have made a ton of mistakes while installing my sonds, so I can give ya alot of advice on what not to do [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif[/IMG]
Thread Starter
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From: Port St. Lucie, Florida, US
Rep Power: 0 heh thx for some answers [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/IMG]
Didn't know that speaker wires wont pick up interference.
Setting up sound in a car is a lot more painful I can see as
I try to draw everything out. Home audio is like 1000x easier.
Didn't know that speaker wires wont pick up interference.
Setting up sound in a car is a lot more painful I can see as
I try to draw everything out. Home audio is like 1000x easier.
i boogie for the raindrops
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 4,497
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From: Jackson, Mississippi
Rep Power: 0 whoa now fonto... speaker wires CAN pick up interference very easily....
alright.. lemme try this
1 - try to run all signal cables together (rca, speaker) on the drivers side, and all the power ones on the passenger side
2 - knukonceptz.com and speakerhole.com all have wire for incredibly cheap
3 - i dont know, i cant afford sound dampening just yet, but look at fatmat or raammat
4 - you wont be doing much drilling, probably 4 holes per speak, but youll probably need spacers to fit your speaker in
5 - ok, yeah, spacers... standard 6.5" speaker spacers, size depending on the speaker... any screws will do
6 - its more fun than you think... get together with friends and do it
alright.. lemme try this
1 - try to run all signal cables together (rca, speaker) on the drivers side, and all the power ones on the passenger side
2 - knukonceptz.com and speakerhole.com all have wire for incredibly cheap
3 - i dont know, i cant afford sound dampening just yet, but look at fatmat or raammat
4 - you wont be doing much drilling, probably 4 holes per speak, but youll probably need spacers to fit your speaker in
5 - ok, yeah, spacers... standard 6.5" speaker spacers, size depending on the speaker... any screws will do
6 - its more fun than you think... get together with friends and do it
Thread Starter
Registered!!
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Posts: 311
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From: Port St. Lucie, Florida, US
Rep Power: 0 Thought of a few more questions today heh:
How many feet of speaker cable should I get?
How do you connect the power cable for amp to the battery (prolly obvious but I'm stupid)?
Yes I did search and read the DIY's but I'm a detail freak...... gotta know everything b4 I start
I'm glad there are orums like this so ppl who don't know me will think I'm stupid rather than
those who do know me
How many feet of speaker cable should I get?
How do you connect the power cable for amp to the battery (prolly obvious but I'm stupid)?
Yes I did search and read the DIY's but I'm a detail freak...... gotta know everything b4 I start
I'm glad there are orums like this so ppl who don't know me will think I'm stupid rather than
those who do know me
Registered!!
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From: London, Ontario, Canada
Rep Power: 0 not sure on length of speaker wire
connecting the amp to the batt:
BATT---FUSE-----------------------------------------AMP
If you buy an amp wiring kit (which u should do, cause it'll come with everything u need) and only have a definate amount of power wire, feel free to wire from inside out
If you have a spool of wire, it is usually easier to wire from outside the firewall to inside
make sure the fuse is as close as possible to the batt
make sure you buy the right thickness (2, 4, or 8)
and.. as im sure u already know, run it on the opposite side of the car from your speaker / rca wires
OHH.. also, some people say it must be run down the side the batt is on because it offers less resistance, but in reality, a few extra feet of thick (2, 4, or 8 guage depending on ur needs) wire is not going to affect your set up
connecting the amp to the batt:
BATT---FUSE-----------------------------------------AMP
If you buy an amp wiring kit (which u should do, cause it'll come with everything u need) and only have a definate amount of power wire, feel free to wire from inside out
If you have a spool of wire, it is usually easier to wire from outside the firewall to inside
make sure the fuse is as close as possible to the batt
make sure you buy the right thickness (2, 4, or 8)
and.. as im sure u already know, run it on the opposite side of the car from your speaker / rca wires
OHH.. also, some people say it must be run down the side the batt is on because it offers less resistance, but in reality, a few extra feet of thick (2, 4, or 8 guage depending on ur needs) wire is not going to affect your set up
The LA Clipper
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Quote
[hr]Originally posted by: LudlamTheory
whoa now fonto... speaker wires CAN pick up interference very easily.... [hr]
[hr]Originally posted by: LudlamTheory
whoa now fonto... speaker wires CAN pick up interference very easily.... [hr]
Registered!!
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From: Car Audioville, Quebec, Canada
Rep Power: 0 Okay..[IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/IMG]
Gotta go pickup my g/f so I'll make this quick.
Run the power wire down the drivers side, Signal and speaker wires either down the center, ot down the passengers side.
Reason for this is that there's a fuse box under the steering column with enough interferance to add small amounts of noise to the best of RCA's.
If your a perfectionist, then you'd made a Spacer of the appropriate size (test fitting is the only real way to see because of the diameter of some speaker magnets) out of MDF [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/IMG]. Or if you don't need much spacing you can using the speaker grill mount and flip it upside down..it makes a handy 1/4" Spacer, but use silicone to seal it odd against the metal on the door..air leaks are bad.
For wiring, It's always best to run 4 guage wiring..to leave you room for any future upgrades. Knukoncepts.com is a great source for inexpensive but very high quality wiring. Lighting audio Strike series RCA's should be more than you'll ever need. If you run those down the passenger side or down the center and you have noise..it's not the RCA's...it's a grounding loop...which will add noise to any RCA's...
For Screws..I'd reccomend getting some 1 1/4" #32 machine screws and equivalent T-nuts fr the best holding power.
For drill bits..well, that depends on a few things...hopefully you have a standard drill bit set and can match things up by eye.
For speaker wire you'd need a good 40ft of it or more to leave you with some extra in case ya mess something up (almost always happens to everyone me included) 16 guage or thicker would be best.
for sounddeadening by a 50sq.ft roll of fatmat and it will do your doors and rear deck in 2 layers. and probably leave with some leftovers.
Cheers
Mohawk
Gotta go pickup my g/f so I'll make this quick.
Run the power wire down the drivers side, Signal and speaker wires either down the center, ot down the passengers side.
Reason for this is that there's a fuse box under the steering column with enough interferance to add small amounts of noise to the best of RCA's.
If your a perfectionist, then you'd made a Spacer of the appropriate size (test fitting is the only real way to see because of the diameter of some speaker magnets) out of MDF [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/IMG]. Or if you don't need much spacing you can using the speaker grill mount and flip it upside down..it makes a handy 1/4" Spacer, but use silicone to seal it odd against the metal on the door..air leaks are bad.
For wiring, It's always best to run 4 guage wiring..to leave you room for any future upgrades. Knukoncepts.com is a great source for inexpensive but very high quality wiring. Lighting audio Strike series RCA's should be more than you'll ever need. If you run those down the passenger side or down the center and you have noise..it's not the RCA's...it's a grounding loop...which will add noise to any RCA's...
For Screws..I'd reccomend getting some 1 1/4" #32 machine screws and equivalent T-nuts fr the best holding power.
For drill bits..well, that depends on a few things...hopefully you have a standard drill bit set and can match things up by eye.
For speaker wire you'd need a good 40ft of it or more to leave you with some extra in case ya mess something up (almost always happens to everyone me included) 16 guage or thicker would be best.
for sounddeadening by a 50sq.ft roll of fatmat and it will do your doors and rear deck in 2 layers. and probably leave with some leftovers.
Cheers
Mohawk
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From: Port St. Lucie, Florida, US
Rep Power: 0 I was thinking the speaker wire would have to cross it at one point but it
does make sense not to have the wire running parallel. Any wires
carrying an electrical current are succeptible to some degree of interference.
Higher wire quality(higher quality = better insulation) would make the wire
less likely to pick up foreign signals or release electrical signals. That's the
reason why ya dont wanna live under power lines. Cheap quality insulation
causes the lines to release electrical signal in the form of mild radiation which
will cause cancer. So yeah........ prolly a bad idea to have yer music signal traveling
parallel to the power cable. M'kay...... [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/IMG]
does make sense not to have the wire running parallel. Any wires
carrying an electrical current are succeptible to some degree of interference.
Higher wire quality(higher quality = better insulation) would make the wire
less likely to pick up foreign signals or release electrical signals. That's the
reason why ya dont wanna live under power lines. Cheap quality insulation
causes the lines to release electrical signal in the form of mild radiation which
will cause cancer. So yeah........ prolly a bad idea to have yer music signal traveling
parallel to the power cable. M'kay...... [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/IMG]
Thread Starter
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From: Port St. Lucie, Florida, US
Rep Power: 0 Hmm..... cutting MDF doesn't sound like any fun..... I can drill a few holes
but I'd botch the hell outta making a spacer outta fiber board.
Anyone know where I could get premade spacers or at least some sort of template?
I looked for some and couldn't find jack........
The thought of having to make my own spacers puts the fear of God in me.[IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/IMG]
but I'd botch the hell outta making a spacer outta fiber board.
Anyone know where I could get premade spacers or at least some sort of template?
I looked for some and couldn't find jack........
The thought of having to make my own spacers puts the fear of God in me.[IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/IMG]
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From: Sewell, New Jersey, USA
Rep Power: 0 Sound Domain has spacers for the front speakers, i havent had a chance to try them out yet (my cars at the bodyshop). for the rear 6x9's i just flipped the speaker grill upside down and used that for a speaker, worked great. i just had to trim the rear deck so it would snap back in place and get longer screws.
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