Need sound ICE advice - wiring and cabling

ldusoswa

Hey guys,

just got me some subs for my car (opel astra '99)...

I got 2 10" Kicker L5s in a case and a KX600.1 amp.

The KX600.1 is a 1 channel amp, doesn't that mean it can only power one speaker? or are there ways of it powering both bass speakers, seeing as they will both be outputting the same sound.


The KX600.1 is a 600watt amp at 2ohms and 300 at 4ohms. I understand roughly what this means, but how is it set? wiring, amp itself?



These are my L5s... I have the same case but it's 'sealed'.

I only have wires which go from the subs to the amp's speaker output.

Also, my radio has an independant subwoofer out. Is this what I input to my amp?

Can anyone shed some light on how i should power the amp. What wires should i buy? would I be better off getting this installed professionally, or is it simple?

ldusoswa

just got this 600Watt wiring kit from Halfords... hope it's what i need:



Description:
Autoleads 2 Channel 600watt Max Amplifier Wiring Kit.

It contains:

5m Fused & Terminated Power Lead
1m Terminated Earth Lead
5M Phono Lead & Renite Switch-On-Lead
2m Speaker Cable, Fuses and Speaker Terminals

Instruction sheet


Kit was about €45, that reasonable enough?

5500

Your subs should be dual voice coil,if so you need to wire them like this

+ and - together one one coil on each sub

+ on one sub coil to + on the other sub coil - (then this + cable to the + on the amp or - connection on the subbox itself)
- on one sub coil to - on the other sub coil - (then this - cable to the - on the amp or - connection on the subbox itself)

Your amp will be running either 2ohm or 4 ohm then depending on the subs impedance (there either 2 or 4 ohm)

If your HU has a dedicated sub pre out then use that,make sure you run the phono lead down the opposite side of the car to the power lead too.

What gauge is that power kit you got?

ldusoswa

why run the phono lead down the opposite side of the car???

5500

Because if you dont you'l get rotten interferance from the power cable

ldusoswa

ok thanks for the heads up...

I'll tell ya where i stand now... got it all wired up and i have the cables hidden... gonna rip out the phono leads though and run them down the driver's side... the phono cables do have a little cable in between the two and they're encased in very thick blue rubber. Does this eliminate interference? the instructions don't mention anything about keeping the cables seperate....

anyways, i know there's power going to the amp but the amp is not on. When i connect up the car battery there is a little spark and the 'protection' light on the amp flashes slightly and then nothing...

I don't have the REM cable hooked up to the amp as i don't know where on my head unit this connects... I also have a 'remote bass' power controller with a telephone cable connection from the amp. I don't know what they do, do they have anything to do with my amp not powering on?

Really wanna get this working tomorrow, so i'm gonna start in the morning and worse comes to worst i'm gonna go to a specialist

5500

That cable on the phono leads is your remote cable,the amp wont power without it connected.

What type of headunit is it?Generally the remote cable will be blue and not connected directly into the iso block at the back of the radio.

The remote bass just gives you the option to turn up the bass or lower it from the knob itself,up to yourself if you fit it or not its not 100% essential

ldusoswa

Phew... 2 days later (bout 10 hours) and we're good to go...

Had to:

1. Drill a hole behind my dash to get at the engine bay :eek:
2. Solder the 'remote' wire to the power wire for my radio (not the memory wire. The memory wire has constant charge, you don't want a flat battery )
3. Get my radio back in which is a tedious process because it has every connection under the sun bar 'remote out' which is why step 2 was difficult.
4. Rip up interior panels on my astra to hide the cables
5. I did not run the phono cables down the other side of the car. I have tried and tested it and have no interference. They're not running perfectly parallel so this helps avoid interference.
6. Re-wire the subs so that i could hook up both of them to my 1 channel amp:

This is recommended:


I used the latter of these 2.




Tedious: Yeah
Worth it: Hell Yeah

Would recommend this to anyone who is interested... try it yourself if you have half a clue... Web Forums are great resources, as you can see by the great replies and advice i got above... (Thanks BTW )... Also big thanks to my buddy Kev who helped me all the way through...

If anyone has any questions please don't hesitate to ask, i am subscribed to this thread so i should reply if i'm able

JimmyCrackCorn!

1. Drill a hole behind my dash to get at the engine bay

Did you use a grommet?

5500

Are your subs not Dual voice coil?(2 sets of terminals on each sub?)

If so you have them wired for 2ohm SVC,and if they are 2ohm SVC (which any L5's ive seen havnt been) you may still have them wired wrong unless there impedence is already 2ohm.

Did you start the car and rev or drive it when you checked for interferance?Give it time and it shall come!

ldusoswa

Yes they're dual voice coil.

I'm not 100% sure about impedance.

I drive the car lots, every day and no interference even when i'm hammering it down the road It's so powerful that i can't hear the engine most of the time, and my engine isn't very quiet at 6,500 rpm....

All in all i'm very happy...

Oh, and the Astra G <00 model has no spair grommets

5500

You need to change your subs wiring,You risk damaging your sub down the line and the amp isnt sending them as much power as it can = the system isnt performing its best.

ldusoswa

but there's nothing wrong with the wiring?

my voice coils are connecting to the external +- on the enclosure. This applies to both subs, then i'm running the +s to the + on the amp channel and the -s to the - on the amp channel. what's wrong with that?

what differences does the 2ohm wiring have to say 4ohm wiring?

5500

Your using the second wiring setup in this picture yes?
http://akamaipix.crutchfield.com/ca/learningcenter/car/sub_install_guide/5-subwiring.jpg

If so your only using 1 of the subs coils on each woofer,whereas you should be using both coils on each woofer and using the wiring in this picture

http://akamaipix.crutchfield.com/ca/learningcenter/car/subwoofer_wiring/2DVC_2-ohm_mono.jpg

The difference between 2 and 4 ohm is 300w more power at 2ohm from your amplifier

ldusoswa

yeah i'm running a similar setup to that second pic, except i have each DVC sub hooked up as they would be if they were on their own, both connected to the one channel on the amp. They are wired according to the manual.

how do you change/check the impedance?

5500

Imedence will/should be on the sub at the bottom,by changing the wiring around you change the impedance.Im abit confused now as to what way exactly you have them wired,do you have a diagram of exactly the way its wired?

TherapyBoy

Generally only worry about interference when running speakers from an amplifier. Never heard it on a sub install yet after 5 years fitting them. You should be ok...