Amp Install How To For Alero?

Ok, I have started making my box, and am going to order my sub and amp on Sunday. I am maxed out on what I want to spend, so that means I'm installing everything myself.

I've never installed before, so I really need help. I plan on doing a ton of reading on installing amps, but directions specifically for the Alero would rock.

FYI, Im keeping the stock HU, so I know there is something I will need to do, like a line out converter or similar.

I can take a ton of pics during the install, and if some people on here could give me great directions we could turn it into a how to.

Anyone?

[mike2002]

well, i guess its best to do it in stages if you've never done it.

first off, what brand and model number amp(s) are you using?

are you replacing the interior speakers? if so, brand/size/model # would help a little

what stereo do you have stock? is it the cd/tape combo in the dash, with a amp in the trunk if you pull back the carpet by the drivers side wheel well?

[BLK03GXS]

Originally posted by mike2002@Mar 20 2005, 03:58 PM
well, i guess its best to do it in stages if you've never done it.

first off, what brand and model number amp(s) are you using?

are you replacing the interior speakers? if so, brand/size/model # would help a little

what stereo do you have stock? is it the cd/tape combo in the dash, with a amp in the trunk if you pull back the carpet by the drivers side wheel well?

I second these questions, awnser and you will recieve the how toooo B)

Ok here is my rundown...

Car: 2003 Alero 4 dr. GL2
Sub: Infinity 1030w
Box: Custom Made (by me!) 3/4in MDF Sealed Box .75ft3 (as per Infinity specs)
Amp: Profile AP1040
Amp Wiring Kit: Audiobahn A20.8Q
HU: Stock - CD Player only and I couldn not find an Amp.

I am getting the amp from thezeb, and the sub from sounddomain, I linked to Crutchfield because they have the most elaborate specs listed.

For the time being, I am going to keep the factory speakers as is, but, I want to amp the front doors. I figure, while I am running wire, I might has well run it to the doors incase I add components (will be Infinity 6000cs) and in the mean time I will just run the factory ones amped and see how that suits me.

Also, I'm not sure if that wiring kit comes with everything I will need, like a remote turn on lead. It's not pictured and I don't see it in the description, but I thought every kit came with that. I emailed thezeb since they are closed, and if I don't hear back by tomorrow I will call them then.

Everything will be located in my trunk, on the passenger side.

[eag182]

For the stock radio use I had high level inputs (speaker wire) going to the amp. For grounding you can buy a little mount to bolt in the trunk, giving you more placement possibilities. Rem (remote) wire I got help here hooking it up to the power antenna. Search for posts by me for that help. Here's what I did for power:


>Entended battery terminal >Autozone for about $3-4


>Inline fuse


>Remove that clip-screw (easy) and take that cover off temporarily to access the grommet.


-I went through a grommet about 10" below the arrow. I had to put the car on ramps
and go through the other side with a coat hanger pushing up from underneath the car (acutally a friend did this).


-Power run along drivers door trim


-Connect it to the 12V source after connected the GRD/ REM.

your install should be pretty basic, running the power wire through a firewall grommet and under the carpet to the back......tap into your rear speakers for the line out converters for the amp......the only thing im unsure of is where you would get your remote turn for the amp using a stock HU, you want it to turn on after the car has turned on, and after your stock HU has to avoid any interference from the engine starting........like major thumps from the sub, my friends honda did that until i understood why, useta make me jump outta the seat everytime lol.......find a good ground, near the spare tire well works, just rub off some of the paint for a good contact........

[mike2002]

anything that turns to 12v when the car is on will work for a remote turn on. I know which wire it is on my factory system, but i have the monsoon setup, so maybe someone has the Pinout of the factory radio for your car?

you could always tap into the ignition column the dark green wire on the ignition harness is your 12v ignition.

does crutchfield still have that deal on the infinity perfects? that might be a better deal.

amping the factory 4x6's may be to much.....they will sound a little better with cleaner power, but id just order a set of somewhat decent 5.25 components



First thing you should do is run all of your wires. pick up a battery terminal like pictured above, and run the power wire down the drivers side of the car. all of the little trim pieces pull right up, dont even have to remove screws. on my 4 door, the pillar between the two seats, pull that OUT not up, or you might break the clips.

eag - Thanks for those pics, they will definitely come in handy

bigd - good call on putting the LOC on the rear speakers, I originally thought it had to go in behind the radio. That seems like a much easier location to work with.

mike - the 12v ignition is something I will look into, what about using the factory radio power wire (I think I read an old post where someone said it was blue/white) Crutchfield does not have a deal on the infinity perfects, but I'm getting the reference for 62 shipped from cardomain. I looked at other subs in a very close price range and nothing compared. I'd like to save whatever money I can (I got some other things I want to buy) so I figure I will try amping the 4x6 with LOW gain and see how I like it. If I think its still really lacking, I'm gonna go ahead and get some components. If I'm OK with it, I saved myself $125.

I had read somewhere that a LOC would allow me to fade the amp, independant from the front speakers. The amp I'm buying has speaker level inputs, so couldn't I splice into the factory rear speaker wire (in the trunk) and then run the amp from there? Also, I just did some more reading and isn't a LOC actually so that you can turn high level inputs into low level inputs? Meaning, if my amp has speaker level inputs I will not need a LOC?

Or would I want to run 2 speaker wires out of the HU, rear speaker outputs (the original rear speaker wires and the new amp speaker wire)?

I might actually remove the rear speakers, 1. to move some pressure from the trunk into the cabin and 2. because I have read that only using your front speakers and a sub will give really good sound imaging.

While I don't doubt #2 is true, I don't know if I will actually like the sound of it, but regardless, having my amp set with or to the rear speakers, I could fade it from the stock HU.

Lastly (for now ) I heard your power wire and your RCA cables from the HU should be run down seperate sides of the car, does this apply to speaker wire?

alrite here we go........
1.power cables and audio cables need to be run down different sides of the car so that there is no interference........
2. if your amp has speaker level inputs yes you can use those but the LOC usually has a gain so you can adjust the how strong of a signal is going into your amps....
3. the only thing about tapping into an ignition wire like i said is you may get the thump......thats what the remote turn on wire does on aftermarket HU's is delay the turn on amps to get rid of this....
4. most of what you here does come from the doors and tweeters and like mike said upgrading to some 5 1/4's is prolly ur best idea, as far as getting rid of your 6x9's i wouldnt recommend it.....if you ever have passengers its going to suck for them and even you will notice the lack of rear fill......you can get 6x9 mounts that have openings for 5 1/4 or 6 1/2 speakers and tweeters......putting some kind of sound deading material underneath them to block the bass from hitting them.......thats one way you could go about it.......but id reccomend still having something there......

good luck man

[mike2002]

1) he's running a LOC, so he isn't running any audio cables to the trunk, he's just splicing off the rear speakers, so i would still do it on the drivers side to save wire

2) if the amp has high level inputs, it also has a gain, so there's no real advantage to buying LOC's. just run 4 wires from your stock deck back to the amp. now if you tear apart your car, you'll notice there's 2 paths on both the drivers side and passenger side to run the wire, that are a few inches away from eachother and seperated by some sheetmetal, thats enough space to avoid interferance. just get some somewhat decent wire (not the expensive junk, but not the cheap stuff) get oxygen free too, because you dont want that stuff oxidizing and coroding, you'll never see it if it does.

3)most amps now have a soft turn on to avoid the thump, wiring a relay into the system will avoid the thump. a better option would be to try and find out the factory pinout for the deck, so far ive only seen the cd/tape monsoon system pinouts.



jiffy - the color for remote turn-on's is blue/white. but thats a universal aftermarket color, factory colors are almost always different. they never follow the aftermarket trend.

i know hes running the loc mike2002 but he was asking whether you run the power cables and audio cables down seperate sides of the car and i said yes thats all

and thats true, but maybe he is just set on using the loc and if he wants to thats up to him......ive seen amps that dont have speaker level input gains, just an overall gain to the amp.......so having an extra way of controlling the signal going into your amp is never a bad thing.....

and yea i know some new amps come with a soft turn on feature but not all and the amp he linked to says nothing about a soft turn on so its something hes gotta think about......so yea the relay idea would probably be his best bet......

[wrightie]

If there was one thing I could advise and im sure you are not going to like it is if you are going to the expense of a system you gotta get a after market deck. Our stock decks dont have RCAs so they use this little box thingy that hooks up to your speaker wire and converts that to an RCA signal. Now im sure you can imagine that is not the best signal. RCAs comin directly from an aftermarket deck will make the world of difference. Trust me on this one I was running an amp off my stock deck and thought it was pretty good then I bought a deck and was literally BLOWN away in the difference in sound. Anyways good luck and keep modin.


Wrightie

If you have a sunroof...then u can tap that fuse with your remote wire, its what I did. That way u can manually turn the amp on and off, but the downside is only when u have the car power on. But its an easy access point on the passenger side fuse box.

[mikegett]

wrightie, a LOC (Line Out Converter) is what changes a speaker wire (high level) to rca (low level). That is why they have been discussing LOC's for the past four threads. And the stock HU does not have a line out converter built into it. They run high level straight back to the speakers or monsoon amp. I will agree that most aftermarket HU's will sound better, but a decent LOC will make your factory sound pretty good as well. The key to amping off a factory HU is to use as little gain from the HU as possible. Keep it at half volume to eliminate all of the internal noise. Then raise the LOC's gain to compensate for the reduced HU volume. Since you are using the LOC's gain to aquire a higher voltage the amp should be kept below half on its gain. Preferably one quarter. Otherwise you are just amping a signal that is already amped and hissing will result. ***please make a note that many LOC's can produce up to 16 volts. Most amps will only accept up to 5 volts before the inputs fry.******
You have two options with hooking up the amp. If you do not use the rear speakers then do as mike suggested and go directly into the high level inputs of the amp. If you are going to use the rear speakers then place a LOC in line. You will need one that allows the original speaker wattage to pass through unharmed or loss in power to the 6x9's will result. Sosche makes a very nice one for about 35 that will do this. Keeping the 6x9's will be your call. I would personaly keep them unless you have a nice set of componants in the front. Otherwise your sound stage will be very week.
Here is option for eliminating the turn on wire. This will wire right to your speaker wire and send a 12 volt signal to your amp for turning on. They come in handy in situations where you don't want to remove a HU.
http://www.cardomain.com/item/PERLVT2
This is a option for eliminating the poping of a amp that does not have soft turn on capability. I suggest always trying the amp prior to buying such a expensive part. You may get lucky and have it built in.
http://www.cardomain.com/item/PERVT3
Here is a decent LOC you should be able to find at best buy. At the least buy one that has a full DC isolation. Stinger makes some decent ones as well. Just be carefull to avoid setting the gain too high as I stated before. If you have a meter then you can set the voltage to match your amps max input value.
http://www.scosche.com/scosche.aspx?Catego...=36&ItemID=SLC4

[mike2002]

i used 2 2channel Tsunami LOC's off my factory monsoon deck and it sounded just fine. my clarion HU does sound better, but it still sounded good off the factory unit.


i dont remember the model #'s, but they were the better LOC's from tsunami, they had a cheaper one too, which didn't have the adjustable gains on them. i think they output about 4 or 5 volts because my clarion HU seems to be about the same loudness when i switched them over (clarion is a 4v deck).

cant go wrong with scosche though, we've never had any problems with any of there products....there EFX amps suck pretty bad, but you get what you pay for...the efx subs weren't toooooo bad for what they costed.

The sub should be here on the 29th, and the amp and wiring kit on the 30th.

In other news:
I've got my box 1/4 finished, but I need to trim 1/16" from the front and back wall because home depot cut it just a little off. Not sure if I am going to try sanding it down, or use a compund miter saw to zip it off.

Once I got it sized right, I need to get the sub hole cut out and cut out the back for the terminal cup.

I'm still tossing ideas around with what to do with the outisde of the box. I'm NOT carpeting it because I should be able to do something more original for less money. If I'm making it custom, I want it to look such

So, it's going to be a while before I actually get this thing installed, but I will definitely keep updating

I tossed out the idea in another thread of mine, but no one picked up on it so I'll post it here.

Although originally the main reason to do this was theft deterrency, saving space is another great reason.

How much room do I have to work with mounting the amp under the passenger seat? The other option, what about saving space by mounting it behind the trunk carpeting, where the monsoon amps go?

Either of these options will allow me some extra space, but I'm not sure if they are decent ideas or not.

[mikegett]

It all depends on the size of your amp and how hard it will be working. None of my amps will fit under the seats or behind the side carpet. Originaly I only had one amp so I had it installed in the rear window between the 6x9's. It gave me free space in the trunk and my windows are tinted so it was very hard to see outside. With the adition of my second amp I went with the back seats. They just barely fit and allow me to still lower the seat. If you do go with the back seat just be certain to make the amps vertical. The seat is at a backward slope and will place the amps leaning. This is very bad concidering that the top is your heatsink and can't dissipate properly from this angle. I cut out a board the size of my amps attached a angled piece on the side of it with a hinge. The main board is attached to the seat with another hinge. As I lower the seat I can fold in the angled piece to allow the board to lay flat. I used a sliding bolt (behind the board) to lock the angled piece in place.

The FedEx guy just dropped off my sub, tomorrow UPS brings the amp.

I will do some dry fits with the amp to see where else I can maybe mount it.

My dad is bringing the box into work tomorrow, to get the holes cut for the sub and the terminal cup, hopefully I can get it back and finish putting it together tomorrow too.

A new question. The back of the sub, where the speaker wire goes in, it isn't the clips I'm used to seeing. Instead it is a hole with a casing that screws around it. I'll try to post a pic later to clarify what I mean.

Anyways, this does use just regular speaker wire right? I assume I stick the wire in the hole, and tighten the outside part to hold the wire in place, but I want to double check (before I get a terminal cup that matches).

[BLK03GXS]

well baiscly this is what your seeing, you unscrew the red or black connection partialy, and there will be a hole that is uncovered by the theaded cap, that is where you would place the striped wire to power the sub. The terminal dosent matter, just attach either sodder or crimp a connector that does the job on there...