Installing an amp, easy or hard?

[KDMatt]

Well... I was just at my buddy's house tonight, and we spent a good 2+ hours rewiring the speakers in the back of my Z with 'premium quality' speaker wire to replace whatever-the-hell kind of wire there was under the carpetting and what have you.

I thought the wiring was the source of my lousy sound in the back, but, ha, I was wrong. It wasn't until we had the speakers unmounted and rewired did we realize that the sound wasn't really 'bad' ... it was just 'quiet' ... then it was me who said, "hey... dont most cars usually have amplifiers in the back?" Then we realized that an amp was the missing ingredient to the equation.

The head unit has plenty of power to send to the speakers in the front, but I'm willing to bet that the stock stereo allowed for some sort of 15 watt (or comperable) pre-amp that sent additional power to the rear speakers, an amplification system that was 'destroyed' when the PO put in a Pioneer CD Player.

So, in essence, I'm wondering how many of you have had to deal with something like this, and if installing an amplifier is a large undertaking best left to the professionals, or a moderately involved DIY job.

[Murph]

Mate, you can get the pioneer CD player is going to be pumping out a sh*t load more power than the stock zed stereo ever did.

For your average user, most head units will provide more then enough power for a set of 6" speakers. What are the speaker in the rear? Not the originals I hope. That'd be the first thing I'd be replacing if you're chasing decent sound.

[Mr Camouflage]

Check the specs on you head unit. It may have front and rear speaker outputs already.

If not you can wire the left and right channels to the front and rear for a 50/50 front/rear split.

[bemmerguy714]

Wiring an amp is very easy. But there are other factors u should take into consideration if the speakers dont seem to be up to what u expected. Did u run the original wires? If so change them. 16 guage do the job great. When u run better (newer wires) There is less distortion and less oxyen and mousture in the wires. You can get a roll of 16 guage wires cheap at Walmart or similar places. Also is there anypart of the actuall speaker(magnet part or naked wire) touching the body of the car (metal of the car)? if so that doesnt help at it will be very itchy at the top of its power peak.

If u are considing hooking up an amp (i think u should so u are using more power to ur speaker than the power that would be given to ur speaker from the head unit) DONT USE AN AMP THAT WILL MAX OUT UR SPEAKERS!!!!!!!!!! I have learned this the hard way. For example, if ur speakers say "peak power of 220watts" or "100watts" DOnt use and amp that will power it that high. If a speaker is rated "220watts" Then use a 200 watt amp. If its rated "100" use an 80. Give ur speaker some room. SO if u do want to blast the sound one day u'll know u built a system that will take it. IF you have any questions at all feel free to ask me. I SHINE IN THIS AREA!!!!!!!!!

Matt

[bemmerguy714]

It sounds like u ran old wires. Get new wires, U'll hear the diffrence.

[KDMatt]

No, actually, I ran new wires.

AT FIRST I thought it was cruddy wiring that was giving me a headache, so my friend and I took two hours to bypass all of it, from the headunit back to the speakers themselves. This hardly even made a difference.

Then we starting thinking that maybe the speakers were the culprits. So we quick grabbed an unused Alpine motorcycle speaker and touched the leads to it... no change in volume.

There's just not enough power making it back there.

Now I realize, yes, my headunit is more powerful than the stock one, but like I said, I have a hunch that the stock headunit had some sort of built-in preamplifer to counter the increased cable length for the rear speakers... since that's the real issue here.... the rear speakers aren't as loud because the same amount of current is traveling through a longer cable, which results in a weaker signal at the end.

...So now I just need to find an amp I guess... Nothing for sale on ebay seems to hit the 50 to 80 watt range... which is all I need.

[bemmerguy714]

No, actually, I ran new wires.

AT FIRST I thought it was cruddy wiring that was giving me a headache, so my friend and I took two hours to bypass all of it, from the headunit back to the speakers themselves. This hardly even made a difference.

Then we starting thinking that maybe the speakers were the culprits. So we quick grabbed an unused Alpine motorcycle speaker and touched the leads to it... no change in volume.

There's just not enough power making it back there.

Now I realize, yes, my headunit is more powerful than the stock one, but like I said, I have a hunch that the stock headunit had some sort of built-in preamplifer to counter the increased cable length for the rear speakers... since that's the real issue here.... the rear speakers aren't as loud because the same amount of current is traveling through a longer cable, which results in a weaker signal at the end.

...So now I just need to find an amp I guess... Nothing for sale on ebay seems to hit the 50 to 80 watt range... which is all I need.

What are u trying to power first of all. What kind of speakers i mean. I ask cause maybe u can just get a bigger amp and power all the speakers off of it. I personally wouldnt do it but it would work. I say i wouldnt cause it would sound "foggy" compared to if u use a single amp for a speaker. It would still hit hard thou. Let me know.

[KDMatt]

I'm just looking for a dual-channel 50 to 80 watt amplifier to power some six inch 2-way speakers.

Right now they're just basic Pioneer speakers, but they were damaged when the PO installed them, and got damaged even further when we pulled 'em out, so I'm going to replace them with something similar.

[bemmerguy714]

I'm just looking for a dual-channel 50 to 80 watt amplifier to power some six inch 2-way speakers.

Right now they're just basic Pioneer speakers, but they were damaged when the PO installed them, and got damaged even further when we pulled 'em out, so I'm going to replace them with something similar.

Whats the power rating on them? how many watts are they?

[KDMatt]

The rating on the back says 100 watts.

... is it possible that I just need some lower powered speakers?

[Mr Camouflage]

I have a hunch that the stock headunit had some sort of built-in preamplifer

All head unts have built in amps, other wise you'd have line level voltages and you wouldn't hear anything.

to counter the increased cable length for the rear speakers... since that's the real issue here.... the rear speakers aren't as loud because the same amount of current is traveling through a longer cable, which results in a weaker signal at the end.

The impedance of speaker wire is so small that it wouldn't affect the loudness.

Problem is that the speakers arent matched to the power output of the head unit.

If you have 100 watt rms speakers in the back and your head unit is 30 watts rms, and you have 30 watt rms speakers in the front, then they will be louder than the ones in the back, because the head unit doesnt have the power to produce the same loudness in the 100 watt speakers.

Either get some speaker that are the same power rating as the front ones, or if you need really loud music coming from behind you, find an amp.

You chould check out the manual for the head unit (or search for the information on google) to find out if it has speaker level outputs for front and rear, and what power rating they are, if it has line level outputs for amps. Also if it does have front and rear outputs, there is probably a front/rear fader. You'd want to check that the rears aren't set on a quieter setting. I'd probably do that first before buying an amp or new speakers.

[bemmerguy714]

I think he hit it right on.that sounds right. Thats kinda weird thou cause in my 528e i had 2 6x9s rated at 220 each then two 4x6 100watt kickers and two small 1 inch tweeters. All the speakers still use to hit hard. It is a possibility thou. try switching it with another head set.