Novice upgrading sound system

I have a 99 Ford Escort w/ a factory upgrade amp (under the seat) and 5 disc CD changer (in the trunk). I have inherited a Kenwood KAC 744 amplifier and two 12" Kicker subs (in a box) that I believe are 300 amp, I also purchased two 300 watt mini tweeters as well as a couple new 100 watt mid range speakers for the doors (I blew the factory ones). The problem being is I have no idea how to get all these things to work together best. I want the loudest, clear, sound possible w/ this combination. I downloaded the Kenwood KAC 744 manual but am having trouble understanding it (I'm not too good with wiring diagrams and there are several possible ways to use it)

If someone very smart could maybe please explain what I should do in the easiest possible terms I would be very greatful.

Thank you any and all for your consideration.

You have a four channel amp....so... you want to use that for the two pair or four speakers that are in your doors.  Therefore you will not be able to use the subs with it, or at least I would not recomend it.  First you must answer a couple of questions so I can help you and maybe some other people as well can help out.  How many mid range speakers did you buy? Two Pair?  Do the midrange speakers have two pair of positive and negative terminals on each speaker? Does the amp have high level inputs (just check the amp for a plug-in labeled high level)? If it does do you still have the plug for it? 

Now to run those subs I recommend the Kenwood KAC 7201 amp. It's an 800 W Max amp that would work nicely with your 12's.

Write back and I'll help the best i can.

ftp://docs.kenwoodusa.com/manuals/OM-KAC-744-1993-KUSA.pdf

This is the manual for the KAC 744. I've only got one pair of speakers in the doors, they're 100 watt and only have a positive and negative terminal each. There are two 8" factory mid range in the back "lid" and I bought two 300 watt mini tweeters and have two 12" kickers in a sealed wood box that have only one positive and negative input for both. The manual attached has several configurations that would seem like it will handle all these but I don't know how to hook them all up. Still on the right track? Or am I going to have to get another amp? I was thinking maybe driving the car's factory speakers off it's own amp and then using the Kenwood for the heavier stuff?

Yhanks for the response. I appreciate the help.

Running the subs off of the two extra channels wouldnt give them enough power. I looked at that Kenwood amp and at 2 ohms it only outputs 40 watts continuous by 4. 80 watts for two subs would starve them pretty bad I think.

I think I have another option as well. First you need to know how many ohms your subs are. If there in the box you should ask who you got them from whether or not they're dvcs. If they are dvc that's better. You can run them in parallel in the box and then in series to the amp and you'll have 4 ohms at the amp. I'll get back to that. If you wanted to,instead of buying speaker level to line level adapter and a sub amp you could buy another deck. This does two things. I don't know how many you'd have in the rcas after the adapter but it makes a difference to amp output. Second, if you buy a half way decent deck it will make interior speakers play almost as well as if you had a low wattage amp going to them. You could run your tweeters off the deck and your subs and mids off the amp. To do this is pretty simple. Your amp has two sets of rca inputs. Channel1+2 and 3+4, the left side is on the top of both sets. If buy a deck with at least 2 rca outputs which is pretty standerd and run a set  to all the amp inputs. On your amp you have two switches for operation. The first onefor channels 1+2 set to stereo. These are for your mids in the front. You run your speaker wire in two pairs off channels 1+2. And leave hpf/lpf off. The second switch for operation set to mono all the way to the right. This for your subs, You run the left most terminal as your positve wire and the 3rd left as your negative.Back to the subs, if they're dvc run them parallel series, if they're svc 4ohms you could try running them in parallel to the amp, but that gives you 2 ohms and your amp might not like that. It says it can handle two in stereo but mono might be pushing it. If you want to play it safe put your operation switch back to stereo and run two pair of speaker wires to the subs seperately. Either way don't forget to put the low pass filter on.

One thing I don't is if you could use your factorycd changer with any other cd decks??????

Jeff, I thought if you run two for ohms speakers in parallel impedance goes down to 2ohms and up to 8 if you run it in series.   I think if you run the mids and tweeters in parallel and then the two sets in series to the amp, you could bridge the channels and you'd be running the amp at 4 ohms. Then use the other two channels for your subs.

If I were you man I'd get a deck and a rockford amp if your on a budget and use the kenwwod amp for my interiors.Alpine 9805s Ithink are pretty good for 140-150$, plus fifty to install if you don't want to, and a 451s would make your subs sound good for a 135$. Both those prices are brand new off ebay. Good luck