Your Opinions Please

Hi everyone,

Great site here, I'm just fishing for some opinions. It's been 5+ years since my last install. I hope I remember more than I've forgot... 99' Z71 Chevy 3-door.

HU-KDC-X889

Front Doors-VR650-CSi(JL) 6.5" component

Rear- TR570-CX(JL) 5x7"

Subs-2 JL W1v2 (downfire box)

Subs to be run by 501bd Fosgate/ Mids & Highs to run off  Fosgate Punch 3002.

A few Questions: Do I need to fuse the 4ga. Near the batt or is it o.k. to fuse it back by the amps? Second I plan on running the front and rear mids and highs off  the 2 channel amp which bring it up to 150 per channel @ 2 ohms. I'm thinking I might be better off not even running the rears for thoughts of them blowing or sounding distorted. I should be done with my install tommorow sometime and an just putting the feelers put for any last minute suggestions.

Someone please explain the logic of running a heavy gague wire only to have one of those "radioshackish"  speaker plug/coors light beer can tabs on the prefabbed sub boxes. I may be crazy but that makes no sence to me, I'd rather just drill @ silicon than use those. Thanks in advance- Carl

definately fuse the primary at the battery, you are protecting the vehicle not the amp..... the vehicle may not be insured if not fused with X inches of the battery... the insurance statute here is it's 12" or it's uninsured.... remember, by fusing directly at the battery you are preventing a fire should the wire short between the battery and the amp.... 

16 ga. should be more than adequate for your sub wiring, especially for short runs.....

Thanks Guys-

I ended up fuseing it about 8" from the battery. Thanks for the insurance heads up. I also ran 12 ga. for the subs, only about 18" in length.

I don't care too much about fading, not at this point.

What are your suggestions for a mids/highs amp, I'm not brand loyal by any means. Thanks

mudfoot wrote:

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Well it's done, I went to get some dynamat last night and installed it as well(various areas), the system really rocks, and I am surprised at the clarity and bass. Yea I know W1v2 is no high end sub, but I am truely amazed at the sound they produce, I poly filled the box as well. My local shop suggested the 2 ch amp to obtain more juice, but I wish I had gone 4 ch for flexability. The VRs are extremely clear and the deck has endless adjustments which is pretty sweet other than I'll proball have to go to grad school just to comprehend what half of them do. Someday I might upgrade the rears, I have plenty with just the two VRs up front, and made it so I could disconnect the rear if needed. Quite honestly I think it has more than enough with the two fronts only, I've seen on this forum where people say to only run the fronts period. All in all I'm ultra pleased with everything. I hadn't done an install in at least five years, I was happy that I didn't screw anything up. Sorry about the ramble, just got that good feeling right about know.   Thanks;)

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2 channel amplifier to obtain more juice?  Sounds like a slightly (or more than slightly) confused sales person to me, but whatever .. I'm glad it sounds good.  Enjoy.

75 x 2 @ 4 ohms

150 x 2 @ 2 ohms.

Yes, that's great. 

The confused part comes in by your sales person actually thinking you'll ever hear a difference between 75w and 150w on those speakers.  Just dropping the load to 2 ohms doesn't "obtain more juice."  You -ask- for more juice when you turn up the volume control.  Dropping from 4 to 2 ohms only raises the -maximum- wattage that the amplifier will put out. 

The vast majority of the time you'll be pulling less than 25wpc from that amplifier.  The rest of the time you'll be pulling less than 50.  All moving from 75w to 150w did for you was increase the -maximum- power that can be drawn from that amplifier.  If you even ran at 75wpc to those speakers on a consistent basis (1) they probably wouldn't last long (2) your hearing wouldn't last long either. 

Even if you say, "well, I'm glad I raised the maximum SPL."  Please note that a doubling of wattage will only give you a 3db rise in your maximum SPL.  3db is small.  It takes a 10db rise in SPL to notice a doubling of volume to our ears. 

Anyway.  Your sales person poorly informed you.  A more flexible 4-channel amplifier would have been a much better purchase.

sedate-

I did parallel the amp to the front VRs and the rear TRs, I know this is probally not a great idea, but I listened to the sales guy, first mistake. I initally wanted to run a 4004 fosgate for the highs but didn't go with my gut. The deck is awesome, almost too many adjustments but I'm getting the hang of it pretty good now. I had recieved a XM Roady2 for a gift and installed it today, those are pretty darn cool, the only change I think I'll make is to go buy an adapter tommorow so I can run the sat radio to my imput on the HU, thus eliminating the fm modulator and obtaining a better/cleaner feed. I hadn't installed a stereo in years and know that I should have gone 4 ch amp, but the install came out very clean, that has always been a must, as well as sound clarity. I also used some dynamat on various areas of the extracab that stuff is amazing!! . I like to obtain a factory look as well. I'm still more than open to suggestions on a solid 4 ch amp, I was looking at a small alpine ( Alpine MRV-F340 55 x 4). I will post pics in a day or two. Thanks for all the replies, I appreciate it.