How to work with what I have & b futureready?

[martin]

Hi

Today I had a little economic set back. So I may have to delay buying a Kenwood DDX8022BT

This is a super long post so TIA for reading.

I am a keyboard cowboy and not a stereojunkie and therefor needs help from the forum if I am on the right path here.

What I do have now is the following:

Seas Lotus Reference series speaker kit

Science of speed wire harness
D'Ecosse's speaker plates made for the Seas Lotus's
Zeetoolbox V2 for a 10" sub about .67 cu
Factory stereo (with a cd shifter in the back which will be retired)
New console with double din to use when the Kenwood is bought
Ipod Nano

Phoenix Gold SA1.4X amp with the following data I found on the net:

Output Power:
4 ohm stereo @ 12/13.8 VDC
30/40 WRMS x 4
2 ohm stereo @ 13.8 VDC
40 WRMS x 4
4 ohm bridged @ 13.8 VDC
120 WRMS x 2
Crossover Frequencies
30Hz to 500Hz
Crossover Slopes
12dB per Octave

I will buy this:
10" sub for the Zeetoolbox not sure which yet.
All the needed cables
Grom Ipod adapter
A Ipod Classic with a 160gb hd. Bought maybe before the Kenwood.

As I can not afford the Kenwood at the moment I would want to install/upgrade my system with what I have and also be ready for the future when I have the Kenwood, a couple of amps and more.

This is what I want to do:
Put the Phoenix amp in the trunk. Have 3*speaker cords go to the coupe. One to the sub and one to l/r on the Seas Lotus's. I need to run a set of cords from the SOS wire adapter to the amp in the back with a remotecord. How do the amp power on when I use the factory stereo?

Have plus cord go from the engine fusebox to the amp in the trunk. Have it go to earth under the tool kit somewhere.

Hook up the Grom Audio Ipod box to where it is best connected. Behind the drivers seat somewhere? Have the cord for the Ipod go to the box between the seats. Can this Grom audio also be connected to a Ipod Classic with a 160gb drive?

In the future I will buy the Kenwood double din unit. I will buy and put two amps in the trunk. One for the Lotus's and one for the sub. I will probably also buy a Ipod Classic to use as a harddrive for the Kenwood unit with music and video. I may buy this before I buy the Kenwood unit if it can be hooked up to the Grom Audio box. I will buy a IP300V to hook up the Ipod Classic to the hu.

So to the questions: (here is where my limited knowledge is a problem)
I hook up the speakercords from the amp to the speaker cords that goes to the doors yes? Is it needed/possible to exchange the cords that goes to the speakers in the doors?

Should I have another set of cords be ready from hu to the amp? A friend of mine told me that I needed one to be able to control the sub from the hu. Some hu can control the different outputs.

Please let me know what I should buy. I need cables and stuff like that. But I want to put up the wires I plan to use sometime in the future too when I buy the new hu and the amps.

TIA

Regards

 

[Malibu Rapper]

How do the amp power on when I use the factory stereo?

Sorry I haven't been scanning the forums and answering questions like I used to. I've been so busy with life and prepping my other car for a show. :wink: I found this thread from the primers i miss thread.

You can power on the PG amp by either tapping the factory power antenna wire or taking a female and a male harness wiring them together and tapping the wire out from there instead of tapping the factory harness. I'm leaving out some details but you can either tap your factory harness or wire two harnesses together to save tapping a factory harness.

So to the questions: (here is where my limited knowledge is a problem)
I hook up the speakercords from the amp to the speaker cords that goes to the doors yes? Is it needed/possible to exchange the cords that goes to the speakers in the doors?

It can be done but it's not so easy. Some people managed to shove it through the existing boot. But it's a PITA. I would just use the factory wires for sake of ease. Otherwise prepare to spend about an hour per door or more to pull some wires through.

Should I have another set of cords be ready from hu to the amp? A friend of mine told me that I needed one to be able to control the sub from the hu. Some hu can control the different outputs.

I assume by cord that you mean RCA interconnects. If you are using the Kenwood unit, it's nice to have an extra set of RCAs that run for just the sub so you can adjust the level. Also you can take advantage of the built in crossover on the headunit. It's worth it, yes.

Please let me know what I should buy. I need cables and stuff like that. But I want to put up the wires I plan to use sometime in the future too when I buy the new hu and the amps.

You need to buy a 4 gauge power and ground wire. A 2 distribution blocks, one for power and one for ground. You probably have to buy 8 gauge power and ground for each of the amps to the distribution blocks. 2 sets of RCAs from head unit to amps. Maybe a 50 foot spool of 14 or 16 gauge speaker wire. I would run 12 gauge to the sub so maybe 15 feet of that. You will need some blue signal wire to turn the amps on. Then you need all the little things like ring terminals, etc. Hence they sell amp wiring kits that include most of these goods.

You would do yourself a big favor if you just bought a good 4 channel amp like Alpine PDX-4150 or buy a good 3 channel. Then you would be able to eliminate that power and grounding distribution block and a lot of extra wire. It's a lot cleaner like this.

 

[HighlineCA]

You can power on the PG amp by either tapping the factory power antenna wire ..

Correction
Do not tap the power antenna wire for remote turn on. The amp will not be on when in any other mode than Radio (unless for some reason the antenna is up regardless if you are listening to radio). You would want to use the radio's ignition wire or independantly fused accessory from the steering column.

Everything else I agree with.

Thanks,

Rich @ HCA

 

[spider2k]

its always up if the radio is on. main reason i unplugged the power from mine the day i bought it. a giant antenna mast does NOT look good on a sports car

 

[Malibu Rapper]

Correction
Do not tap the power antenna wire for remote turn on. The amp will not be on when in any other mode than Radio (unless for some reason the antenna is up regardless if you are listening to radio). You would want to use the radio's ignition wire or independantly fused accessory from the steering column.

Actually the power antenna wire is what is used to turn on the factory amps. That is why people buy smartennas because the radio antenna is always up even in CD or tape mode. It's the best wire to use if you are using the factory head unit.

 

[martin]

Hi

Old thread. But the only thing that I can't figure out now is the remote thing.

I have a cable going from remote on both my amps in the trunk to the HU area.

Where should I hook up the remote cabel?

I will not be using the antenna at all. I unplugged the power in the trunk.

Please help. I am not far from having everything hooked up.

Regards

 

[martin]

Hi again

I was using the search to find an answer to my remote question. Then I posted the question as I did not find anything. But I did not give up.

http://www.nsxprime.com/forums/showthread.php?t=56480&highlight=remote

See Chris post 2. I guess I have my answer. I could have tapped into the thing in the trunk. But now I have the wire already there so I will be using the blue wire on the SOS harness.

I think I was back at page 5 in the search results before I found the post above.

Regards