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Should I keep what I have or "upgrade"?
- Thread starter blu_fuz
- Start date
blu_fuz
New Member Classroom vulture
That's the issue I am having with doing this upgrade. I guess you "could" splice into the speaker wires as the come through the jambs of the car and then to the amp. That would avoid having to run a new wire into the doors.
The amp, maybe you could find something small enough to go behind the glove box :shrug:. It might get hot there so possibly in the trunk then..... I dunno.
My guess is that you could run it through the same spot the current wires are. Find the opening to the "boot" in the fender, that leads to the door that holds are your wires (power windows, speaker wires, etc) and run it through there. Or you could do like you said, find the current speaker wires and run those to the amp.
For the amp, you could possibly put it under one of the seats (passenger or driver) but the problem there would be the cables hanging out. It might be easy if you actually get to doing it though.
For the amp, you could possibly put it under one of the seats (passenger or driver) but the problem there would be the cables hanging out. It might be easy if you actually get to doing it though.
Liquid_force
CEG'er
My rear speakers are driven by HU power so I just used the factory wiring all the way from the HU for those.
For the fronts I actually drilled a 3/8" (IIRC) hole through the large multi wire connectors and ran my wires that way. It was very time consuming and frustrating, but it makes for a very "neat" look.
I don't have an "after" picture, but here's the before --
basically I drilled out the little black star shaped piece in the center. The jamb side was WAY trickier than the door side. Threading the wire through wasn't a treat either.
For the fronts I actually drilled a 3/8" (IIRC) hole through the large multi wire connectors and ran my wires that way. It was very time consuming and frustrating, but it makes for a very "neat" look.
I don't have an "after" picture, but here's the before --
basically I drilled out the little black star shaped piece in the center. The jamb side was WAY trickier than the door side. Threading the wire through wasn't a treat either.
Also, if you did it with running it with the factory wiring behind the head unit, you could run wire under your console on back. Might have to run it under the carpet for it not to be noticeable though :S. However, if you put the amp under the seat, then you would see little to no wires at all.
To above, why drill holes when you can just run it through the boot or use the factory wiring?
To above, why drill holes when you can just run it through the boot or use the factory wiring?
pithon987
Hard-core CEG'er
this is one of my next project on my tour. Although i was gonna take the factory amp out and put the amp replacing it there for my door speakers and as for the wires just making a small hole in th boot,maybe some electrical tape to make it blend in a little:shrug:pithon987
Hard-core CEG'er
yea i might do that, if i can find the wires that run to them. I had this problem on my silfro where i couldn't hear anything from the speakers and i thought my stock headunit was busted,so i went and upgraded to a kenwood,still nothing so then i thought the stock speakers were busted so i replaced them with pioneer 6X7............and yet again nothing finally my dumb self decided to test the speakers and head unit directly and WUALA!! it worked thats where i determined my amp was broken,but i just left it there and wired every speaker directly with thicker speaker wire.......did it the way i explained in my last post :blackeye: i just didn't wanna go and check every GOD$#@@% wire so sucks for me :blackeye::blackeye:
Liquid_force
CEG'er
They DO go through the boot, but you can't get wires INTO it without putting a hole through that plastic fitting first. You'd probably have to see it to understand the dilemma (it only takes a second to unscrew it and see what I'm talking about).
In my picture, most of the holes around the perimeter of the fitting are already used, none of the smaller holes in the middle are which is why drilling out the center doesn't harm the connection. You can't just use the holes that are already there. They're teeny tiny and 16ga wire plus the thickness of the insulation doesn't even come close to fitting through one.
I couldn't use factory wiring for 2 reasons -- 1) I have seperate woofer/tweeters in each door so i had to run an extra lead anyway, and 2) the size of the stock wiring isn't sufficient for the level of power I'm running. (for ~50w it would be fine).
To save time some professional installers just drill a new hole through the sheet metal of both the jamb and the door, but it's not nearly as neat as using the boot, and would most likely break the wires and/or cause a corrosion problem over time. It's been discussed at length here and the consensus is taking the time to drill out the threaded fitting to run wires into the door is the best way to do it - IF the stock wiring isn't adequate.
I shall look at my car tomorrow since it has not sold yet, and see if i can help any. If the car is anything like my nissan (doubtful) then you can just run it through the boot. There shouldn't need to be any drilling, but i haven't really looked at it.
Ill get back to this.
Ill get back to this.
steelblueSE
Hard-core CEG'er
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2003
- Messages
- 1,737
Lol you guys have it all wrong. Cut the speaker wires off at the headunit wiring harness and splice in the needed length to run it to the amp. You dont need to run new wires to the speakers. You can put the amp any place you want. Some people mount theirs on the backseat in the trunk, I chose to mount mine under the seat into the floor. I ran the wires through the center console because I didn't want to rip out my whole carpet to run wires. Ignore my dirty seatback and carpet.
Liquid_force
CEG'er
For ~50w that's fine, but for ~100w and/or components in the doors you have to go the extra mile if you want to do it right.
I had to pull all my carpet up to run my wires.
I use lamp cord wire, because of its cost, to run my subs to my amp..and it sounds just like any other wire :shrug:
dude look at the tinsel leads that go to your speakers and tell me they are a huge bit bigger than the stock speaker wires?
Hook into the stock wiring AFTER the amp if you have/had one and call it a day. The only reason you would have an issue doing so is if your running a fully active 2/3 way setup in the doors. otherwise your components should have come with crossovers. you run your main reg wore into that and then it seperates the signals and one set goes to the tweeter the other to the mid. Not hard guys.
*edit* This is also coming from a guy that made the effort to run new wires in my silver svt. Not worth the extra effort. I ran a kicker 700.5 to RF Fanatic X component fronts and kicker coax rears in my cougar on stock wiring. ran from the amp under the carpet to the stock harness and it sounded great, caused no issues.
Liquid_force
CEG'er
again - as long as the awg is sufficient lamp cord's fine. In most cases it's fine for full range speakers, but in these days of 1, 2, 3kw amps you often need something significantly larger than 16-18 ga for subs.
If you're running a few hundred watts through 5-10' of 18 ga wire you will definitely have some considerable voltage drop, which means less power to the driver.
If you're running a few hundred watts through 5-10' of 18 ga wire you will definitely have some considerable voltage drop, which means less power to the driver.
Liquid_force
CEG'er
If that's your arguement you don't belong in the debate.
The tensile leads are bare copper wire - if they do get a little warm carrying a lot of current it's not going to hurt anything. Plus, they're so short they drop almost no voltage at all.
A ~10' run of speaker wire is a much different scenario.
What's active/passive have to do with it? If you have a 2 way component set in the door and a standard passive crossover you have to run both the woofer and tweeter lead into the door -- unless of course you mount the x/o in the door.
at 60-70w there shouldn't be an issue on stock wiring. You're probably losing a watt or 2 more than using a good sized speaker wire. Doubtful you'd even hear a difference in a side by side listening test.
That 400w sub channel is where you'd want the 12 ga lead.
im not going to get into this pissing match lol. I am not saying that running new wire isnt better, I am however going to say it isn't worth the effort for the majority of people unless they are going extreme. If your not going all out on quality equipment then why bother going way beyond on the freaking wiring?
I highly doubt that he is going to run more than 500 watts to door speakers, seeing how the glass inside the door would shatter. Unless your doing competitions, then any wire will suffice.
And who the hell puts over 1k watt amp in a daily driver?