I've got a 2005 coupe with a NON BOSE system. I'm about to replace the front and rear speakers and add a sub in the back. I'm keeping the factory deck in place for a clean install. I've seen alot of threads on Bose systems but I haven't seen too much on a non Bose system.

I'm installing:
-2 pairs 6.5 infinity kappa 63.7i speakers
-Alpine F-450 4 channel amp
-MA Audio HK1200 Mono Amp
-4080 Box
-(1) JL Audio 10w6v2

Its nothing really major going on compared to many of you but I just want something simple and affordable but still offer great sound.

My questions:
1. I guess I have to open my dash to get to everything since I do not have an amp in the trunk, I need to send the remote wires to both my amps so I will just splice and split 2 wires to run to my 2 amps?

2. My Alpine Amp has speaker inputs but my MA Audio one doesn't. I'm assuming I have to get an LOC for the bass amp and IF i have to do this then can I just run a 4 channel LOC and run put two Y- RCA splitters on my high amp and run it to only 2 channels on my LOC. Doing this, I will have 2 channels still open on the LOC for my bass amp. Can I do this or do they have specific LOCs for highs and lows? Is this LOC fine? http://www.crutchfield.com/S-BJi4t0g....asp?i=142SLC4

3. I would only have to hook the LOC to 2 speaker wires correct? (one positive and one negative?). Does anyone have a diagram or can tell me the colors to which wires behind the head unit is the remote and speaker wires on a non Bose model?

4. Are twisted RCA cables really that much better compared to conventional ones? Do they eliminate noise and are necessary or are mostly show? I mean if I install everything correctly I should get any whine or whatever from conventional cables right? Everything will be hidden so it doesn't matter to me.

Sorry for the questions and thanks for helping me out.

 

1. You can just daisy chain the remote turn on from one amp to the other.
2. Your sub amp probably has the ability to pass-through the higher frequencies to your Alpine. Check to see if it has Output jacks. If this is the case, you only need a 2 channel LOC.
3. You would need to hook the LOC to four wires. R+ and R-, L+and L-
4. Twisted cables are supposed to be superior for noise rejection. I am using untwisted RCA's for the 17' run in my G with no noise. YMMV.

 

My sub amp does have 2 jacks for ouput so I would just run the 2 channel LOC behind the head unit to sub amp and from sub amp split 2 RCAs to 4 RCAs with 2 splitters so I can use the 4 channel amp? So I'm guessing all the frequencies from the head unit are the same and just whatever type of speakers(subs and components) you hook it up to it will just play accordingly (bass and mids/highs) to the same frequency from the unit? Sorry if this is confusing. Thanks alot for helping.

 

Wait a sec...

If you have an Alpine F450... You should have a set of output jacks on it, too.

If this is the case, scrap the LOC.

Run speaker level input to the Alpine.
Run an RCA from the output of the Alpine to the input of the sub amp.

Done.

 

Your head unit will be supplying a full range signal to the amps. You will need to use the xovers on the amps to divide the signal.

For starters, set the high pass filter (HPF) on the Alpine to somewhere around 60-70Hz.

This will allow or "pass" all frequencies above the HPF xover point to go to your mids and tweets, and block all frequencies below the xover point. I won't go into the minutae of slope/order unless you really want to know.

Set the low pass filter (LPF) on the MA amp to somewhere around 40-50Hz.
This will allow or "pass" all frequncies below the xover point to the sub.

 

Yes thats true. So I would run 4 long speaker wires (L&R) from behind the head unit all the way to the trunk to my Alpine amp right? The input on my amp has 8 wires for the front and rears so should I just use 4 of them? That should save me some $$. Ill set the amps to the specs that you said any maybe mess around with it to fine tune.

 

You got it. I am guessing you will be using the factory wiring to the doors.

Run 8 lengths of speaker wire form your dash to the trunk. Color coding or labeling both ends ahead of time is a good idea. 4 lengths will be for the amp's input, the other four for the amps output.

Cut the factory speaker wires with ample amount of pigtail on the radio side. Connect (crimp caps are the easiest to use in this case) 4 of the lengths to the FR+, FR-, FL+, FL-,RR+, RR-, RL+, and RL- on the radio side. These wires will be connected to the input of the Amp.

Connect the remaining 4 lengths to the speaker side FR+, FR-, FL+, FL-, RR+ RR-, RL+, and RL-. These will be connected to the corresponding output terminals on the amp.

Going this route will allow you to use the fade control of your factory deck and you won't have the headache of fishing new wire into the door.

To reduce runs of cable, you may want to consider using these dual twisted pair cables.

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...number=100-925

You will only need to make 4 cable runs instead of eight.

 

Ok ok ok... let me get this completely correct before I try this. If I use eight wires, behind the head unit I connect 4 wires to the radio side (so 2 wires into 1) and 4 wires to the speaker side (2 speaker wires to 1). So I would put like FR+ and FL+ together/FR- and FL- together/RR+ and RL+ together/RR- and RL- together. Or would I just pick any 4 of them? Vice versa on the amp input side as well? I'm really confused on how this works and how the 4 wires going into the amp output side that has 8 terminals? Do I have to split the 4 to 8 or am I running this in parallel? Sorry I'm such a dope...

 

Here's a little drawing I made. Hope it helps. Please note, the colors for the wires are not accurate. I just randomly chose some colors. The magenta colored wires represent the new cable you will need to run.

Hope this helps.

 

Doesn't the back of the head unit have 8 wires one positive one negative for each of the wires shown? Which ones do I connect to? Same for the amp.

 

Correct. There will be 8 wires in the back of the head unit. The drawing above shows them paired up.

I do not recall the color designation. I used a DMM to figure out which wires went to which speaker.

 

N4S,

I am thinking that you may be better off going to a pro to have this done. But if you are sure you want to tackle this yourself, we will do our best to help.

 

Here you are sir. Attached are the wiring schematics from the 2005 field manual.

 

Yes, I Know the back of the unit has 8 wires I need to wire into plus a remote. But If I do it like the picture you did for me, wouldn't I need 16 wires total to wire up everything (8 to amp input and 8 from amp output)? Yeah, I really want to hook everything up myself and I think I can do it with your help. Thanks.

 

Here's where I think the confusion lies....

Yes, you will need 16 conductors total. Most speaker wire is paired. Like in the drawing I posted. That's why I said you need to make eight runs.

now if you are not using paired speaker cabling to make your runs from the dash to the trunk, yes you will need to make 16 runs of wire.