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**user1101** · 06-30-2004, 06:26 PM

more sticky goodness. maybe we should combine these posts into one thread? what do you think moderator?

**96firebird311** · 07-07-2004, 12:58 AM

Originally posted by user1101:
more sticky goodness. maybe we should combine these posts into one thread? what do you think moderator?

All over the sticky. I'm gonna wait for one more feature worthy thread before I combine them all together. ;)

[ July 07, 2004, 02:07 AM: Message edited by: 96firebird311 ]

**CAMAROWIDBASS** · 07-07-2004, 01:07 AM

Installing Amps: Power wiring only

Supplies needed:
heavy power wire
light (20ga or heavier) remote turn-on wire
ring or fork connectors to fit each size wire
fuse holder and fuse
heat shrink tubing or electrical tape
plastic wire ties
rubber grommet
sandpaper
self-tapping sheet metal screw (approx #8 x 3/4")
grease or silicone sealer
appropriate crimping tools
optional:
heavy soldering iron or torch and solder

The first step to hooking up the power to your amp is to figure out where you're going to put the amp. Find a path from the battery to the amp that you can fish your wire through; this may be through the firewall, under the car, over the headliner, through the fenders, etc. Measure the distance that your wire will have to run and add a couple feet. It's very maddening when you carefully run your wire through all the holes under the dash, take up your carpet and door trims, then find out you're a foot short, so plan ahead and add extra, then add 3 to 4 feet extra to make your ground wires.

Buy a fuse holder that will handle the size of wire you've chosen and a fuse large enough to handle everything hooked to your power wire. You can get such a fuse and holder at local stereo shops, Best Buy, Circuit City, Radio Shack, etc. (editor's note: The Radio Shack one is identical to the RF one, except for the logo, but only about a third the cost.) This main fuse *MUST* be placed as close as practical to the battery, usually less than 12-18" away, to keep the car from catching on fire if the power wire shorts out or is overloaded. If your amp doesn't have a fuse built in, also get another fuse and holder sized for your amp's expected current draw, to be placed close to the amp.

To hook the wire to the battery and the ground to the body, you will need either ring or fork type connectors large enough to handle your heavy power wire. You may also need a similar connector to fit your amp's power terminals if your amp won't accept bare wire.

You're now ready to begin wiring.

Cut a piece of wire long enough to go from the positive battery terminal to where you're going to mount your main fuse holder. Crimp or solder a ring or fork connector on one end that will fit the bolt on your battery terminal. Slip a piece of heat shrink tubing (red preferred) over the gap between the connector and wire and shrink it up tight. Slide one end cap from your fuse holder over the other end of the wire and fasten the fuse holder's contact to the wire. Make sure these connections are tight and neat without any stray pieces of wire hanging out because this short, heavy piece of wire will not be fused.

Mount your fuse holder and install the short piece of wire between the battery and fuse holder. DO NOT INSTALL THE FUSE YET! The fuse will be the last thing installed at the end.

Slip the other end cap from the fuse holder over one end of the remaining heavy wire and connect the other fuse holder's contact to the wire. Screw this to your fuse holder just to keep it in place, leaving a couple inches of slack, and start running the power wire to your amp. Wherever your power wire goes through a piece of metal (i.e. the firewall), it should be surrounded by a rubber boot or grommet to keep the sharp metal edges from wearing through the insulation. Tie the wire out of the way as needed to keep it away from hot, sharp, or moving parts or wherever it might get pinched or stepped on.

When you get the wire to where the amp is going to be, cut it to length and install the appropriate connector to fit your amp. If your amp doesn't have a fuse built-in, add one shortly before the amp's power connection to protect the amp in case of an overload.

Find a nearby place, within about two feet of the amp, to attach a ground wire the same size as your power wire to a solid piece of metal on the car's body or frame. Crimp or solder a connector to the wire that will fit your amp. Cut the wire long enough to reach your chosen grounding point and attach a ring or fork connector to make the connection with. If you are using an existing bolt, remove it. Sand the connection point until you have about a nickel-sized patch of shiny bare metal. Bolt the ground wire securely to the shiny spot with either the existing bolt or a self-tapping sheet metal screw. Spread some grease or silicone sealer over the connection to help prevent rust.

Now that you have a power and ground wire to your amp you're done, right? Not quite. You need to make one more wire to go from the battery ground terminal to the body. This oft-forgotten wire should be at least as large as your amp's power wire, if not larger, because it will carry all the current for your amp AND your car's electrical system. Most new cars come with only a 6 or 8ga wire here. Such a small wire obviously won't carry the current that an 0, 2, or 4ga wire is trying to deliver to your amp, let alone the additional load from your car. This wire should be as short as practical and made with clean, solid connections. Sand the body and bolt the wire down securely just like the ground wire you made for the amp. Coat the connections to prevent rust and you're done with this part of the install.

Next, run the remote turn-on wire from your head unit to the amp and use appropriate connectors to make the connection. If you are running more than one or two amps, or if you have more accessories
Double-check all your connections: power and ground at the battery, both sides of the fuse holder, power, ground, and remote turn-on at the amp, ground wire from the amp to the body, ground wire from the battery to the body, and remote wire at the head unit. If everything is safe and secure, NOW you may install the fuse under the hood and turn your amp on knowing that you've done the job yourself and done it right.

**CAMAROWIDBASS** · 07-07-2004, 02:32 AM

Type D amplifier? Confused on what this means?

Class A, Class AB, Class D? Class T? Tube-type? Too confusing? Gotcha!

In most cases, you are probably not going to want to own a Class A amplifier anymore, and especially a Tube-typed. Tubes are much higher in distortion, and squelch the top & bottom frequencies from your music. Class As are very, very clean, but to the human ear, an AB or Class T is clean enough and much more efficient.

Efficiencies?

All amps are very efficient when driven to 100% THD (fully clipped). However, what is important is how efficient they are at normal RMS ratings. Class Ds & Ts are generally 70% efficient, ABs 50%, and A & Tube 33%. Basically, you'd probably want Class D or T on subwoofers--even though you can use Class Ts for full range.

Class D vs Class T?

Which ever one most affordable and reliable. Right now, there are only a couple of manufactures making the Class T—which is basically a Class D, with the Tripath Technologies &#174 chip.

Can you hear the difference between Class A, A/B & Class D on subwoofers? No

How Much to Spend on amplifiers?

Rule of Thumb: A Buck A Watt

**user1101** · 07-20-2004, 10:40 PM

I don't mean to be pedantic, but class A, B, AB, C, and D are generic recognized modes of operation for an amplififying circuit, whereas "class T" is just a trademark of Tripath - a company. Even though the company submitted the occasional whitepaper to IEEE and Spectrum, it's not a generic amplifier class--it's a patented circuit technology.

In other words, amplifier manufacturers must pay to license the "Class T" chip from Tripath, whereas any electrical engineer can design a class A/B/AB/C/D amplifying circuit.

/nitpicky

**CAMAROWIDBASS** · 07-23-2004, 06:26 PM

BASS BOOST:

Bass boost is like having a 30 band eq with everything set flat on the center, then turning up just the one knob centered at a certain freq, usually around 35-45 Hz. This can be good or bad, depending on the particular situation and how much it's used.

If your box or vehicle response drops off above the boost freq, i.e. at 50 Hz, you can use the boost to compensate for the drop and get more low end extension and better overall response... this is good.

If your vehicle and/or box response peaks near the boost freq and you're going for spl the boost can help... again, good. But... if your vehicle and/or box peaks near the boost freq and you're going for sq and a flat response the boost will only make the peak worse... this is bad.

Unfortunately, most people see the term "bass boost" and crank it all the way up figuring it will give them more power and more bass overall... this is wrong. Talnlnky had it right when he said "you don't need [the boost] to reach the full output of the amp, infact if you do use it you are much more likely to send the amp into clipping" because it's usually turned up too much... and clipping isn't good for the speakers or the sound quality.

Real life example... My amp has up to 18dB of bass boost, centered at 40 Hz and is capable of hitting max excursion on my speakers without it. My car's peak response is somewhere around 45-55 Hz. My ported box is tuned at 40 Hz to give me the flattest response possible. My speakers have an Fs of 44Hz.

I shouldn't use the bass boost because it's centered at the same freq as my box, which means it boosts some freqs above AND SOME BELOW the port freq. Below the port freq, a ported box offers little resistance and the speaker's excursion goes way up. Since my amp can already drive the speakers to their limits, if I were to boost anything below the port freq I risk blowing my speakers. While I *might* be able to get away with 1 or 2 dB of boost because it's below the speaker's Fs, if I cranked in 6-12dB (heavens forbid the full 18!) I'd probably trash my speakers in no time.

I want high sound quality with the flattest response possible. Since my car peaks around 45-55Hz, relatively close to my port freq, I actually have to cut the bass on my hu to get a balanced sound and keep my car from sounding boomy. Using the bass boost on my amp would counteract my bass cut at the hu and make my car boom too much for the sound I want.

The term "bass boost" is a marketing gimmick but the function it serves can be good or bad, depending on how and why it's used.

**CAMAROWIDBASS** · 08-14-2004, 11:26 AM

WHAT DOES THE ALTERNATOR DO?

A new alternator is not always needed. However, beefing up the existing one is always an option. Simple things like a beefier voltage regulator and a larger field coil or armature will help a lot and are pretty cost effective as well. The good news is, GM and Ford etc., makes several high output alts for the many of their common line engines.

You have say 105 amperes right now. Add up all the fuses in the electrical system will tell you how much reserve amperage you have available for the amps. You can find this detail in the owners manual.

The primary system: lights, EFI, blower fan, , rear window defogger, onboard computers (ECM,BCM, SIR & ABS) systems are of most concern. Secondary circuits: Power windows, doors locks, wipers, mirrors, seats, cigarette lighter and the like are only used periodically.

In any event, press on w/ the present install plans and see what happens to the primary system circuits. If your lights dim, blower or wipers seem a bit slow, it may be a candidate for a bigger alternator. Just make sure you have adequate power feed wires and grounds to supply the new amp. If the wiring is marginal, you can have the same problems, but not really an alternator issue. Just high resistance through the main feed lines or ground. In this case, dropping to the next power feed size, may solve the problems noted above.

Using #4 gauge power and ground wires is usually a safe bet for all but the huge systems used in SPL and DB DRAGS. If you plan on doing this, some research, is definitely recommended.

**CAMAROWIDBASS** · 08-25-2004, 04:27 PM

To do any fiberglassing I'll warn you, its gonna take some time: Tools you'll need:
Fiberglass Mat
Fiberglass Resin
Fiberglass Cloth (i just used an old cut-up t-shirt)
Lightweight Body-filler
some dishwashing gloves
some extra cheap paintbrushes
some extra MDF
and a big area to work

FOR AN ALL FIBERGLASS ENCLOSURE

1. First off, decide where your gonna do your enclosure and how big its gonna be and all. Once this is decided, cover the entire (your whole trunk i'm presuming) in plastic and masking tape to seal everything off. Because if you spill resin on anything it will NOT, I repeat, WILL NOT come off!!!

2. Once you have everything covered, lay down a layer of fiberglass matting, slather in the fiberglass resin, mixed with some hardener in the general area of your box and make sure to go a little larger, then you can just trim off the extra. Let dry overnight.

3. Once that is dry, decide on the placement of your speakers and use the MDF and make 2 mounting rings for each sub and supports for the rings to hold the speaker at the angle and position you have decided to use. Hot glue the supports and one ring for each sub into place and let dry.

4. Now you should be able to pull out what you have done so far because it will be a lot easier to work with. Add more layers of glass with the resin/hardener mixture to the "tub" so far to build it up to about 3/8th's of an inch thick. Let dry.

5. Now, stretch the fiberglass cloth over what you have for the enclosure and make sure it is VERY TIGHT. Then place your 2nd set of mounting rings on the exact top of the 1st set and staple down.

6. Now its time for more glassing. Mix up another batch of resin and hardener and start laying down more mixture, and slather it around the OUTSIDE of the mounting rings, again, build it up to about 3/8" and let dry.

7. Once that has all dried, mix up a batch of bodyfiller and hardener and apply it to the fiberglass and try to spread it out the best you can. Let dry several hours, if not overnight and sand lightly until almost smooth. Then, proceed to keep adding layers of bodyfiller/hardener until it is very smooth.
8. Now, it is time to prime the body filler and then paint to your liking.

FOR AN ENCLOSURE WITH JUST A FIBERGLASS FRONT

1. Again, decide where your gonna put your box, and build a basic mockup of the box out of MDF (top, bottom, back and sides) and pull out what you have currently built and just proceed to build that part like any other box.

2. From here on out, continue with step #3 above...by placing the speakers and then adding the cloth, fiberglassing, etc.

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Amp features and terms/ FiberGlass how to

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