Rymin929

And you want to comment on grammar? :pat: "sentance"

Bumpin' Yota

im teasing you bro...lol hence the "" sheesh so damn defensive

Rymin929

I know, I just wanted to play too...

Bumpin' Yota

hehehehehehe ok I'll join you banging heads. lol

hmmm ive got progressively wierder/hyper as the night wears on, perhaps I should get some sleep....lol

Del

OK I've got good quality wires running through everything. What kind of alternator would you recommend? I've heard the 90-94 MR2 has a 140 amp alt., would that be enough, because my lights are dimming big time

Jeff_M

My biggest reservation in buying an amplifier is the install part. But everyone I've talked to is just so damn insistent that I don't run the Focals off of the Nakamichi head unit. So I broke down and bought a PPI PCX-440 over the internet today. Based on the dimensions under my front drivers seat, it should fit with some room to spare. Does anyone know a link to a good amplifier installation tutorial? I need to figure out what I need apart from the amp (RCA's, speaker wire etc.). It seems like it's going to be an awfully large amount of wires. Do they all go underneath the plastic foot paneling along the doors? What originally seemed like a plug and play installation is beginning to sound a bit scary.

Andrey

Jeff,

Don't worry, installing amp is not difficult at all.

Here are the wires you'll need to run:
1. 8 gauge power wire from battery to the amp (usually red)
2. 8 gauge ground wire from amp to the body of the car (usually black)
3. Pair of RCA wires from the head unit to the amp
4. Set of 4 pairs of speaker wires from the head unit wiring harness to the amp.\
5. Blue power wire from the head unit to the amp (on/off)

And that's all! In a nutshell, you connect RCA wires from the head unit to the amp and connect speakers directly the amp. On top of that, there are just a few more wires for amp to work.

Most amps come with wiring diagram, and where to place all the wires is really up to you. I personally ran all wires under the carpet, so nobody besides me even knows that they're there.

Just plan ahead on what you want to do and you'll be fine

-- Andrey

Jeff_M

Sounds good except I'm confused by this part:

4. Set of 4 pairs of speaker wires from the head unit wiring harness to the amp.\

If the RCA's are going from the head unit to the amp and the speaker wires are goinf from the amp to the speakers, why do i need to run speaker wires between the head unit wiring harness and the amp?

Also... what about fuse boxes and capacitors? Or are those only for people running multiple subwoofer, SPL intensive systems?

Andrey

Wires from speakers already run to the head unit. These are the factory wires. Instead of runing more mess with the wires, I just connected factory wires which are at the head unit to the amp. And these are just for pairs which run from factory wiring harness to the amp. Does that make sense?

As far as capacitors, you wont' really need those. You system will sound perfectly fine without those. For fuses you'll just need one 40A fuse which you should implement somewhere in the power wire which runs from the battery to the amp. Other fuses are already on the amp.

Also, you can buy the entire wire kit at BestBuy or CircuitCity for $35 or so. It will include power wire, ground wire, speaker wires and fuses, everythign in one package

-- Andrey

Andrey

Also, just in case you'd want someone else to do all the work, the professional installation runs about $60 or so plus wires. These option might save you a lot of frustration and headaches, while achieving the same result.

-- andrey

Jeff_M

OK, I understand now what you mean about sending the speaker wires from the amp to the receiver wiring harness. That way you don't have to worry about snaking wires. This brings me back to the issue of the factory amp... if i wire into the receivers wiring harness, the signal gets passed to the factory amp before it goes to the factory speaker wiring. Isn't it pointless for me to spend big $$$ on a PPI amp if the crappy factory amp is simply going to take this high level signal and amplify it itself? It seems to me that the only way to circumvent this occurence is to send speaker wires directly from the amp to the speakers.

Andrey

You will need to bypass the factory amp. Don't even unscrew it, just diconnect it and leave the everything else in its place in case you'll decide to sell your car several years down the road.

There are 8 wires that go in the factory amp (a pairs for each speaker), so just connect your speakers wires to those factory wires. You'll have a very clean look and no need to take half of your car apart just to run some wires

-- Andrey

Jeff_M

I see! Will this require cutting into the factory wires? How are they hooked into the factory amp output?

Andrey

Jeff,

On my '01 4Runner those wires were connected to the special connector, and that connector was plugged in the amp.

In your situation, you can just cut the whole thing and connect wires individually (just makes sure you'll mark which one is which one, hehe), and that is the easiest way if you're not planning on connecting factory amp back.

Second option is to buy the special connectors at HomeDepot ($2.95 for a set of 20) which will let you connect wires without cutting anything. It is definitely more work, things wont' look as nice, but if you'll ever decide to get rid or your amp or something, it will be just a piece of cake connecting everythign back.

-- Andrey

Jeff_M

I've heard that you shoud avoid running power cables close to rca's/speaker wire. With the amp under the drivers seat, I will have to run the rca's and speaker wire along the drivers side. Does this mean I'll have to run the power and remote turn-on along the passenger side and then across the middle of the car to the drivers seat? I hope I can do this cleanly. Also, what is the point of adding a fuse to the power line if the amp has its own fuse?

Andrey

Jeff, you're correct about running RCA wires along with power wires.

I have run power wire across the left side, right below that door molding. My blue remote turn on wire, speaker wires and RCA wires run below the center console.

Point of adding fuse to the power line is to prevent amp from burning or melting. Your car's battery might mulfunction for one reason or another, and it will burn this fuse first before burning the wire which is inside of your car. You don't really have to put a fuse if you don't want to, but I would rather change a fuse on the wire in the hood comparment than taking off my entire seat to get access to the amp's fuse or to have my brand new 4Runner on fire.

-- Andrey

Jeff_M

You guys have all been a great help so far, especially Andrey!

I ordered a Phoenix Gold Amp kit this afternoon. I already have my RCA's and speaker cable. Can you take a look at this kit and tell me if I need anything else? I know the amp has a 50amp fuse. The kit says it has a 30amp fuse. What do I do about this?

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd..._ID=6312&DID=7

Andrey

That kit is just perfect for what you'll need and exactly the one which I was talking about. It has all the wires, all the connectors, all the plugs, everything! And the price is even cheaper than if you would buy those parts separately

You also should be just fine with 30A fuse, since if you'll need more current than that, than there is a problem somewhere in your wiring or something isn't grounded correctly.

-- Andrey

Jeff_M

Well I received the PPI PCX-440 amp and Phoenix Gold install kit yesterday so I'm good to go for tommorow's install! I'd like to thank everyone, especially Andrey, for their helpful advice. I carefully measured the length and width under my front seat and chose the PPI amp based on size/power/price considerations. Unfortunately when I went to place the amp under the seat to get a feel for how I'd install it I realized I made a big error... the height of the amp is too big! I can get it to fit under my seat, but I can no longer move my power seat backwards. I'm not the tallest guy, so this is fine, but I hate giving up the ability to move the seat, and god forbid one of my tall friends tries to move the seat back and fries the power seat mechanism! I'll have to do some more measurements when I get home. I have yet another install question so bear with me...

I'm planning on using all 4 channels of the PPI amp to run the Focal component speakers in the front door. Each channel allows you to run a high and a low pass crossover. It's been somewhat tough to get the Focal component crossover to fit behind the door panel. Can I each driver directly to it's crossovered amp channel and ditch the Focal crossovers? How will this affect the sound?

Andrey

Jeff,

I'm not sure why your amp wont' fit under the seat. My PhoenixGold Octane-R 5.0:4 amplifier is pretty much the same in size (13.75L x 10.875W x 2.25H) as your PPI PCX-440 (13.75L x 10W x 2.375H) and I still have plenty of room to spare. Most likely after you'll screw the amplifier to the floor, you will have absolutely no problems moving seat back and forward.

As far as bypassing crossovers, I personally wouldn't recommend that. This way you totally defeat the purpose of tweeters and your sound will be distorted. Also, if focals dont' fit behind the door plastic (the one which holds the speaker) or on the bottom of the door (the place where glass stops, behind the metal part), you can always use some other smaller crossovers. As a matter of fact, I even have two extra Pioneer Premier crossovers which I can't use after my speaker blew out. They're about 6 months old and they were perfect fit in my 2001 4Runner front doors. If you want them, let me know and we can arrange something.

-- Andrey