Hi there, as a Dodge enthusiast and owner i have been browsing these forums for quite some time and just never got around to creating an account till today, so great forums and keep it up.

Let me start off by saying i am not by any means car illiterate i have had schooling in auto mechanics and work in auto parts now... its just car audio is out of my range of experience....



Ok heres the deal with the stereo set up i have right now in my truck(100% after market btw) at loud volumes i have some pretty bad bass distortion coming out of my speakers, it only happens to the bass and well it doesnt sound bad, but it doesnt sound like a good bass system should right. so now let me get on with my specs and questions

Ok my deck is a

Panasonic CQ-C3305U 50 watt four channel head

My front speakers (which i absolutely love)

Pioneer TSA 6971R 300 watt 6x9 inch three ways


300 watt 3 way speakers which have such an amazing sound and potential i just really hate how they get distorted at high volumes o n some songs

and my rear speakers are

Polk DB 521 they are 5 1/4 inch 135 watt speakers

now that we know all that we get into my questions...

i was given a 300 watt amp by my buddy the amp is a Pioneer GM- 3300 t 2 channel amp

decent amp 300 watts aint great but ya know, im not hooking subs up to it. im getting a 900 watter for that


according to the guy at the local car audio store this amp is more for subs but will easily power my speakers, the wiring kit is gonna run me about sixty bucks. now i had a couple questions


1) anyone know a good walk through on how to do this before i jump in?

2) if i hook up this amp and later buy a sub with a four channel amp, will running two amps drain my battery?

3) will mounting the amp under my drivers side seat on the vinyl floor cause to much heat for the vinyl to handle?

im sure i will think of more questions as i go but thats it for now lol


thanks in advance

 

I can't answer the question on putting the amp under the drivers seat as I haven't done it.

For the 4 channel amp plus a 1channel sub amp it shouldn't drain your battery. I haven't had any issues. I mean I'm sure it will faster if you listen to it with the truck off. If you are planning to run 2 amps I'd run at least a 4 gauge power wire back if not 2 gauge then use a distribution block to split it for the amps. That's how I do it. I run a 4 channel 70w x4 Alpine amp for the speakers and a 500wattx1 Alpine amp for the subs. When you are naming off the wattages there I'm assuming you are saying peak power as that sounds awfully high. Peak power is basically useless when comparing stuff you want to match up the RMS which is the continuous power.


As for a walk through it's not that hard. Just find a nice spot in the firewall to either run the wire through or a spot to make a hole to run it through. Make sure you keep the power wire and the rca cables on opposite sides of the truck so they don't interfere with each other. If you have any other questions I can try to answer them if you have something specific.

 

I woudn't think the heat from an amp would be that hot to hurt the vinyl, but you you could always mount it off the floor a bit... think of it as a body lift for your amp. Just get a few spacers and go to town...

You might want to double check your 300W amp and make sure it's frequency response is 20-20K (or so). If it was intended for subs only... it might have a very much limited frequency response... like 20-1K.

Good luck,
Cartman

 

i put my amp under the drivers seat w/o any problems.
you can use the 2 channel amp now for your 4 speakers, and add the 2nd amp/sub later if you want to. you may find that you don't really need it. i've got a 2 channel/200 with 2 speakers in a regular cab and its more than enough...
https://dodgeforum.com/forum/audio-visual-electronics/102144-2nd-gen-ram-head-amp-6x9-speakers.html

 

I didn't think he was worried about it hurting the vinyl I thought he was asking if it would cause the amp to overheat. I was wrong. After I saw that I re read it. Sometimes you don't get enough air flow under the seats so cause the amp to run hot or overheat. That's the only thing I'd be worried about at all. It might be too hot for the vinyl but I wouldn't think so. Just watch it.

 

you guys are freaking amazing, i leave for two hours come back and i got answers to every question.



i saw one guy asking about the amp frequency, what is a good range to run speakers off? the guy at the audio store told me the amp would be good for running the speakers at about 85 watts each or so.


also someone said hook my 2 channel amp up to four speakers, i thought a two channel can only be hooked up to two?


thanks again.

 

i was under the impression that subwoofer amps amplified the lower frequencies only, but when i look at these specs, they are all the same. so i don't know what to make of that. example... Frequency Response 20Hz to 20kHz +/- 1.0dB

ideally, with 4 speakers, you'd want a 4 channel rca output head, and a 4 channel amp. but, if your head unit only had 2 rca ouputs, or you only had a 2 channel amp, you could run the 2 rca's (say fronts) through the amp. from the amp you could tie in left front/left rear, and right front/right rear. in this setup you wouldn't have front/rear fader control, but you'd have plenty of power and all 4 speakers would be amp'ed. i amp'ed my fronts and disconnected the factory rears.

look over in the audio section for the guys that post a lot over there. give em your $$ budget and ask for help. set your budget or else they'll have you buying all kinds of expensive crap... lol

beware, many manufacturers highly over-rate their amps and speakers, hiding behind "peak" vs "sustained". rockford is one that tends to be more truthful. sony and others are HIGHLY over-rated.
300-1
http://www.rockfordfosgate.com/produ...n_US&p_status=

300-2
http://www.rockfordfosgate.com/produ...n_US&p_status=

400-4
http://www.rockfordfosgate.com/produ...n_US&p_status=

 

Hook your 2 channel up to 2 speakers. If you hooked up more it would throw the ohms off. You could get another 2 channel amp for the other 2 speakers or just get a 4 channel amp like I did for all 4. Some companies also make like a 5 channel amp that is 4 channels for speakers and one big channel for a sub.

 

20 to 20K is what is considered the "norm" for what the human ear can hear. The low end (bass) is 20Hz, the high end (treble) is 20KHz.

If you want to have good reproduction of the music, you want something close to that range.

Sub amps sometimes have a limited frequency response kept more towards the bass region - say 20Hz - 1KHz or so. For example. look at this amp on crutchfield - http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Produ...158XM1S&tp=115.

It has a very narrow band width - so it would not be good for "main" audio speakers. It is also a mono amp... so that would be bad too.



There are lots of ways to do it... but you should check a few things out first...

First, determine the impedance of your speakers... Most car audio speakers (non-subs that is) are about 4 ohms.

Next, you need to determine if you amplifier is 2-ohm stable...

If you can confirm the above two items are true... then you should be able to hook up two 4ohm to same terminal. So... Right (front/back) to the right terminal and left (front/back) to the left terminal. This will configure them in parallel... and present a load of 2 ohms to your amp (that's why you need to verify it is 2-ohm stable. )

If you try to do that and you amp won't handle 2-ohms... it will stress it and it will eventually fail. Most modern amps I have seen seem to be capable of two ohm loads... but it doesn't hurt to verify.

Crutchfield also has a pretty good info to help you research electronics as well... You might want to try looking around here: http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Learn...x?g=120&tp=115.

No... I don't work for Crutchfield... they are a convenient place to look for information and help you compare various items.

Good Luck!
Cartman

 

thanks for all the info, im installing it tomorrow just my last question.... how should i route the power wire whats the best route in the dodge pickups to run it?