I need to ask some help fromom you lovely people, In about an hours time I'm fitting a soundsystem (front speakers, 6x9s, amplifier and a subwoofer) into my mates mk3 coupe, along with sorting out the mashed stereo wiring loom!

Apart from fitting speakers and headunit into my mk3, I know not alot about car audio, and I've had a look at all the kit and I think I've worked out in my head how to connect it all up, but any supportive advice would be proper appretiated!

I mainly need to know about connecting the amp to the car battery, its a sony amp and on the side the only power connectors I can see are a port for GRD (earth I presume?) and a port marked 12v. Dmake a mistake can any major harm come from it?oesnt power need two connections, live and neutral? Or can I connect wores from the positive and negative terminals on the battery onto one port on the amp?

Also, does the wiring need an inline fuse? and if so what rating?

Most importantly, although I've got a good mind working out technical shizz like this, I'm still an amature, installing the subwoofer and amp from the car battery is that a good idea regarding my lack of experiance? If I make a mistake can any major harm come form it?

Cheers guys, please post up and help you can provide!!

I done mine not too long back and i had never done anything like it before!

Wire the 12v on the amp to the negative terminal on the battery.

Wire the earth/ground on the amp to the a metal bolt somewhere in the boot.

If theres a remote terminal on the amp, wire that to the back of the headunit... cant remember the colour of the wire??

Make sure theres an appropiate fuse between the battery and the amp.

And I'm sure youl figure out the headunit to the amp, and the amp to the sub...

:)

Any questions just drop me a PM or i should get reply notifications to my phone :)

And theres this

http://www.clubpolo.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=86211

GRD is earth - connect this to bare metal somewhere on the chassis or in the boot.

12v will be positive from the battery. Run as low a guage wire as possible (4AWG is thicker than 8AWG) so 4AWG would be better.

My Fusion 800w amp has a 70A inline fuse and it is recommended to have one. i can't say what rating tho without knowing the wattage of the amp and what it will be powering.

i accidentally wired my amp backwards Positive into GRD and GRD into positive and there was a loud BANG and some nice sparks as i touched the cables to the amp, i then realised my mistake and swapped the wires round and it was fine. i'm not saying that this WILL be the case for you, i'm saying that mine was ok but yours might not be.

there should also be a connection for the Remote wire which turns the amp on at the same time as the head unit

Remote is blue usually

"Wire the 12v on the amp to the negative terminal on the battery."

NO! NO! NO!!!

12v is positive, GRD is Negative, never wire positive to negative directly!

Haha i was typing that and thinking IS THIS RIGHT???

Sorry RK... I told you i was an amatuer... :p

you should be alright anyway lad.

I've ran 4 gauge wire for the power cos I've got 2 alpine subs and a massive amp... the wire was a pain in the rear to get through the rubber gromet!

there will be a blade fuse in the amp (or two)

basically thats the fuse you'll need inline

so if theres a 30A fuse use a 30

if theres two 30A fuses use a 60

Wicked guys :) so 12v goes to the posative terminal on the battery, and nothing goes to the negative terminal?

Among the stuff that came in the boot of the car we brought yesturday is a perspex casing with two big fuses in it. There is one conection going in and two coming out (or vice versa) is this any good/use? I'm not sure though if it might be part of the power invertor that we got with the car (we can worry about fitting that later!!

Mine had 3x 25A and got a 70A inline fuse?

i've now downgraded by blade fuses to 3x10A as that's all i need and it still works fine even with only 1 fuse in!

sounds like a fused distribution block. for when you want to use the same power wire to go to two different amps etc.

nope nothing goes to the negative terminal. in effect all the metal in the car is the negative terminal so its just easier to wire the negative straight to a bolt in the car. sand it down first if its painted to get a better connection..

Wicked guys :) so 12v goes to the posative terminal on the battery, and nothing goes to the negative terminal?

Among the stuff that came in the boot of the car we brought yesturday is a perspex casing with two big fuses in it. There is one conection going in and two coming out (or vice versa) is this any good/use? I'm not sure though if it might be part of the power invertor that we got with the car (we can worry about fitting that later!!

Nothing goes TO the negative FROM the battery but a wire MUST come OUT of it onto the chassis of the car

as for the "Perspex casing with 2 big fuses in it!" that will probably be a distribution block for connecting 2 amps to 1 power cable

Mine had 3x 25A and got a 70A inline fuse?

i've now downgraded by blade fuses to 3x10A as that's all i need and it still works fine even with only 1 fuse in!

fair enough! I'm just going by what I've been told in the past

ok, i wasn't trying to disprove your statement, i was just stating what i currently have.

Wire the 12v on the amp to the negative terminal on the battery.

Wire the earth/ground on the amp to the a metal bolt somewhere in the boot.

you won't get much happening by wiring both connectors to -ve!

wire your +ve battery terminal to the +ve or 12v terminal on your amp. make sure to use an inline fuse suitable for the power draw of your amp. make sure you use a grommet wherever this power lead passes through sheet metal (engine room bulkhead etc). leave the power lead disconnected (or the inline fuse removed) until you've finished the job.

wire the -ve terminal on your amp to a piece of clean shiny metal in the boot with a nice clean bolt.

the blue wire from your head unit is the remote wire for the amp (it will prob be labelled REM on your amp). this ensures that the amp only powers up when your H/U is on.

your signal comes from the RCA outputs of your H/U (sometimes referred to as the pre-outs) to the signal inputs of your amp.

use decent quality speaker wire and gold plated spade connectors to take the output signal from the amp to your speakers. preferably route the speaker wires down the opposite side of the car to the power wire.

ditch the 6x9s!

hope this helps

mack

ah - too slow on my typing. oh well

it's a really helpful guide until you say "Ditch the 6x9's"

6x9's share the same air space as the sub, we know this... i have mine on the High Pass setting to compensate for the mountain of bass from the sub so it still sounds good. whereas without the 6x9's there would be a mountain of bass and nothing else!

ok, i wasn't trying to disprove your statement, i was just stating what i currently have.

yeah i no either was i

it's a really helpful guide until you say "Ditch the 6x9's"

6x9's share the same air space as the sub, we know this... i have mine on the High Pass setting to compensate for the mountain of bass from the sub so it still sounds good. whereas without the 6x9's there would be a mountain of bass and nothing else!

where are your front speakers?

personally i'd never run rear speakers as i so rarely have rear passengers it's not worth sacrificing my enjoyment in the front.

when you go and see a band, where does the music come from - in front of you or all around? why muddle the soundstage with rear fill?

Oh god, this is going to start the 6x9 argument isnt it :p

Bottom line is... the thread starter is feeling comfortable with taking on the sub and amp install :)

theres my good deed done for the day! lol

oh and 6x9s cut into a flimsy standard parcel shelf are the worst of all :(

Haha thanks Dan!!

Just to clarify, MY mk3 has no more that a couple of 3.5" alpine speakers in the orignal dash position

However, my mate Jons mk3 what we brought yesturday, came free with a cut up parcel shelf and a whole boot full of goodys to play with- why wouldnt we wanna play with all that?! :p

Go with what your happy with bud, if the parcel shelfs already cut up then go for it. (Until you can buy an uncut one) haha.

I personally dont like 6x9s in the parcel shelf as it looks really chavvy... a friend of mine bought 6x9 carpeted MDF boxes and put them in the rear footwells...

Sounded really good and there out of display for pikeys to five finger discount them.

Anyone else done this?

if you're set on using the rear speakers then you'd do well to make an mdf shelf as the standard parcel shelf isn't stiff enough to cope with either the weight or the movement of the speakers. the more your shelf vibrates, the more sound energy you are losing beofre it gets to you ears.

Isnt someone on here making them stealth shelfs?

for me, my 6x9's "Complement" my sub so i've got plenty of bass and i can still hear the lyrics. also, having a cut-up parcel shelf would help the bass reach your ears faster as the air has somewhere to go? surely?