SOOOOOOOOO close..........

brettw22

OK.......so Joel came up yesterday to help with the installation of the new 1/0 gauge (I'm not calling it alt or ought gauge), and sub amps and it's almost all the way done.

I don't have a garage so I ended up getting a U-Haul 13'x25' storage unit for free (first month free) to do the install in. The only problem with that was that there is no light in them and they're cold as hell (apparently the 40 degree weather report was slightly off, since it was snowing like a bizatch).

Joel opened up the side panels to find that Tweeter had ran my 4 channel interconnects to my 400.4 alongside the power wire and speaker wires. There were times when I'd hear a humming in my system and just never had the time to take it over to Tweeter to figure it out.......So Joel basically ended up pulling those out and running the 4 channel along with the sub interconnect on the right side of the car. After doing that and getting the 1 gauge re-wired under the hood, he got that all up and running so the 4 channel was wired and finished.

I was planning on having the amps mounted under the front seats because there's no room to mount them on the backseat (angled and a pass through in the middle of it). When we got to playing around with different options, the best spot was to put them on the opposite side of the trunk as the 400.4 (which unfortunately covers up the car's jack and removes the jack hardware at the bottom of that portion of the trunk. Basically I just need to get some sort of bag to put the jack supplies in and find a place for that (maybe near the spare, but where everything is covered so it won't be rattled to death with the subs.

Because I hadn't planned on them going in the trunk, I didn't have a panel prepped to mount them to so Joel got just about all of the cables run for me. Over the next few days (when I'm not dealing with packing/cleaning for a move on Thursday), I've got to get some o-ring clamps and make the ground wires, build/carpet/mount the panel, run the remote turn on wires, and then get the amps mounted/connected.

Seeing what all was involved with the wiring takes a bit of the fright out of it for next time, but then again I don't know how I'd manage with the wiring harnesses. Other than that, I could see myself doing this on another car.....

MUCH THANKS to Joel for making the trip out here to help me with this. Once I have the subs up and running, I'll be beyond thrilled, trust.

Oh......one thing that I thought about installing was a switch to manually shut off the sub amps like if I'm driving through the neighborhood..........rather than going through the HU to turn the sub's off, do y'all have any experience with any good switches that I could just throw that as a quick option? I'd just have to wire it inline on the remote on wire between the 400.4 and the 2 500.1's........(something I feel I could actually do)....

Thanks again Joel, and I'll take pics of everything installed once it stops snowing.......(the movers are gonna be pissed loading my stuff up in the snow.........all I can say is THANK GOD IT'S NOT ME........LOL.......

exalted512

Sounds like you had quite a job set out for you.

As far as switches go, any cheap 2 position switch will work. Do you have two remote wires going back? If not, youll have to run another to go to your sub amp or else youll cut out your components as well.
-Cody

brettw22

I was just going to daisy cable from 400.4 amp to the first 500.1, then from that one to the second 500.1..........

If I was going to add in the switch, i was going to put that between the 400.4 and the first 500.1 (obviously by way of the console).

Joelsbass

Brett, any auto parts store will have switches that will work, everything from a basic toggle to one with a colored LED light. all of them will require you to drill a panel though...

and i still hold to my original position that you can just turn the volume down when you want it quieter

brettw22

Oh.......I forgot to mention........When I was given the immense responsibility of "hold(ing) this wire," I took that to mean "try welding your power cable to your battery binding post".........can't blame me if they sounded one and the same.........lol

Joelsbass

that was great LMAO, sparks flew, and the metal connector for the fuse holder was a little melted!!

audiobliss

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!

I think now I have found sig-worth material from Brett!

audiobliss

:rolleyes:

MacLeod

brettw22 wrote:

Oh.......I forgot to mention........When I was given the immense responsibility of "hold(ing) this wire," I took that to mean "try welding your power cable to your battery binding post".........can't blame me if they sounded one and the same.........lol

Youre just lucky he didnt whack you over the head with his Maglite!

audiobliss

MacLeod wrote:

Youre just lucky he didnt whack you over the head with his Maglite!

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!

Just watch out if he wants to take a walk through the woods!

Joelsbass

MacLeod wrote:

Youre just lucky he didnt whack you over the head with his Maglite!

couldn't, I left my maglite in my car when we went to the storage place to do the install...

Jstas

Dude, for switches, try RadioShack. They have some nicer, more finished switches that are smaller and easier to hide. Also, most of thier switches are rated up to 24 volt DC so you won't blow them out. Just stick it on the remote turn on lead for the amp and mount it where you want to. I had mine mounted inside the center console arm rest in my Thunderbird. In the Ranger, the amp was hidden inside a box and the switch was on top of the box right where I could reach it just swinging my arm over the seat. The Lightning doesn't have anything like that because I didn't go with the big boom. It's hard to hear it outside the truck unless I am REALLY pushing it hard.

Joelsbass

I'm thinkin I got a pretty decent deal outa the install. Brett gave me his RTi38's for the work and I was thinking about putting them as my surrounds till I pulled them from the box and saw that they were about the same size as my fronts (my other ones were a little taller but the polks are deeper and wider) and looked to be of higher quality components.

So i decided to A-B them and tossed in A Perfect Circle's 'The thirteenth step' and lo and behold the polks blew my onkyo speakers outa the water (like i was at all surprised). honestly the main reason i had pictured using the 38's as my surrounds was that i had gotten the impression that they were smaller than they turned out to be... I am definately very happy with these... now i just need to pick up some new surrounds from polk

wow, the track just switched and for a second i thought I had left my sub on... so much more low end on these it's not even funny!!! louder too (at same power and volume) kinda surprised by that since my onkyo's dual 4" drivers have more surface area than the polks 6" driver... the polks have a larger tweeter and are DEFINATELY sturdier (the smaller cabinet weighs more???)

Dangit, now I've got the upgrade itch again.... grr.... see whatcha did brett?

brettw22

Payback's a ****..... :P

I have no idea if I'm going to have any time to get the panel cut and done before I have to cut outta town......it shouldn't be too difficult, but trying to find time is what I'm battling........

bchivers

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audiobliss

bchivers wrote:

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And so you're just racking up your post count, eh?