What do i need to know to hook up car amplifiers and subwoofers?

Question

i have bought a poineer amplifier that has a 1600 watt max output. its a 2 channel so im thinking it could be hooked up to 2 1000 watt poineer subwoofers without a problem. is there anything else i would need to know when hooking them up or could anyone tell me if i should return them and what the proper setup would be?

Answer 1

Ok, here's a couple of questions for you first. Are you powering ONLY the subs with your amp or, are you going to be powering other speakers also ?

Assuming that your objective is to power only your two subs, your best option would be to BRIDGE your amp to MONO ( I'll explain later ) and use another amp ( two channel ofr four channel ) to power your other speakers for the best "balance" of power.

First thing, install your amp where you want it and run sufficient guage wire ( at LEAST 10 or 8 guage wire, POSITIVE and GROUND, directly to your battery ) DO NOT SKIMP HERE, the better your power and ground is the more power your amp will have when it needs it for those bass hits. Also, use a GOOD inline fuse with sufficient rating for your amp ( available at any worthwhile mobile audio supply shop ). Next, unless your amp has a built-in crossover, get one and install it. ( Good location, good wiring are all that's important to note here and now. This is a "set and forget" device that filters unwanted signals from your receiver to your amp and subs, so your not wasting power to play mid-range and high-frequency signals through your subs which will also cause distortion. ) If your amp has a "REMOTE" terminal, wire this terminal to your receiver's "REMOTE" wire. Usually a blue wire, sometimes marked with a tag as: "REMOTE", "PWR ANT" or "ANT". If your car has a power antenna already hooked up to this wire, splice into it. All this is is a 12v. signal to turn on something when your receiver is turned on. Now, since your amp is wired to the battery, it will turn on and off with your receiver's POWER button.

Now, wire your subs. GOOD quality ( like MonsterCable ) speaker cable from the POSITIVE of one sub to the POSITIVE of the other, the same with the negative of each sub. This is called wiring your subs "in Parallel". Next, run your speaker cable from either sub to your amp. Connect the POSITIVE side of th ecable to the RIGHT / POSITIVE terminal of your amp, Connect the NEGATIVE side of the cable to the LEFT / NEGATIVE terminal of your amp ( the Right / Negative and Left / Positive terminals on your amp will have NO connections ). Your amp is now BRIDGED to MONO and each of your subs will now see 800 watts MAX. at the same time. If you had wired your subs in STEREO ( instead of MONO ) your subs would work independently depending on which channel a given bass note was mixed to during recording. Amps are usually rated at a certain Ohm rating also. Your amp may be rated 1600 watts @ 2 Ohms. If you wired your subs in STEREO your amp would see 4 Ohms and your available power would be less ( maybe 400 watts per channel / RMS or 1000 watts MAX ). At 2 Ohms however ( wired as I have explained, your amp would see 2 Ohms ) your amp would deliver say, 650 watts / RMS or 1600 watts MAX and each of your subs would see half of that during play ).

Now the crossover, If you are using a two-channel crossover for your subs, you will wire your receiver's speaker outs to the corresponding L and R inputs of your crossover. The same with the connections from your crossover to your amp input terminals. Now, your receiver is sending all played signals to your crossover and, you have to "filter" the unwanted signals out before they get to your amp. "High Pass" should be turned all the way back. You don't want ANY High Freq. signals going to your amp. "Low Pass" should be turned to say, 100 Hz or so ( this can be fine-tuned to suit your tastes later but, this is a good starting point ). Now, no signals over 100 Hz ( such as mid range and treble ) will be sent to your amp and subs.

Hope I didn't leave anything out. Contact me if you need more info and I'll try to help you through it. -- Good luck !

Answer 2

1st, you need to know what 'sub woofer' means. Do you? Regardless, it's the device ( speakers ) that reproduce the low frequencies of sound. When you connect the source, CDs ... stereo radio... DVD, etc, the lines ( connector wires ) connect to the lowest sound frequency device, aka sub woofer. There should be connector outlets already installed on a sub woofer as to connect the higher frenquincies of sound, always marked as 'L' for left and 'R' for right.
Probably, you refer to a 'powered' subwoofer system. In that case, you still have to attach 'lead wires' from the source as well as the speakers that reproduce the higher sounds of the spectrum. I hope I'm not giving this asnwer to someone who is gonna add a sub woofer just to aggravate everyone with those low 'throbs' while playin' RAP music. Rap shouldn't even be classified as music because it isn't.

Answer 3

Look for this when buying an amp... http://www.crutchfield.com/S-wn5MvZJYp33/popups/cacomp.html

CEA-2006 Compliant

On May 28, 2003, the Consumer Electronics Association published standard CEA-2006, "Testing & Measurement Methods for Mobile Audio Amplifiers." This "voluntary" standard advocates a uniform method for determining an amplifier's RMS power and signal-to-noise ratio. Using 14.4 volts, RMS watts are measured into a 4-ohm impedance load at 1 percent Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) plus noise, at a frequency range (for general purpose amplifiers) of 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz. Signal-to-Noise ratio is measured in weighted absolute decibels (dBA) at a reference of 1 watt into 4 ohms. This applies to both external amplifiers and the amplifiers within in-dash receivers

If an amp doesn't have this rating, it may not produce the watts it says it does.


http://spkrbox1.spaces.msn.com/ for real "sound" advice.

Your system won't mean squat without a well designed box to put your subs in. Some manufacturers have recommendations as to dimensions of various types of boxes. It is best to find someone who builds boxes if you go with something other than a sealed box.

You should always match up RMS (Root Mean Square) watts of Subs and amp per channel as well as impedance's(resistances). When a sub has rating of 600 Watts MAX it really has an RMS rating of about 200 Watts RMS. RMS is the nominal wattage your most likely going to get out of it. Remember, a 200 Watts RMS amplifier has more power output than a 200 Watt MAX.


If your amp is rated at 4Ω don't subject it to 2Ω, it will fry.

Here is the formula for subs in parallel:

Z = 1 / (1/sub1 + 1/sub2 + 1/sub3 + ....)

For series, just add them up (sub1 + sub2 + ...).

You can mix and match these equations to get the right impedance required by your amp.

Example 1: Amp is 2 channel and rated at 4Ω, 4 subs @ 4Ω each. If I connect two in parallel and the other two in parallel and connect the two pairs in series, I would have a total impedance(resistance) of 4Ω. So to the amp, it's just one sub.

Example 2: Amp is rated at 1Ω mono, 2 subs @ 4Ω each dual voice coil. If I connect two voice coils in parallel and the other two voice coils in series and connect the two subs in parallel, I would have a total impedance of 1.6Ω. Which would be perfect for a 1Ω stable mono amp.

You should use a capacitor as well.

Recommend for every 500 watts MAX you use a .5 Farad cap
Example: 1000 watts MAX - 1 Farad cap

You will also need what's called a "line level converter" if your stock head unit doesn't have RCA outputs or your amp doesn't have high-level inputs.

Try http://www.soundomain.com/shop you can find some really good deals, and this site is manufacturer certified. VERY IMPORTANT WHEN SHOPPING ON-LINE!!!

If you like I can send you some plans for reference. My plans are for a 4-th order band-pass bass box (A.K.A. bass-reflex) that holds two 12's.

Also included are java calculators you can use to figure parallel and series values given Ω values, tips on box building and types, calculating port diameter and length(if used), calculating box dimensions for types of boxes (sealed, wedge, cylindrical, etc.), materials needed and even how to make a jig for cutting perfect holes for your subs.

Just e-mail me [e-mail]

My system

Blaupunkt TSw1200 subs with a Sony Xplōd XM2200GTX.
My amp is 1200 watts (200 Watts RMS X 2), subs are 600 watts (200 Watts RMS) each, cap is 1.5 Farad w/digital readout

SPL is about 112 db each sub

Total cost(so far) = $410
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To the other people ranting about my answers.

Some people have made pot-shots at my post because my answers are "one size fits all" as one person put it. I have gotten at least 25 best answers (and growing) with e-mails requesting more information from this same post since I posted it.

I'm just trying to be as informative as I can be. There might be something the poster didn't think of, forgot about or doesn't know.

These peolpe may not like my style of response, but then, no one asked them.

Answer 4

look it up on google that always works