Beginner looking for advice on an install

[Gawdzila]

Hey forum //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

Noob here. I'm helping to set my friend up with some decent audio on her old Civic on a tight budget. She's not primarily looking for ultimate loudness or hitting power, just strong bass and sound quality. I'm not exactly an experienced installer, though, so I wanted to get some advice on how to set up her new system and make sure I don't do anything dumb.

The basic plan is to get a 4-channel amp and bridge 2 channels for a 10" sub, then run the other channels to the front speakers. She has a budget Sony HU, specifically a CDX-GT130. It does have pre-amp outputs, but only one pair that is selectable for sub-out or rear-out. It also has an LPF to select subwoofer cutoff frequency, and a HPF for the front/rear cutoff. My question is basically in the details.

I was thinking to set the pre-amp to "sub" and use the rca inputs on the amp for the subwoofer input, then powering the fronts by running the front speaker wires off the HU to some speaker-level inputs on the amp and back over to the speakers. Assuming I do this, would I be able to adjust both the HPF and LPF cutoffs from the HU? Or should I just let the amp handle the filtering?

Is there some other, better approach that I should consider, like setting the out to "rear" and sending a full-range signal to the amp?

Is there anything I should watch out for as far as where to run the wires to minimize noise?

Sorry for all the dumb noob questions, but I'd be very grateful for any advice or even just confirmation that I'm not being an idiot.

Thanks! //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

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[mylows10 5,000+ posts]

get a cheap $60 eq and call it a day

 

[Gawdzila]

get a cheap $60 eq and call it a day

That's an interesting idea, but I don't know much about how to integrate an EQ.

Would I just send the full-range signal from the pre-amp to the EQ and let the EQ send sub and speaker signals separately to the amp?

Is that superior to what I was going to do even aside from more sound adjustment (which I don't think she will mess with much)?

Or will what I was going to do just not work?

My real reservation is that her dash doesn't have room for both the head unit and an EQ. She will want a clean, fairly stock-looking installation.

I don't have any experience fabricating bits to make it look nice, so I've gotta nix any solutions that involve that sort of thing.

 

[mylows10 5,000+ posts]

That's an interesting idea, but I don't know much about how to integrate an EQ.Would I just send the full-range signal from the pre-amp to the EQ and let the EQ send sub and speaker signals separately to the amp?

Is that superior to what I was going to do even aside from more sound adjustment (which I don't think she will mess with much)?

Or will what I was going to do just not work?

My real reservation is that her dash doesn't have room for both the head unit and an EQ. She will want a clean, fairly stock-looking installation.

I don't have any experience fabricating bits to make it look nice, so I've gotta nix any solutions that involve that sort of thing.

yes it will be a better way ,and yes the full range ,you could mount under the dash or next to the drivers seat ,or even in the glove box

 

[Gawdzila]

Awesome, thanks for the advice! I hadn't even considered an EQ. She may not want to buy the extra equipment, in which case I suppose I'll stick with sub+speaker-level inputs for the amp, but if she doesn't mind the extra $$ that's my favorite option so far.

Is there anything else I need to look out for aside from how to string the equipment together?

Do I need to keep speaker cables away from the amp power cable, or any other general n00b mistakes I should watch out for?

Thanks again //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif