Installing Second Amp.....New to installation....Any help would be great....thanks

[madermuce 10+ year member]

Alright, after reading some posts....i am wanting to tackle the installation of a second amp to power my door speakers.....

I already have one JL12w3 powered by a JL A1400. I have a factory radio with nav.

I am a beginner, I have wired up a pair of subs, but never the door speakers. Right now, i have a converter that has the rca's, running to my amp. If i want to add another amp, do i need to have another convertor?

My second question would be, should i use a distribution block? Thanks for any help.....

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[x1le 10+ year member]

Not to worry, wiring up a 2 or 4 channel amp for speakers isn't too difficult.

A couple questions I got for you -

are your door speakers aftermarket or stock?

What gauage wire is ran in your car now?

And you should definitely use a distrobution block.

But as far as connecting the speakers to the amp, you can either use another line out converter and tap into your speakers, or you can use the speaker line in on your amp (assuming it has one). Doesn't make a difference what you choose as both will result in about the same sound with a stock head unit.

 

[madermuce 10+ year member]

4 guage power wire.....and i've got stock speakers....'08 TL type S

 

[x1le 10+ year member]

4 gauge is fine for your setup. So yeah, just add in a distro block with a 4 gauge in and then do a 4gauge out to the sub amp and an 8gauge to the 2ch/4ch amp.

However, amping stock speakers isn't the best idea //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fyi.gif.9f1f679348da7204ce960cfc74bca8e0.gif

 

[madermuce 10+ year member]

i'm gonna replace those.....when installing that second amp....do i ground the amp, like i did the first....and do i add the remote wire in the same place?

Do i need another line out convertor?

thanks for all the help x1le

 

[x1le 10+ year member]

If your speaker amp is going to be close by your sub amp, you can also use a distro block for the grounds. If it's not close, then just ground it to the chassis.

For the remote wire, it would probably be easiest to just splice into your existing remote wire and run it to your new amp.

And as I said before, you can either use another line out converter for the amp, or use speaker level inputs on the amp itself. They both accomplish the same task.

And you're welcome //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[madermuce 10+ year member]

ok, if i don't use the line out conv., do i have to run each set of speaker wires to the amp?

and can i connect the remote wire from the second amp near the remote connection of the first amp? Or do i have to run the remote wire from the second amp all the way to the front?

sorry for all the questions, but like i said, i'm new to the installation thing....

thanks again

 

[x1le 10+ year member]

Yes, you would have to run all the speaker wires to the amp with the speaker level in.

And you can run the remote wire either way. Doesn't really make any difference.

 

[madermuce 10+ year member]

thanks that is some great info.......so, if i use the LOC are you saying that i do not have to run the speaker wire from each speaker wire back to the amp? sorry im not sure about this part?

thanks,

 

[nineball 10+ year member]

high level inputs would be connecting the speaker feeds from the hu into the amp. this takes the place of using an rca. no matter how you give the signal to the amp you have to run wires from the amp outs to the speakers.

 

[GMCJimmyslt2000 10+ year member]

1. If your JL amp has rca outputs, run some rcas from the output on the JL to the input on your new amp. If it doesnt, you can buy a rca spliter and split the rcas at the LOC from one output to 2. So either way, you wont need another LOC.

2. For the remote, no need to splice, just run a speaker wire from the input of the jl to the input of the new amp. ( Its called Daisy Chaining)

3. Ground the amp to the frame of the car or buy a Distro. Block that has seperate power/ground.

4. You will need to run speaker wire to all new speakers from the amp. Thats the only way the speakers will get power from the amp.