Questions concerning hooking up two or more amps

[kevinsean23 10+ year member]

kind of embarrassed to ask this, but i have a couple questions regarding how to hook up more than one amplifier. appreciate any input

i currently have a soundstream ega2220 amp

and a US Acoustics USX2150 and maybe later another amp to power the rear spkrs depending on what i learn here i may just return one of them and get a 3channel amp

what has to be done to make sure that this is right?

i think that 4gauge is necessary from the battery is that correct?

then get a distributer but i don't know what kind and what gauge wire will work to amp

man today at best buy told me that i absolutely needed a capacitor for about $70. is this true.

also, how do u wire multiple amps do u "daisy chain" them?

i'm not sure if i missed anything or not please mention anything that needs to be known

also is running multiple amps like three going to be bad for my alternator i would really not want to be doing anything that is going to damage my car

please try to K.I.S.S... u know keep it simple for me

sorry if post isn't real coherent cause maybe i don't know the right questions to ask

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[sleepr 10+ year member]

YOu need a wire preferrably 4ga from the bat to the distro block. Don't forget to fuse the wire as close to the bat as possible. The distro block you would need for the power would be a 4ga input to 3/4 8ga outputs. Search the web and you can find plenty of them. You want to make sure you get a distro block that is "fused" since you will be reducing the size of the wire. The ground wire needs to be the same size as your power. So you could run 8ga grounds from the amps to a distro block (unfused) and then a 4ga to a spot in the trunk.

To hook up amp to amp you will just need a set of RCA's to run from the output of one amp to the input of another. I take it your HU doesn't have the proper amount of preouts?

Depending on the cars charging system you might not need a cap. It definitly isn't a "must".

Depending on your HU you might not need another amp for your rear speakers.

Let me know if I need to clarify anything or if I left anything out.

 

[kevinsean23 10+ year member]

i probably won't be doing anything to my system until next week, but for now i have a little for information

i'm going to list all my system specs should have earlier but:

all of the following in a 2001 Nissan Maxima

1) Head Unit is San Francisco CD70- box says 4-channel preamp-out 5v don't know what actual RMS output is

2) Front speakers- CDT cl61 power handling 90 watts RMS

3) Rear speakers- infinity 63.5i speakers power handling 75watts RMS

4) Bazooka TVB-141 subwoofer at least, for now at least, runs 200watts RMS- not very clean and tight i want sound quality not sloppy

5) soundstream ega2220 amp if run @ 2 channels puts 110 rms to each if run bridged mono? puts 440 to one channel

6) US Acoustics USX2150 if run @ 2 channels puts 150watts RMS if run bridged mono? puts 450 to one channel

things i would like to do:

well, if the rear speakers can run fine and keep up with the rest of the speakers hooked up to the head unit i would not mind doing that at all if not, i will need another amp

right now i'm thinking of using the soundstream amp to power the front speakers and have the us acoustics power my subwoofer- i may change the sub to a infinity perfect 12.1 later which is recommended to run 350w RMS

a little analysis here could help and some suggestions before i get started later and so i know what to get to be prepared

also as far as current wiring goes, i have 8ga wire running from the battery with the fuse screwed to the side of the air box going along the side to the trunk directly to currently a alpine mrv f450 amplifier which i may be selling soon very solid amp but no longer sufficient for what i want unless i use it to power just the two front speakers or just the two rear

funny thing is everywhere i go on the internet the specs on this amp differ so i would rather not list hopefully someone knows what it really is able of putting out

thanks for the help in advance

edit: found some info on the alternator some sites show 110 others 120

 

[sleepr 10+ year member]

Is this the amp you have? http://www.soundhertz.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=510

 

[kevinsean23 10+ year member]

it's a mrv f450 5 channel amp it's currently powering all of my speakers and one sub

dealtime shows the following specs on it:

RMS Power at 4 Ohms 30 W x 4 + 150 W x 1

crutchfield shows the following:

50 watts RMS x 4 + 200 watts RMS x 1 at 4 ohms

60 watts RMS x 4 at 2 ohms + 200 watts RMS x 1 at 4 ohms

120 watts RMS x 2 + 200 watts RMS x 1 in bridged mode

2-, 3-, 4-, or 5-channel output

Tri-Way capable

requires 8-gauge power and ground leads — wiring and hardware not included with amplifier

there are some other sites that give slightly different specifications, but the certificate with the amp shows the following:

load impedance: 4ohms

Test voltage: 14.4v D.C.

Output Power(RMS)- 58.3w

(Per Channel) 200w min- 218.0

 

[Diplexers 10+ year member]

You're in good hands with sleepr. There are a lot of people that think they know what they're doing even though they really don't. Sleepr sounds like he knows his stuff. There is one benefit of a cap that most people don't know about. With a DC system there is an ac component with it, a capacitor helps ground out that ac component and your amp will play cleaner and more efficient.

 

[kevinsean23 10+ year member]

thanks for the info..

Hey u got a cool site there at CAN