Wiring up a whole new idea

[yellowfestiva]

I have spent the last couple of days working night shift trying to figure out the best way to set up a car audio system in my toolbox at work. After countless hours of research and trying to understand everything I think I have a reasonable plan. For starters the equipment I plan to use are a Sony MEX-XB100BT high watt output head unit, a Thermaltake TR2 430 watt ATX power supply and four MTX Terminator 5.25 2 way coaxial speakers.

My plan is to wire the power supply to the head unit to convert the 110v AC to 12v 15A DC. I have read some tutorials throughout the web on how to do this and it doesn't seem too hard. Next I plan on wiring the four speakers 2 left and 2 right in sequence. The sum of the two speakers will give a total resistance of 8 ohms. Reading the installation guide of the head unit I understand it can operate normally with a range of 4-8 ohms so I won't be overheating my unit. The recommended watts for the speakers is 50 and peak is 200. So with the RMS of the head being 40wx4 I understand I won't be going anywhere near the max output of the speakers.

Next the speakers will be mounted underneath of the lid of my toolbox. I plan to build a box to mount the speakers. I understand the speakers will require 2.17 inches of room to mount. I have 3.5 inches of room under the lid so I can use most of the up leaving about an inch between the back of the speaker and the toolbox lid.

That is my install plan and I think everything should work out. I am just looking for some expertise in this as the only car audio I have experience with was replacing a deck in a 2003 for focus. Does my plan sound good? Will my components work together and be able to create a decent amount of sound? I am trying to avoid using an amp and using the speakers selected to keep cost down. All in the cost of this set up is going to be about 550 CAD. Any help would be appreciated.

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[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

your plan is mostly good.

for the power supply, you need to keep it ventilated.

how will you turn power on/off? will you wire a toggle switch? do you want to leave it plugged in overnight to keep radio stations?

if you wire speakers in series, the highs will be attenuated and you may struggle to get power to the speakers. the result will be turning the volume up too high and hearing distortion. the head unit is only good for 10W or so.

i recommend wiring each speaker to a channel, front and rear, to keep the load at 4 ohms per channel. then you can use a lower volume on the head unit which is less power.

the enclosure in the lid will have weight, get a proper support.

 

[yellowfestiva]

I planned on just having the unit wired to a plug and to have it plugged into my power bar already mounted in the tool box. As for the lid I am going to mount my speaker box to the lid with screws to ensure it will be able to handle the weight of the speakers. As for ventilation that won't be an issue. The power and head will be sitting in open air and the power supply has a built in fan.

I was understanding that the head unit could put out 40w per channel. Having never wired speakers from scratch before I am not totally sure how to do it. I was waiting for everything to be in my hands so I could research a little more specifically. The speakers are mostly where I will be needing guidance.