CoolGuy094

Hey electronics sub forum. I'm a total audio noob and have been reading up on the FAQs and audio threads related to what I'm getting ready to do this weekend. I have a Dual XPE2700 2-channel 400W amp, and a pair of Polk DXI6500 component speakers (the ones with external crossovers). I am retaining the stock head unit.

I punched some numbers using Crutchfield's wire gauge selection chart and came to 10 gauge wire for the power/ground for the amp. I will get a 30 amp inline fuse for the power wire and mount it close to the battery. I read somewhere that 18 gauge wire is fine for the signal wire, and I did another gauge calculator from somewhere that told me to use 14 gauge speaker wire (but someone else on here said 16 gauge would be plenty?). Any feedback on my wire gauge selections?

I plan on mounting the amp under the passenger seat, or is this a bad idea? I will run the power and ground through the passenger side firewall grommet, down the passenger door "S2000" foot panel, and under the seat. I'll tap into the signal wire on the radio harness and run the 18 gauge wire through the center console to the amp. The amp has high level inputs so I will intercept the R+, R-, L+, L- signal in the OEM harness and run them down the center console to the amp's inputs.

One thing I am unsure of is how to run the 14 or 16 gauge speaker wire out of the amp to the speakers... I have heard that I don't want to run them along side the power/ground wires. So should I run them back up the center console alongside the inputs coming from the head unit? Will this not give me any interference?

The audio outputs from the amp will go to the doors, where the will run into the individual crossovers which I plan on mounting to the inside of the door/panel. Then it's out of the crossovers to the respective speaker/tweeter combo.

So, anything I'm missing? Feedback on my wore gauge selections? Thoughts on routing wires to minimize interference? Anything else?

XtC-604

What i did was buy one of those kits from Best Buy or w.e store you wish for an AMP. I have a 600W RMS amp so i decided to use a 1200W kit. From the battery you'll need to hook up the Positive to the AMP positive. Now from your head unit there should be a wire marked REMOTE which you will also need to run to your amp. After that you run two sets of component cables from your PRE-AMP outs on your head unit to your AMP Inputs. Now you need to run SPEAKER WIRE from your amp to your doors.

The easiest way to run wiring i find: Keep in mind i put my amp in my spare tire area

Battery to amp: theres a hole in the firewall right near the battery that will go to the cabin. From there , take door sill off (the piece labelled S2000. You should be able to thread the wire through the carpet area. Now pull your seats all the way forward. You will notice two hanger things behind your seat. Remove those by popping off the cover. You should now be able to remove that whole piece. Once you've removed that piece you'll have access to the area where your spare tire is.

Tips: When you're threading the speaker wire to the door. straighten out a metal wire clothes hanger and use it to pull the wire through the rubber grommet where your door meets the rest of the car.

CoolGuy094

Thanks for the tips man. I looked at those amp install kits, but I don't need the component cables as I am using the stock head unit and have to tap into the +/- wires from the stock head unit instead of just plugging into some ports. So it seems like a bit of a waste to buy the kit and not use those wires.

I'm most concerned with routing some wires down the same path that might cause interference signal to make it to my speakers.

CoolGuy094

Anyone else have any thoughts?

importrule

your entire car(frame) is ground. so all you really have to do is, get those crimp terminals like this [media]http://lh5.googleusercontent.com/public/YKR4ZQf-G-ghou4TRkF1xwfJZbC97cERv1ZGVZGHi3a1xs_Ms0hndFr98uSC kUpOmzEs642VGZDuJHQonMvYVeTf7L_RtXoEAaBeUgjoJwNIzI YZ-5oHobYvVFC8OSeF8hX2ivNpNIbXxb76YVw35Pniv4JaGuJT-rluvwQ=s220-c[/media]
and undo a bolt somewhere and wedge that in between and you should be good. that way, you don't have to run two wires to the battery through the firewall.

JD NC

Best practice is to keep the power and speaker wires separate to minimize the possibility of interference, but they don't have to be that far apart, and the chances of interference is still fairly low even if the wires are run together. (The chance of interference that you can hear in your car environment is even lower). Your typical stock harness is a tangled mess with the power and speaker wires right next to each other, so that should give you an idea of how big a problem this is.

It's still a gamble, though, and it's also a huge pain to rewire if you end up with a hum, so try to keep them apart if possible and if they get close, avoid crossing or twisting one cable around the other. If you must cross a speaker cable with the power cable, try to do so at a 90 degree angle and only once in the run for each speaker cable.

Good luck!

XtC-604

The amp wiring kit is cheap enough, that if you ever feel the need /urge to upgrade H/Us then you will have already got the wires ready!

Utah S2K

Go to the top of this forum, the blue stickies. The bottom one is "Darknight how to's". The first one is "how to wire your S2000". You can send DK a thank you.......

Utah

CoolGuy094

Thanks Utah, I've read through DK's thread about five times now, all good information. Only difference between what he did and what I'm doing is I have to splice into the factory harness for the high level inputs.

So I've run the power wire, ground wire, and signal wire to the amp. I've spliced into the four speaker signal wires on the headunit plug and have routed those input wires down the center console to the amp. I have also pulled one speaker wire through the passenger door grommet, which is a huge PITA as many of you know.

So the input wires from the HU to the amp are in the center console, away from all the power wires which run down the driver side. I plan to run the passenger output wires around behind the seats/carpet and down the passenger side to the grommet; this avoids all power wires except those that go through the doors as well. But the driver side output wire will have to go either down the driver side along with the bundle of crap there, or down the center console and behind the pedals, where it will still have to cross paths with all the ECU harness crap to make it to the driver door grommet... but I guess this is the same on everyone's cars. You HAVE to pass through that ECU area to get to the drivers grommet. So I guess I'll stick to the center console and try to stay as far away as possible from big power wires.

This wiring stuff sucks! I'd rather replace my clutch again!

CoolGuy094

Also, these Polk DXi speakers fit into the stock speaker baskets without modification. All you have to do is drive in some self tapping screws to secure the speaker to the basket. Its a little close, but there is just enough plastic for the screws to catch.

Anyone have a suggestion on where to place/mount the external crossovers? I'm looking at the black box things on the inside of the door panels. They fit in there great, but I'll just have to take them off every time I remove the door panels.