Hey everyone, did a search and didnt get any decent results so i was wondering if anyone could provide a step by step guide to installing an amp.

Basically, im looking at doing one myself and would not really know where to start but am keen to do it. A tech article would be great if one was available.

Thanks for any replies everyone ;)
Chris

For a rough enough but good enough wiring diagram try this (http://www.aussiemagna.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14763&page=2&pp=10) btw, good job Dee:D
Or for a closeup of this amp:Go here for closeup of the writing on this amp (http://www.aussiemagna.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14763)

hey,

Car audio australia has heaps of info on this.

Stuff you'll need:

Beer
An Amp
Suitable power cables-
aprox 5 or so metres to run from battery to amp
aprox 1 metre for the ground
fuse holder and fuse
bunch of crimp fork and ring terminals
16ga or so remote wire, 5m will do fine
RCA cables

First, disconnect the negative terminal off your battery, and put a piece of wood over it or something, so it doesn't accidnetly spark or anything.

Crimp a terminal onto your power cable, unscrew some nuts on your battery terminal, and screw it back on tightly. Find a suitable place to screw your fuse holder onto, cut your power wire to reach (note: must be within 30cm of battery). Connect up fuse holder, then run the power cable thru the car all the way to the boot or wherever u're putting your amp.

Oh yeah, find a suitable surface to mount the amp, don't mount it up side down, and ensure good ventilation. You can always wire up a cheap computer fan to help cooling later if needed.

Find a suitable ground for your amp. You can do this with a multimeter. There should be bolts, screws and nuts nearby you can unscrew and use. Anything with less than 0.5 ohms or 0.25ohms or something (forgot :P) is good enough. Grab some sandpaper and sand the titties off the area, so its shiney bare metal. Crimp the terminals on, screw it to the car body, cut the cable to the shortest possible length to reach the amp. Crimp the power cable, screw it on.

The thin remote wire goes from your headunit remote to the remote terminal on the amp. Connect them up. Next is the RCA cables, they also go from the back fo the headunit to the amp.

Good luck

Legends! Thanks a bunch guys for your feedback so quickly. All the neccessary cables and wires should come in those installation packs u buy to connect an amp right?

Id be mounting the amp on the side of the boot (that convenient little space on LHS). Can anyone give me a pointer on the best way to secure it.

Cheers,
Chris

Legends! Thanks a bunch guys for your feedback so quickly. All the neccessary cables and wires should come in those installation packs u buy to connect an amp right?

Id be mounting the amp on the side of the boot (that convenient little space on LHS). Can anyone give me a pointer on the best way to secure it.

Cheers,
Chris

yeah, you can buy cable packs... cheapo audioline a mate of mine brought came complete with distro bocks, 4ga, 8ga wires, zip ties, lots of fiddly things for only like, 40 bucks. Obviously, ones from stinger and streetwires would be heaps more expensive.

what amp is it? what car?

I've never put an amp vertically up on the corner up there, but i'm guessing you could get two L brackets, and a piece of mdf...at least 9mm i'd imagine.

Like i said, i've never done it before, but i'd imagine cut the mdf in two, screw the L brackets into form a 90 degree thing, liquid nails the crap outta the bottom panel, and whoa la, instant vertical panel for the amp to mount onto...Probably a more efficient way to mount it :doubt:

HEY MATE.I HAVE JUST DONE MY CAR STERO INSTALL MYSELF.IS FOR A 2002 tJ MAGNA.ITS A FAIRLY LARGE INSTALL BUT NOT OVER THE TOP.
2 AMPS.1SUB.SPLITS.CAP.REAR SPEAKERS HEAD UNIT ETC..

THE AMPS ARE MOUNTED BEHIND THE TAIL LIGHTS AND IT TOOK ME 2 DAYS TO DO THE WHOLE LOT.

THE PICS ARE TOO LARGE TO PUT ON THIS THREAD SO HOW THE HELL DO I POST THEM?IS THERE ANY FREE PLACES TO MAKE A WEB SITE OR SOMETHING?

I HAVE TAKEN HEAPS OF PICS ALONG THE WAY AND GOT MEASUREMENT FOR EVEYTHING.LOOKS QUITE GOOD

Legends! Thanks a bunch guys for your feedback so quickly. All the neccessary cables and wires should come in those installation packs u buy to connect an amp right?

Id be mounting the amp on the side of the boot (that convenient little space on LHS). Can anyone give me a pointer on the best way to secure it.

Cheers,
Chris

I have one of my amps mounted an the right hand side of the boot (I think the antenna may make it difficult on the other side). Mount the amp on a piece of MDF board - this board is than mounted with four bolts to the internal panel which can be found behind the boot lining. I hope you understand - I have trouble trying to explain here. I'll try to post a photo shortly.

3 photos of amp in boot as promised

3 photos of amp in boot as promised

mm...those RCA cables mmmmm....

Here's a pic of my mounting also notice that u cant see any cables just the ones to the sub.

Tom

eek ur starting to scare ppl away, the RCA's are Pink :shock:

nooo, if my memory serves me right, are they the older model of the stinger helix rca's

they're just sexc good rca's, and they're purple! :P is yer amp screwed onto a board and then screwed into the trim?


EDIT: HOLY crap dude, WTF is your dog doing on the parcel shelf? he looks like he wants to maul you.

LOL eek no my dog just wanted to sit in my car lol
ill get him to maul u if u try and take my HU

With the amp mounting in my car isnt screwed in an mdf board then onto the trim. I actually made a custom mount for it, they way i did them is i took the trim off and saw places where i could mount it. the first bracket is mounted behind the metal e.g. take a look at where Greg's TH has put his MDF and behind it there are a few holes where a peice of metal about 15-20cm long and 5cm wide and 2cm thick get mounted to hold the top of the amp, then at the bottom of the amp is another piece of metal attached to a screw that sits next to Quarter Panel, its about 10cm and bent like and S then attached to the bottom left side of the amp.

The whole setup is very strong and doesnt move at all.

Also i would post up pics of what it looks like but my car is at the panel beaters being fixed :cry:

Tom

panel beaters being fixed :cry:

Tom


damn....so they want to fix it after all?!!??! :shock:

Yeah eek they wanna fix it, but now if they find more damage even if it goes up to like 7k they will have to fix it.

Lucky me my sister is looking kinda to get a car :D

And u know what that means the car gets handed down again :badgrin:

So by then ill get another car

Tom

And u know what that means the car gets handed down again :badgrin:


we'll have a big party at your place, shave your dog and get hideously drunk, then piss on yur white rims so they turn yellow, then eat large amounts of mushrooms dipped in Southwestern sauce until we're satisfied? :nuts:

goodluck with the repairs sunshine :)

oh yeah...isn't it bad to have a piece of metal screwed to the amp's chassis and the car body? Then again.....u don't seem to have any problems so its probably ok.

* Tom goes and burns a few DVD's the others sends back empty *

HAHAHAHAHA only eek will be able to get this.

Tom

Why would it be bad to mount an amp onto the chassis?

* Tom goes and burns a few DVD's the others sends back empty *

HAHAHAHAHA only eek will be able to get this.

Tom

Why would it be bad to mount an amp onto the chassis?

apparently with some dodgey cheaper amps they have the risk of grounding thru the chassis or something like that. But i'm sure alpine ain't that bad.

/me is going to bring my beast down to melb to battle it out touge, wwf, aussiemagna style! grrr

i put 20 on ur dog lol

Your dog looks like he wants to bite the camera......

you should see eeks other dog. It's big and loud and doesn't like people. But they do play 'stacka-dogs' over at eeks place. The little one fits right under the big one at the back door! :D Haven't seen it yet, because the big dog goes off it's nuts every time I even approach the house from the end of the street.... but eek informs me it's true!

But they do play 'stacka-dogs' over at eeks place. The little one fits right under the big one at the back door!
Yeah, the bigger one would need to be on top. Otherwise the little one would need a footstool :bowrofl:

back on topic here is what did guys the mdf just sorta wedges in there isnothing securing it at all yet it never movesquite simple and easy to hide all the wires

back on topic here is what did guys the mdf just sorta wedges in there isnothing securing it at all yet it never movesquite simple and easy to hide all the wires

damn thats a nice looking prefab box! lol If u do get a 15" sub it sucks ass BIGTIME! it doesn't fit with the cone perpendicular to the boot floor. You must angle it and build a trapizidimilal (spelling) shaped box where both sides are angled :rant:

Sometimes I regret getting a 15"....some days I wish I had 2....some days I just like to watch my grass grow and play with the blue fluff.