Drudis

So after doing some research I think I'm going to order a Rockford Fosgate Power T-1500-1bdcp. I have a few questions before I do:
1. Will I need a bigger alternator and/or another battery or do you guys think adding a cap or doing the "big 3" upgrade will be sufficient? I'll be running it at 4 ohms so I wont be squeezing every last bit of power out of it.
2. The amp has no onboard fuses, does this mean I will need a 200 amp fuse near the battery AND another next to the amp?
3. Does anyone have this amp in their TL? If so what can you tell me about it? 4 guage power and ground will work right? The owners manual says its fine but it seems small for an amp that puts out nearly 2000 rms at 1ohm.
4. Will a line-level converter work ok with this amp? It doesn't have speaker-level inputs.
Thanks

jda123

I have this amp in both of my TLs.

I have the stock alternator with the big 3 upgraded with 4 gauge wire. I have 4G run specifically for the T1500 in my black TL and 0 to a distro block to 4G in my red one. If you start slamming it, it might dim the lights a bit, but I have never had battery issues. 4g wire is enough.

No need for a cap.

Yes, a fuse next to the battery. I don't have another one after that. Any kind of significant short will blow the one. When you buy a kit, I suggest that you get a few replacement fuses, just in case... it sucks to go and find some in a rush.

I just wired the line level speaker wires into the RCAs and plugged them in. No output converter. The post amp (in the trunk) signal will require very little gain to get full power whereas the pre amp signal will require almost full gain to get full power - the signals have different voltage. The amp can take any signal over 8V and will drop it to 8V (or maybe it is 6V, but whatever, it is cool). Skip the converter and it will sound better.

The birth sheet says 1042 at 4 ohms, 1572 at 2 and 1709 at 1 ohm. I run mine between 3 and 4 (nominal) and it stays cool and will slam.

I would buy another one.

Drudis

Could you elaborate on the line level- RCA conversion? How exactly can this be achieved?
Gave you the thanks button brother man.
BTW what subs are you running?

jda123

I run a single FI Q.

Cut the heads off of some RCA cable and wire them into the speaker wires (the inside is the positive)... or something like this:

slammedon19''

MikeF509

Whatever you do, do not just cut RCA wires and splice the ends into the stock speaker wires, it will clip the sh*t out of the inputs on your amp! The linked JL Audio product is a LOC, reduces the signal to a safe level.

Trunk Monkey

iTrader: (1)

Well Mike, I don't think we need any more reducing of our signal when it's already less than 1v.

jda123

You don't have any idea what you are talking about. Those JL cables are just like cutting the heads off of RCA cables and wiring them up - they have no transistors in them and are not LOCs. Lots of modern amps can handle this. All of the JLs can take speaker level inputs through the RCAs. So can the Fosgate Power amps. It is all in the manuals. It is easy to do, they just normalize the input voltage to the max, if the signal is over the max. Basically, they have built in LOCs, but they are smart and just one-third-of-a-cent transistors. All of the manuals are available online if you would like to read up on it.

You can do this with the T1500.1bdcp with either the post-amp or pre-amp signal.

Both of my cars are just like this and were once wired post-amp. They are now pre-amp. The only difference is that the gain must be changed to compensate for the different input voltages.

Monkey - the pre-amp sub channel is different that the front signal. IIRC, it was over 1v, but I didn't write it down, or anything. In any case, still usable for an amp that will take .2v.

Trunk Monkey

iTrader: (1)

Oh is it? I just figure that most people use the front full range for the sub anyways lol. Definitely still usable, but I wouldn't want to reduce it anymore or use a .2v signal for that matter. Do you have a line driver on yours or you just have the gains up a little? That's a nice, well built amp so I'm sure it can take a higher gain just fine. I looked into this amp back when I had my 12w6's, but could only find new

Drudis

JDA- Just ordered the JL cable, thanks for the advice. Question: when I hook it up from the stock sub wires will it matter which is right and which is left (RCA's going into the amp)? And I'm assuming it won't be a good thing to mess with the sub level from the Navi unit?

jda123

If you use the signal in the trunk (unplug the stock sub and use those wires), then the black/yellow is the positive. This is easy and pretty good. Just drop the bottom deck panel, reach up and unplug the sub, cut the connector off and connect those wires to your JL Cable somehow.

The pre-stock-amp signal is better, but it is in the passenger kick panel and would require a run of wire back to the trunk - the colors are different on this, but they have been posted on here and are easy to find.

The pre-amp signal is better in the lower end than the post-amp signal. That amp has the db gain on it, so that will do a good job to offset some signal loss since it tries to flatten the signal a bit.

I would try the in-trunk signal first, see if you like it and only change if you are really wanting more super-low end... like less than 40 hertz. Either way you go, you will still have the head unit bass controls on the navi screen as long as you use the sub channel.