Before y'all get all crazy screaming search, hear me out. The most in depth audio install I've ever done is a head unit install, so of course I'm a bit nervous. Yeah yeah yeah, I know someone is gonna say "it's easy, just connect this to this, wam , bam, and you're done," but that's how shit blows up. I have an amp and a bass tube (for the time being)

• I want a nice clean install, but the FAQ doesn't say how to get the wires through to the trunk from the battery?
• how do I get the wires from the back of the HU to the trunk?
• are all the wires I need for this installation project contained in a basic amp installation kit, or are there more wires I need to buy separately?
• how do I keep the amp and bass tube from bouncing around in the trunk?

After putting in my HU, I realized if you're not careful, you can break lil tabs here and there and wind up with extra screws. The concept behind the install seems simple enough - power wire from battery to amp, ground amp to bare metal, signal from HU to amp, and amp to bass tube. Anyone in the Fort Lauderdale/Palm Beach County area want to help me with this project, feel free to PM me.

 

Ah, you need a beginners guide.

 

you need to take out the rear seat, the center console, arm rest etc. i ran all my wiring down the middle of the tunnel under the carpet, under the rear seat to the rear of the trunk. for the power cable from the battery i ran it down the driver side of the car under the carpet. drilling through the fire wall will be your biggest challege b/c you only get one shot, i lucked out the first time.

 

Drilling through the firewall? I'm not sure which car you have, but according to some other CL drivers on here, there's a gromet I can use. How do I get the carpet out?

 

Hold up, you don't need to drill. There's a groment you can use. It is in the FAQ & DIY threads. All you need is to run a power cable, 8 guage is fine from the battery to the trunk along the drivers door sill side.
Signal Input depends on if the amp has speaker inputs or line level. You can use a line out coverter & tap into the wire harness at the stock amp. You can also tap into turn on lead at the amp as well. All this is in the FAQ & DIY threads.

 

Thanks Fuzzy - I knew about the gromet, so there was no way I was gonna be drilling anything anyway. I have to take another look @ the amp, but I'm using an Alpine HU, not the stock one. I already looked in the DIY/FAQ's, but I still had some more things I needed cleared up. Like I said, I'm not going to start dissasembling my car until all the directions make sense to me.

 

Even easier...
The alpine should have RCA outs, the amp as well. Use those to the amp. So it's another 2 cables you will need to run. RCA for signal from the HU to the amp, & turn on(blue wire usually) from head unit to amp.
Easiest way to run is to take the console out then snake the wires from the HU down the dash & under the carpet & the console, under the back seat & into the trunk.
The power cable should still be run down the drivers side.
Amp kits come in 2 different kinds. Ones that are complete with RCA's & other's that are power only & don't have RCA's. They are $$ if you buy them in a store locally. Best bet is Ebay for these. Try to get a 20 foot power cable though. The 17, or 18 foot cables in most kits are a little too short.
You can find the console & dash FAQ's in the Icelink Ipod thread.

 

Try http://knukonceptz.com/. They have complete amp install kits with RCAs included for decent price. They also sell on ebay as well.

 

OK, so:

1. take center console out
2. snake the RCA's from the HU down the dash, under the carpet & the console, under the back seat, into the trunk (so I don't have to take the rear seats out to feed the Rca's into the trunk? If not, is there a specific hole I should be looking for in the trunk to feed the wires through?
3. power cable should still be run down the drivers side (I think the driver's side door sill just pops out, and then if I'm correct, the rear driver's side sill should do the same, but what do you do about the part where the doors meet? Is that when you should be looking to pull up the carpet?)
4. run power cable from battery, through gromet, to trunk
5. ground amp to bare metal (is there a easy spot somewhere on the trunk?)

On the back of the amp:

• what's the "hi-level-in" for?
• "input level" goes b/w 6V-200mV...what should I set this @?
• "crossover frequency goes from 40Hz-400Hz...what should I set it @?
• "bass boost" goes from 0dB-12dB...what should I set that @?

 

anyone...

 

Don't make me read the whole thread..

Cliff Notes?

What are the questions?

 

The seat bottoms pull straight up. You will see where to run the cable once you get the seat bottoms out. Yeah you need to pull up the carpet a little on the side to snake it through.
There's a screw on the fuel tank cover to ground too. It's all in silvernights DIY stereo install.
input level sets the input signal volume
X-over sets the bass cuttoff for the sub. needs to be played with to adjust it right
Bass boost is as noted again depends on what your system is like to adjust it.
You should read up on www.crutchfield.com They have several good reads on car audio. It should answer alot for you.

 

I think my last post somes it up welll...