38 replies to this topic

[Jimmy Hat]

If it's an old radio then it might not have RCA outputs (red and white) in which case that can be sorted out when it happens. Yeah any radio's classed as a head unit, covers cd players, tape players, radios, the thing with the buttons on as far as I know

The controls/connections on that amp are pretty standard as far as amps go, you won't really find one
simpler and it's not as hard as it looks, honest

The converter you linked to on ebay isn't the right one by the way, it only applies if you want to use a head unit without RCA outputs anyway (which isn't ideal)

[Andy!]

SO the amp is connected to the black and red thing, what is this for? is this where the power cable and earth go into? (red, live and black,earth??) does the speakers plug into the amp? what goes where? i know tfclan said what connects to what, but i'm still a bit confused about connections and cables and such i'll prob just mount the amp and sub in the boot, and make sure the parcel shelf has sufficient holes in it. i found some pictures of when i was fitting my radio and taking it out of the landrover so i knew what the wires looked like

http://imgur.com/a/88Jua

[Ruckus]

i will look at the RMS and not the peak fiqures, that seems a bit misleading to be honest that companies show the peak when it isnt even the important fiqure

Yes it is and is the cause of many arguments when people start bragging about there 1000 watt system that turns out to real be 200. !

But all the mainstream manufactures do it, it's more about marketing than audio quality and honesty...

[Andy!]

Does my radio look like it'll be fairly simple to connect to my amp? or can't you guys tell from those pictures? if it can be connected, what sorta cables/kit do i need to purchase? the one i linked on the first page?

[blueturbomini]

if your h/u has RCA'S on the rear they will be coloured red and white, you will also have the same connections on your amp, you need to run a RCA lead between the h/u and your amp, plugging it into these sockets, the plugs on the lead are the same colour as well, 1 red and 1 white. You also need to run a remote wire from the h/u to the amp so the amp powers up at the same time as the h/u. Take a look at some of the build threads, they might help you out.

Edited by blueturbomini, 01 June 2012 - 06:46 PM.

[Andy!]

Is the RCA (white and red) wires connect to the "R" and "L" slots on the amp? labelled "low input" and what does a remote wire look like and where does it connect into the amp?

also will this be all i need? seems very good value but it is from halfords... http://www.halfords....tegoryId_265889

[Jimmy Hat]

Ok, the power connectors on your amp re marked RMT, GND and +12v. +12v goes straight to the battery with a fuse as close to the battery as convenient (should come in the wiring kit) and uses the thick red wire. RMT goes to the 'remote turn on' or similar wire on the back of the head unit (or failing that, any ignition live wire) and uses the thin (usually blue) wire in the kit. GND goes to ground, plenty of places for this in the Mini boot, I did mine straight to the battery.

Yep the red and white connectors on the back of the radio connect to the 'R' and 'L' sockets on the amp, the sockets should look the same and there should be the cable in the wiring kit.

Speaker cable wise, in the last picture of your amp theres 2 wires connected to the speaker terminals marked 'bridged', this is how you want to keep it for the sub, just wire bridged + on the amp to + on the sub and bridged - to - on the sub.

On the other side of the amp, the ' X Over' switch needs to be set to LPF, this is the low pass filter which stops sounds above a certain frequency being sent to the sub. Usually set on the dial to about 80-100hz, or whatever sounds best with your setup.

The gains are a bit more tricky to set properly but there are plenty of guides on google for setting gains with a sub and amp.

Hope that helps can PM me if theres anything else you want to ask about?

[Andy!]

Okay thanks jiimmy, thats very helpful, will throw you a pm if i need anything clearing up :)

[Andy!]

Thread resurrection time :) Finally got round to attempting this, i'm really grateful for all of your help/patience so far Right, i have a wiring kit and was going to attempt to wire the sub/amp up to the mini tomorrow, so i thought i would have an evening of trying to get my head round what i'm doing, i've been trying to make sense of the wires but thought i would double check with the gurus before blowing myself, the mini or the sub up :) Question and picture time....

Here is the back of the amp, i have labelled what i think is right...

however i'm having a hard time fiquring out the speaker wires. The 2 that are connected, go to 2 connectors in the side of the box, and i have checked and they are attached to the sub in the correct order, i have labelled them connector a+b...

Do cable A and B connect to these connectors? they do fit, and if so do they then connect to the white and red connectors in the back of my headunit? (i checked and i do have them in my head unit)

Where do these speaker cables connect to? R+ and L- to speakers?

Also, as shown in the first picture, i have labelled RMT to go to the radio live wire, or any live wire in the car such as ignition (thanks Jimmy Hat!) Is this right??

And i'm pretty confident i have the earth/power right...


Sorry for the mass question overload, just want to make sure i get it right... So i would wire it up like this...
+12v goes to the fuse, to the battery.
RMT goes to a live wire
GND goes to a good ground
L+ goes to the Red connector attached to sub, where the red cable (b) goes to the red headunit connector
R- goes to the black connector attached to sub, where the black cable (a) goes to the white? headunit connector
L- goes to the left speaker
R+ goes to the right speaker

EDIT: I will be sorting out the wires connected to the amp as-well, i don't want anything short circuiting...

Edited by Andy!, 09 February 2013 - 10:45 PM.

[Skortchio]

+12v - fused line to battery
RMT - to either the remote wire on the back of the stereo or the powered aerial if you don't have a remote.
GND - ground
That's your power and remote switching on covered.

Now for signal.
The amp you have will only power either the sub or 2 speakers, as it's set up it's sending the amplified signal to the sub.
To send the signal to the amp, you use the RCA wire (cable A+B) from the back of your head unit to the other side of the sub there should be a set of connectors for those plugs, they don't go to the sub.

For the speakers, which you'll have to run direct off the head unit. Connect the thin wires to the speaker wires on the head unit connectors, the blue strip is just to identify the wire so you wire - to - and + to + makes no difference which the blue is for as long as it's the same polarity both ends.

Make sense?
Throw up a pic of the other side of the sub and can give you some directions on that too if you need them

Edited by Skortchio, 09 February 2013 - 11:54 PM.

[Andy!]

Right, so i have the power figured out, however, i have taken out the connector A+B and the sub, and they are linked together with no other connections on the sub?

Also what you're saying about the speakers sounds like what is already connected in my car? i have my HU connected to 2 speakers via speaker cables

[Skortchio]

Okay, so your speakers are connected up as they should be for now (assuming you don't have another sub laying around).

The route from your HU to your sub should be like this:

HU -> RCA leads -> low signal input on amp -> bridged termial on amp -> sub

Signal goes in one end of the amp from the HU via the RCA and comes out the other end (amplified) via the copper coloured cable to the sub.

[Andy!]

Oh i see now! So the connectors in the side of the subbox don't have any cables in them right? as that is just my link from bridged to sub. Regarding low level input, does the red cable go to + or -? and the connectors in the HU are white and red, does the black cable go into the white slot? Also, are you saying my R+ and L- (non bridged speaker connectors on amp) should have no cables on them? or do these get connected to my speaker cables already within the car?

[Skortchio]

Correct, only cable in the sub box should be the copper colour one running to the amp.

No other cables should be attached to the OUTPUT of the amp, because you have bridged the L&R you are combining the output channels for more power.

You could use your amp in 2 ways, one is to have cables in R+ & - and also in L+ & - , this would be for powering 2 seperate speakers.
How yours is configured is to use the power of both sides in as single speaker hence bridging, using one sides - and the other sides +.


Regarding RCA, from the HU plug red into red and the other one into the other one (in your case black into white).
In terms of colour coding, traditionally RED = Right so you would want to connect the RED lead to the RIGHT low input and the black into L, you don't have a + & - for low input because the RCA lead has both + & - in each plug.

If you want to be picky, the cable from the R- should go to the red plug on the sub and the L+ to the black.

[Andy!]

So are you saying my speakers will not work with the sub installed? or if i just connect the RCA cables and remote cable to HU the speakers will work as normal and the sub will also play? (thanks for the amazing help by the way, you have the patience of a god to be dealing with me this late )