Thread: Full sound system upgrade, amplifier help

Originally Posted by deathjunior

1.So how am i gonna go about wiring the amps to the stereo, yea I know its the typical power,ground,control, and rca. But should i bother at all with the wiring harness? all it will do is put out useless power to the empty wires where the old speakers used to be

I would recommend getting a harness for your head, that way you don't ruin your factory wiring. When you get to wiring your head units harness to the aftermarket male car harness, just don't connect the 8 wires for the four factory speakers, just be sure to electrical tape the ends!

2. I need know how I'd go about building a trunk lid cover for the inside of the trunk lid? You know like those ones you see on the high end builds.

Two different users make those! Both do amazing work.
jarheadbobandmax and BlownBigBlock


3. Does anyone have any experience with those internal LED light kits on their grand prix? I'm gonna order one, but I'm not sure where to place the lights.

They are easy to wire up. If your kit includes 4 tube lights like im sure it does, I put on each in the driver and passenger footwell where you couldn't see it and underneath the driver and passenger seat. I love it and it keeps the light all focused down on your feet so no distractions while driving.

4. Also, im going to dynamat the doors on my car as well as the trunk lid, i found a page of how someone used foam over their dynamat. Heres the link website.

JBL GTI and DLS Ultimate Grand Prix Install - Home Theater Forum and Systems - HomeTheaterShack.com

What kind of foam is that, and where can i get some?

Hmm, no idea haha

5. Any tips especially on wiring or anything for that matter that would be great, this car when its finished will be a combination track car/sound off/show car when it is done so im open to any suggestions on anything. Ive got a massive list of parts and its going to take me years to do so it would be helpful for any tips whatsoever

Make sure you take your time. When I first started doing builds I wanted it to look good but I got frustrated easy and took the easy way out. Believe me, it is worth the extra time! Also, I think the easiest place to lay wire runs is underneath the doors, under those plastic covers. Lay your power and ground on the one side, and do your RCA runs on the other, it is clean, quick, and keeps them apart! Also there is a great place to run your power through the firewall underneath the passenger carpet in the footwell. If you need more detail than that let me know.


For the alternator idea, firstly im not going to be running more than 1800 watts rms, not two kw, next the audio shop who is building my box who has a world championship told me personally that all i would need is a battery since the owner has 3400 watts rms and hes had much experience, id trust that unless you can show me otherwise, and id appreciate if you did. I dont care who is right i just care if its right. Next those talking about peak power this is somthing i know and that is that a peak power is rarely even possible because the peak power exceeds the amount of power that can flow through the fuse on most amps. Next the polk amps are probably overated a bit.

I apologize for that, I never met to turn your thread into a bashing session, I just wanted you to understand what you were dealing with. This is a true story of an install in my friends boat. He wanted a ton of power, 1000w sub, and he already had a 500w 4-channel for his tour speakers and a 400w 4-channel for the interior speakers. So I told him the same thing I told you and that other guy I was arguing with. I was able to talk him down on the subwoofer and he went with 600w I think, which I still told him was way to much power for the little baby 65w alternator on his Malibu wakesetter. Anyway, I installed it for him, it looks and sounds wonderful but the first day we took it out, we killed both of his deep cycle batteries sitting in the dock. Okay no big deal, started the boat, ran it around the lake with the stereo off for about an hour till we were seeing 13.8v on his dash digital meter. So we got to rocking again with the boat running at about 3500 rpms across the lake. We watched the volts drop to 12.2 before we turned it down and let it climb back up. He was amazed at the voltage drop just over a few minutes and his alternator went out 2 weeks later. He upgraded to an H/O alternator and we are able to keep it above 13, but it still struggles.
All I am saying is that I look at the math, I had this happen to my friends boat and I know the system cant produce the power your asking it to in your car. Im an engineer, I stand behind my math, I have too haha. That being said, you may be able to get away with it for awhile, but still, I wouldn't do it in my grand prix. Hope this helps.

Please guys dont turn this into a giant bashing session between batteries and alternators ive seen much to many forums where that has happened

I am sorry. Like I said, I wont bash any more, I only wish to help!

Thanks

Thank You.

Originally Posted by deathjunior

Thanks for the help

1. Yes extra description would be great since I'm not sure if ill be able to fit 1/0 gauge wire under the plastic trim in the door sills.

Oh I really met a description of where the hole to run your wire is. Anyhow, I dont think you should have a problem running even a 1/0 gauge wire under the plastic door panels, there is a lot of room, but im not positive, I ran 4 gauge under there.

2. I already have some 6 gauge wired into the car, but thats weak wire and i know it. I was busy the week i wanted to install it and since we get a pretty good discount on installs i figured id just let best buy do it since i didn't have the time. I had already bought the wiring kit original sub (an RE RExD4) upgraded to an RE SRxD4 and amp about 2 months prior. So i just let them use the kit i bought. Because thier the ones who wired it though im not sure if they did it the way your describing. So a better description would be great

Yeah, most of us run our wire through a grommet located in the passenger side footwell. All you need to do is pull the plastic trim from the passenger side foot well and peal back the carpet a bit until you see an oval grommet with like a spongy insert. Pull out the insert and run your wire through that. Try and put the insert back in but if it doesn't fit, no worries. Shouldn't be an issue. The hole is going to be hard to find from the outside of the firewall in the engine compartment. I did the good'ol coat hanger trick. Just ran the coat hanger through the inside and found the other end under the car and ran my wire through that way.

3. As for the current box i built it myself, its a ported enclosure tuned to 35 hz that fires through the pass through door. I think it looks awesome plus i get a lot more notes with it facing forward and theres a really nice breeze on bass notes. However you get higher db's facing reverse which is why the next box will be dual SExD4's in a double enclosure with one sub and port facing into the cabin and a second in the back facing the trunk, ill scan the designs in later if you guys want to see it

I want to see, ive built quite a few boxs but never with a woofer pointed back and one front!

4. I really dont like the idea of leaving the crossover blocks inside the doors since im afraid water might leak in a damage them. Especially since i know my trunk leaks through the spoiler bolts (im working on fixing this). So any other location ideas?

I understand your not comfortable with leaving the crossovers in the doors. From experience I have had two separate sets of crossovers in my doors and never had an issue, but thats me. You can locate them under the seats if you like, just going to be a ton of extra wiring on your part.

5. The wireing kit im using only gives me enough ground wire to ground the amps to the trunk. So should i just use the same place that best buy used in the trunk or is thier a specific place thats good

Well where did best buy ground your current setup? Your ground run should be as short as possible for less interference. I grounded my 20 farad cap to one of the two inside bolts of the rear seat. You should see 4 of them if you pull up your rear seat, pick one of the two inside ones. Make sure you sand the paint off where the bolt is welded to the car!

See above