Checkers Anyone? Alpine PDX-5 Amplifier Install

I finally got around to installing my Alpine amp under the driver’s seat. It is powering my rear door 12” subwoofer that lives peacefully with the factory spare, and the front door Kicker KS600 6” speakers, and (currently) factory rears.

The Kenwood KVT-512 7” screen DVD w/ NAV, iPOD, and XM, controls it all from the upper DIN position. I installed a visually cool (lots of pretty lights) Kenwood KGC-9044 graphic EQ in the lower DIN position, but I rejected it as it only had a single set of RCA’s in, and Front/Rear/Sub out each. That created a choke point and limited the mapping, to include crossover controls and subwoofer boost, from the head unit.

One gripe of mine, though, the Kenwood KVT-512 head unit only has two sets of pre-outs, one marked ‘Front, and the other marked ‘Rear/Sub-woofer.’ You have to program whether you want the latter to be ‘Rear,’ or ‘Sub-woofer.’ I inquired to the poor installers that will soon be out of jobs at the local Circuit City, and they said many of the new head units are going to this arrangement. They told me to split the ‘Front’ to power the Front and Rear input into the amp, and use the second dedicated to the Sub-woofer. That’s all and good, but now you lose front to rear volume level control as the one set of RCA’s power both, and worse yet, now the NAV voice commands, which would only cut into the front speakers while the rear continued to play the tunes before amp’ing, now cut off all of the music while the kind lady advises you on turn-by-turn directions. Minor gripe, I agree, but what would it take for these manufacturers to continue to have separate RCA sets for ‘Front,’ ‘Rear,’ and ‘Sub-woofer?’ There are about 3 more sets of RCA’s coming out of the head unit, to include A/V In, Rear Camera, etc. What would it take to have one extra set of RCA’s so you can have full control of the sound.?

It is a good thing that the upper DIN cavity of a VX is large enough to handle all of the cabling required of these new head units and their accessories, though. Between the RCA’s, NAV, XM, and normal harness, the mass behind the head uunit is nearly equal to the mass of the stereo itself. Alright, diatribe over.

Bottom line, the sound is AMAZING. I have never before even had a sub-woofer in any car I have owned. It’s like listening to my home Bose system in the comfort of my VX. I haven’t even done an ounce of sound deadening yet, and everything seems fine. No buzzing anywhere, to include the rear sub. But I do plan to deaden some once I return home; and yes, even though I thought the checkers was a good idea as spacers, I do plan to sand them down and paint them matte black once I return home…

http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/da...m/SSPX0020.jpg

http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/da...m/SSPX0021.jpg

awesome! i miss having my amp under the seat.. i didnt realize anyone made an amp small enough to fit there that would power all 5 speakers...

if u dont mind me asking, how much did that set u back?

very nice install btw :thumbup:

If you lift the carpet under your amp, there is a large fely pad that can be removed, and the amp will sit much lower.

Check to be sure that your seat can't hit the amp when slid all the way forwards.

John C.

ya i was gonna say that i pulled the carpet back and took out the insulation under the seat a little to make room for my amp...

also, i had to bend the piece of metal on the back of the seat that keeps stuff from sliding under there, my seat wouldnt go forward at all before i bent this....

secondly, if your looking for volume control for the front/rear speakers that should be adjusted from your amp ONCE, and should not be changed once adjusted so that shouldnt be too much of an issue...

secondly, your GPS should only be heard from the front left, and with the split it should be heard from the whole left side, which is a little bit of a bummer but you should still hear your music on the right side....

just my 2 cents...

nice integrated set up though...those are some good components all around...

The Alpine PDX-5 can be had for between $300-$400; more if you buy from an authorized dealer. This thing does not get hot, though, which is why one might consider buying an amp from Best Buy, or some other good-warranty return business. I think with proper venting (like stacks of checkers, or otherwise), and realistic sound levels, you would not be unwise to buy the amp off eBay and save at least $100-$200 (retals for $599 at Crutchfields).

The seat does no hit the amp when full forward. There is about 1-2mm to spare. There was no thick pad under the carpet, but I had planned to raise the amp anyway, to achieve an air gap and to clear the RCA's in the front. I was going to remove some of the foam to the rear of the amp, but I realized that was unnecessary and it is designed to line up with the sear rear kick plate when the seat is slid completely forward.

I used home stereo shielded RCA's, as excellent quality shielded ones are significantly cheaper than the smaller-plug versions of the auto-specific RCA's. They wanted a mint$ for 3, 6' dual RCA cables that are sold for automobile applications. I couldn't justify spending $200 bucks for auto shielded RCA, when I spent about half that on two sets of home stereo shielded composites cables and remarked them.:bgwp:

The PDX-5 is good since it has no adjustments necessary on the amp, itself. The head unit controls everything, to include subwoofer level. Bottom line, on the PDX-5, there are no control knobs.

I didn't have to bend the kick plate on the back of the seat at all. My amp sits in the the cavity between the front seat base and the rear foam bit. I only raised the amp for air flow and to clear those overly-large home-use RCA plugs. The crossrods underneath the seat that simultaneously unlatch each seat adjustment ratchet clears the four pegs at the corners of the amp top by about 5mm. Those plugs can be removed, though, as they are for stacking multiple Alpine amps of the same design on top of each other. Having those plugs on just finishes the look on the top, but also adds about 1cm to the overall height of the amp.

These minuscule clearance measurements were only accomplished through trial and error, constantly removing and placing the seat back into position (a good upper-body workout), to ensure no issues. I spent about 14 hours on it Saturday (to include about 3 hours just running the power through the firewall, I used the little square opening just a few inches below where the throttle cable, itself, goes through the firewall), 5 hours Sunday, and just 1 hour yesterday to install the front door speakers. It took much longer as I am living in a dorm set-up right now, which included too many back and forths between the VX and my room.

As for the NAV voice turn-by-turns, I can set it for Front Right, Front Left, or both Front Left and Right. All three settings stops all music, now (remember my front and rear are powered off the same RCA set). One would think that by selecting just Front Left, the music would continue through the left channels...no, that would be too easy. For whatever reason, it cuts off all music, now, to include to the subwoofer...go figure. I think I'll just turn off the voice and leave on the Tone that proceeds the voice. For whatever reason, the Tone, itself, doesn't interrupt the music. Odd.

Thanks for the suggestions and comments.

I bought a Cassette deck that came with two outputs (Front/rear) with a digital EQ that came with three output lines (Front/rear/subs) & a 6-CD changer from the early 2000's (All kenwood brand)

If you can find a EQ with three outputs you'll safe the headache of the missing subwoofer output

Nice setup, A good sub will take any audio system to the next level (properly integrated, of course). Sound deadening in the doors will make the biggest diffrence in the VX acoustically.. I used two Cascade door kits and a speaker kit per door and then sprayed the interior door plastic panel with a can of quiet kote per door. Closing the door now sounds like a bank vault closing and you really have to watch how hard you close the door. Then if you want to go nuts, you can do the whole rear of the truck (most importantly the rear wheel wells). I really like the vinyl based stuff (cascade) better than asphalt (dynamat), it weighs less and doesn't stink. :bgwo:

I placed two 4 channels amps behind the subs box right behind the rear seats.

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Originally Posted by Gussie2000

I placed two 4 channels amps behind the subs box right behind the rear seats.

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2@4channels??? are you running them at 2ch per amp?? if designed like that, you could have gotten more power for less cost out of 2@2ch i believe...

interesting though....

unless your running 6 speakers...

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Originally Posted by pbkid

2@4channels??? are you running them at 2ch per amp?? if designed like that, you could have gotten more power for less cost out of 2@2ch i believe...

interesting though....

unless your running 6 speakers...

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I've running the four speakers (3 ways) on one amp @ 125 watts each channel),the two subs ( 135 watts each ) on the other amp & got two channels free right now.
I bought the amps used in excelent conds,they are sony Xplode 550 watts each;didn't use the factory wiring,i runned the long way by adding new wiring all around the VX for all components,at 60% of power the VX shakes like a gel :p you can clearly hear the music from out side.

Even though i love music pumping down the street i fall into the moderate group category.

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Originally Posted by Gussie2000

I've running the four speakers (3 ways) on one amp @ 125 watts each channel),the two subs ( 135 watts each ) on the other amp & got two channels free right now.
I bought the amps used in excelent conds,they are sony Xplode 550 watts each;didn't use the factory wiring,i runned the long way by adding new wiring all around the VX for all components,at 60% of power the VX shakes like a gel :p you can clearly hear the music from out side.

Even though i love music pumping down the street i fall into the moderate group category.

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nice, good set up...
i was gonna say that your math doesnt really add up enless your pumping a ton of power into something...it makes sense now though...

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Originally Posted by pbkid

nice, good set up...
i was gonna say that your math doesnt really add up enless your pumping a ton of power into something...it makes sense now though...

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Yes thanks ! :)

If wasn't because of the bunch of jerks always lurking to find a good deal breaking into cars i were put a nice NAV system at the upper DIN,but had to keep the set underlow by adding a cassette deck there,the digital EQ is located at the lower DIN & the 6-CD changer disguiss very well behind the center console thanks to its black color. All kenwood brand

see i went really crazy....i put a new panel up top where the stock radio goes to put switches in...for winches and lights....

then i moved the radio down to the place where the 6-cd changer goes along with modifying where the ash-tray and the cigarette lighter goes (see my gallery)...

it looks great..and it also keeps the theives from seeing the radio because it moves it down low...

Where did you run your ground to?

For the time being, I ran the amp ground to a paint-stripped/cleaned-up/dialectic-greased, front left of the four bolts that hold down the parking brake assembly.

It may not be optimal, but it was convenient and seems to be working fine. I had as many installers telling me that a body ground was fine, as I had installers insisting that a frame ground was necessary. I didn't feel like drilling a hole through the floor metal to affix the ground to the frame. I'm capable of doing it, I just didn't feel like it, and I used the conflicting opinions to support my complacency. All installers I spoke with, though, seemed to agree that the ground wire (4 gauge, in my case), should be kept as short as possible; no more than 9"-12".

Drill ? 95% of the new set ups don't need drilling at all.All you need most of the time is scrap the paint coat at the closed bolt 'till the metal is fully exposed & attach the ground cable. For instant I removed the rear seat latches,scraped the bolt hole with a drill & sanding stone.Attached the two amps ground cables together & did the same procedure with the capacitor - cable to the front left net hook.

yup, the shorter the ground cable the less noise you will get....

secondly it isnt necessary to run it to the frame, i mean, if you wanna do it then its a good ground guaranteed but not necessary by any means...

its a good practice to remove paint as much as possible...however, they do make star washers now that cut into the paint while tightening the ground and those make GREAT grounds....

They also sell multi-level braided sheathes that go around your ground wire and completely insulate it from picking up sound. It's pretty much a faraday cage design that goes around a wire. Also works if your signal wires are picking up interference. That way you can route your wires however you may need if necessary.