Stereo installation issues...argh!

[rx7tt95]

Ok, I've done a bit of research. Hell, I can tear down a car and put it back together, design turbocharging systems, tune just about any vehicle but I'm a novice at audio. So I found this site which is great for beginners:
http://www.bcae1.com/

I've relied on a local shop in the past but I moved about 35 miles north and haven't had time to get down there.

I found an incredible deal on an Alpine PDX-5 amp which is small enough to fit under the driver's seat and Psychos2 is building a sub box for one 12" sub.

I definitely need to do it right and upgrade the wires running to the four speakers. But I managed to get her sounding pretty decent as is after messing around with the amp's filters/crossovers and the head unit's multitude of features and adjustments. I think I could easily spend five hours tweaking it. I really need to get the sub in there before making final adjustments. Right now I just have it running parallel to the front speakers and it's probably not pushing enough wattage.

How difficult is it to get wiring through the doors? It doesn't look like I have easy access underneath the dash. As a matter of fact, I think the VX has the most tightly-packed under dash I've ever come across. There's very little room anywhere under there!

At one point I just decided to remove the rear seat and put a sub rack/amp/subs back behind the driver's seat similar to etlsport's pic above. Probably would have been the best solution. I may still remove the rear seats anyway just for space. I think I had someone sit in the back of my Evo twice in over two years of ownership.

I'm using the JL Audio 300/4v2 "Slash" amp now http://mobile.jlaudio.com/products_amps.php?amp_id=437 which unfortunately is a really nice unit. I think I paid about $500 for it and used it maybe three months total. So if anyone is interested in it...shoot me a PM. I still have the original box too. I'll also have four lightly used but mint JL Audio speakers, TR525-CXi's http://mobile.jlaudio.com/products_c...php?comp_id=60 although I may try to hook those up again with the Alpine amp and new wiring first before selling. Fit in the factory locations without modification. Also one Diamond Audio 8" sub, D3. http://www.diamondaudio.com/content/view/132/146/

[etlsport]

the passenger side wire loom is cake... drivers side is a bit tougher.. go to home depot.. find a pipe just large enough to fit your wires through.. pull the looms out of both sides (door and interior) and stick your pipe through it.. put the wire though... then slide the pipe off the end with the shortest amount of wire.. wish i had learned that trick about 3 years ago!

yea to this day i am still making minor adjustments to my sound system.. lots of settings on my amp and even more on my headunit

[rx7tt95]

I've used a wire hanger before. Fold the hanger into one long piece (or cut as necessary) and just duct tape the end of the wire to one end and push everything through assuming you can get your hand in to the other side. But the pipe idea sounds fantastic. Might get around to doing that tonight.

[etlsport]

hanger didnt fit through the drivers side for me

[rx7tt95]

hanger didnt fit through the drivers side for me

Damn! Oh well...on a bright note, my Alpine PDX-5 arrived at work this morning. This thing is S-M-all. Small. Tiny. Can't believe it puts out the wattage it does.

Rear mono sub amp can be run at 4 or 2ohm. Which should I use? Haven't purchased sub itself yet. I'm under the assumption it'd be less likely to overheat at 4ohm than 2 but would be louder at 2ohm? Might be a better balance with the rest of the system at 4ohm? The 4-channel is 75x4 at 4ohm.

Will take pics soon.

[etlsport]

what kind of subs are you/do you want to run? i have my mono sub channel running at 2ohm because i have 2 4 ohm subs... so i have them run in parallel to be equivalent 2 ohms of resistance (trust me, it works)

all my surrounds are 4 ohms.. i do have a strange type of feedback that is very quiet, but audible with no volume or very low volume, its almost like a static, not affected by alternator, i think thats caused by running my one amp at 4 ohms on some and 2 ohms on the other

[rx7tt95]

well the amp is capable of either a d I plan on running one 12" sub in place of the spare. Almost all of the subs I've looked at come in 2 or 4 ohm configurations but I don't understand what would make one better than the other.