Hello again...I've been seeing a lot of talking about connecting the power lead for AMPs directly to the battery. I have a 99 Suburban and my amp lead (#4 to dist block...#4 to both amps) connects to an aux terminal on my Fuse-Relay center that has a 30A fuse. My power lead has 100A fuse inline. I'm running a Polk Audio C400.4 and a Sony XM-2165GTX. Would it be better to run the lead directly to the battery...would I notice a sound difference?
Also, when using splitters on the RCA cable to add more channels does that knock down the preamp voltage?
Replies (5)
cplkittle on 05/31/2004 18:24:09
You definitely need to connect to the battery, and yes you will tell a difference. Basically you have tapped into a lead that is fed with a 14 or 12 gauge wire.. fused at 30 amps.. from there you have a 4 gauge wire with a 100amp fuse? Wire size should step down if anything, not up in size. This is a fire hazard.
Splitting RCA cables does knock the preamp voltage down by half, each time you split it. There are several alternatives to this,
1) purchase a HU that has 3 pair of RCA outs (front, rear, and sub)
2) there are RCA line level boosters, but this in my opinion is a ghetto fix. level boosters will amplify sound as well.
3) Buy a 2input, 3output crossover with a built in RCA voltage booster. This will not only boost your RCA voltage, it will also allow you to set the high and low limits to each channel.
pmpn8ez on 06/1/2004 14:44:12
Thanks CPL...I connected it directly to the battery and there is definitly a difference.
My HU has 3 Preamp outputs, but in my suburban I have front door, rear door, back pillar, and my Subs so I was going to split the rear preamp...how do people run systems with like 8 subs and a boatload of filler speakers?
-Lance
uochronos on 06/1/2004 15:26:35
you can have 6 subs running off one amp. or have several sub amps bridged together hence having alot of subs. most people dont have more then 4 or maybe 6 speakers. usualy if you have like door speakers and a tweeter they would be run off the same channel. just split with a crossover. also most amplifiers have an RCA out which you can run to another amp.for instance a set of 3 way components has 3 speakers for instance a 6.5" woofer, a 4"mid, and a 1 inch tweeter. but they would all be run off oen channel of an amp. because they would have a 3way crossover. myself i'm only running a 6.5mid and a 1inch tweeter in my truck dont have any rear speakers at the moment and it sounds very nice just no rear fill at the moment. which pretty much only adds a tiny bit of volume and a bit of depth to the sound.
ttocs on 06/1/2004 23:37:31
i was just curious if you could give a few more details as to how you hooked it up to the battery? Did you use a grommet in the firewall? Is it fused within 12" of the battery? How did you connect to the battery? Best option is to use a GM battery bost extender, and a ring terminal...
One of the decks pre-amp outputs will be for a sub, it will not play full range.
pmpn8ez on 06/2/2004 00:28:00
TTOCS:
I did indeed use a grommet in the firewall and originally I had the #4 terminated to the Relay center on an aux post, with a 100A fuse about 6" from the termination. I was informed this was bad so I ran another stretch of #4 all the way to the battery, where the 100A fuse is 6" from the battery and I used a ring terminal to the existing terminal post..I have an Optima Yellow top with a second set of posts on top. I tied the new stretch in with a fuse casng and a great soldering job.
Thanks
Also, when using splitters on the RCA cable to add more channels does that knock down the preamp voltage?
Replies (5)
cplkittle on 05/31/2004 18:24:09
You definitely need to connect to the battery, and yes you will tell a difference. Basically you have tapped into a lead that is fed with a 14 or 12 gauge wire.. fused at 30 amps.. from there you have a 4 gauge wire with a 100amp fuse? Wire size should step down if anything, not up in size. This is a fire hazard.
Splitting RCA cables does knock the preamp voltage down by half, each time you split it. There are several alternatives to this,
1) purchase a HU that has 3 pair of RCA outs (front, rear, and sub)
2) there are RCA line level boosters, but this in my opinion is a ghetto fix. level boosters will amplify sound as well.
3) Buy a 2input, 3output crossover with a built in RCA voltage booster. This will not only boost your RCA voltage, it will also allow you to set the high and low limits to each channel.
pmpn8ez on 06/1/2004 14:44:12
Thanks CPL...I connected it directly to the battery and there is definitly a difference.
My HU has 3 Preamp outputs, but in my suburban I have front door, rear door, back pillar, and my Subs so I was going to split the rear preamp...how do people run systems with like 8 subs and a boatload of filler speakers?
-Lance
uochronos on 06/1/2004 15:26:35
you can have 6 subs running off one amp. or have several sub amps bridged together hence having alot of subs. most people dont have more then 4 or maybe 6 speakers. usualy if you have like door speakers and a tweeter they would be run off the same channel. just split with a crossover. also most amplifiers have an RCA out which you can run to another amp.for instance a set of 3 way components has 3 speakers for instance a 6.5" woofer, a 4"mid, and a 1 inch tweeter. but they would all be run off oen channel of an amp. because they would have a 3way crossover. myself i'm only running a 6.5mid and a 1inch tweeter in my truck dont have any rear speakers at the moment and it sounds very nice just no rear fill at the moment. which pretty much only adds a tiny bit of volume and a bit of depth to the sound.
ttocs on 06/1/2004 23:37:31
i was just curious if you could give a few more details as to how you hooked it up to the battery? Did you use a grommet in the firewall? Is it fused within 12" of the battery? How did you connect to the battery? Best option is to use a GM battery bost extender, and a ring terminal...
One of the decks pre-amp outputs will be for a sub, it will not play full range.
pmpn8ez on 06/2/2004 00:28:00
TTOCS:
I did indeed use a grommet in the firewall and originally I had the #4 terminated to the Relay center on an aux post, with a 100A fuse about 6" from the termination. I was informed this was bad so I ran another stretch of #4 all the way to the battery, where the 100A fuse is 6" from the battery and I used a ring terminal to the existing terminal post..I have an Optima Yellow top with a second set of posts on top. I tied the new stretch in with a fuse casng and a great soldering job.
Thanks
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