Ground question

 

New member
Username: Secret_sound

Post Number: 1
Registered: Oct-05
i let a guy help hook up my first system. I have two 10 inch rockford fosgate 10 inch punch speakers, and a pioneer 760 watt amp. I am a little concerned about the way its hooked up. It sounds alright, but i want to hook it up right. how about, i tell you how its hooked up, and you tell me how it SHOULD be hooked up.

Amp hookup- the 12v wire runs to the battery
ground wire runs to the battery
RCA wire runs from a wire running from the stock speaker ( 6x9 )
Subs run to the amp

Remote wire is a skinny wire that i have to wrap around the 12v wire

Im pretty sure the ground should run to a metal bolt, and its supossed to run metal to metal.

I KNOW the RCA's are supossed to run to the head unit. Im pretty sure the Remote is supposed to run to the head unit too. Anything else im missing?
 

Bronze Member
Username: Rideredder

Cornell, IL USA

Post Number: 91
Registered: Sep-05
The ground wire should only be 3 feet or less and should be ran from the amp to the vehicles chassis, not back to the battery. Yes, the RCA's are ran from the back of the HU to the amp (not sure why he would have ran it to the speakers). And, if the amp turns on and shuts off fine, the remote wire should be hooked up right.
 

Silver Member
Username: Fandim

Reno, Nevada United State...

Post Number: 381
Registered: Jun-05
Better to have a wire running directly from your battery to the back for your ground, actually.. Most vehicles chasis only acts as about 4 gauge..so if you need more power than 4 GA can supply/ground, you'll need to do it from the battery.

Seth
 

New member
Username: Secret_sound

Post Number: 2
Registered: Oct-05
alright. ill get on that ASAP! thanks for the help.
 

Silver Member
Username: Bestmankind

Los Angeles, CA USA

Post Number: 111
Registered: Oct-05
but his got a 750 watt amp. i think a four gauge will be plenty.
 

Silver Member
Username: Bestmankind

Los Angeles, CA USA

Post Number: 112
Registered: Oct-05
is your head unit stock?
 

New member
Username: Secret_sound

Post Number: 3
Registered: Oct-05
yeah chad lee, its still stock for now. I pulled out the HU yesterday, no RCA's on it. im lookin for an aftermarket HU.
 

New member
Username: Gezyon

Havelock, NC United States

Post Number: 4
Registered: Nov-05
Listen you dont have to have a aftermarket HU to have the same sound quality, yea with a aftermarket HU you can have more features, and better controls dealing with the bass, but all you would have to do, is run a High to low adapter, I am not sure the technical term for it, but it hooks directly into the rear outputs for your factory stereo rear speakers and then steps down the voltage that the output is at, and sends it back to the amp through the RCA's for the input on the amp. Because when most people just wire the RCA's directly into the rear speaker wires, what that is doing is inputting a 7-10 volt signal into the amp, where most amps can only take less then 5 volt signal, in turn will burn out your amp. They normally cost about 20 bucks. Maybe a little more.
 

New member
Username: Secret_sound

Post Number: 5
Registered: Oct-05
its not the difference in quality, features, or better bass durangoman, it was about the RCA's. High to low adapter... i will have to look around for one. Are you talking about a crossover, though?
 

New member
Username: Gezyon

Havelock, NC United States

Post Number: 8
Registered: Nov-05
No I dont think the crossovers do the same thing, it is a High input to Low Output dealing with the voltage that the signal is at, that is sent to your rear speakers, you would only use this if you plan on keeping your factory stereo in there. The adapter has RCA outputs on it.
 

Silver Member
Username: Bestmankind

Los Angeles, CA USA

Post Number: 122
Registered: Oct-05
you can find one of those at any car stereo place or circuit city. they don't cost that much. doesn't the bass sound in your car overpower the stock speakers? i wanted to keep my headunit stock so i connected my subs with the adaptor you guys are talking about and the subs just overpowered all my speakers.
 

Silver Member
Username: Bestmankind

Los Angeles, CA USA

Post Number: 123
Registered: Oct-05
btw how did he connect the rca cable to your rear speaker cables? maybe he used one of those high input to low output adaptor.
 

Silver Member
Username: Bestmankind

Los Angeles, CA USA

Post Number: 124
Registered: Oct-05
the reason i asked if you had a stock head unit is not because you should go out and buy an aftermarket head unit. i asked that because he said his friend connected the rca cable to his rear speaker cables. if he had an aftermarket headunit, then he could of just ran the rca cable from the back of the HU.
 

New member
Username: Gezyon

Havelock, NC United States

Post Number: 9
Registered: Nov-05
Well when you use the adapter, you have to mainly use the adjustments on the radio for all the highs and mids, and use the amp to power the sub, when you adjust the low or (bass) on the radio, you will adjust the level of bass in the sub and the speakers, so set it to a nice lower level so you will not blow your factory speakers, and use the amp to adjust the sub output. I mean you can go either way, you can get an aftermarket stereo, or you can just use the adapter, it is really up to you and your money situation.....
 

New member
Username: Secret_sound

Post Number: 6
Registered: Oct-05
well.... i have tunnel vision now. I decided I was going to leave all the stuff unhooked until I could have everything installed the RIGHT way. Well, I changed my mind. i got some help with my remote wire, so i didnt have to manually hook up my amp. well, everything was workin just fine, and all of a sudden, ALL MY SPEAKERS DIED! all the factory died, and my subs quit working. now, i have no music in the car! I dont know what the crap happened.
 

New member
Username: Secret_sound

Post Number: 7
Registered: Oct-05
btw how did he connect the rca cable to your rear speaker cables? maybe he used one of those high input to low output adaptor.
---------------------------------
Well, the guy took some speaker wire, and ran it from my stock 6x9's. from there, he took my RCA cables, and cut the jacks off, and got to the wires, and hooked up an RCA wire from a stock 6x9.
 

New member
Username: Gezyon

Havelock, NC United States

Post Number: 10
Registered: Nov-05
Well about the factory speakers dieing, and everything quiting on you, I cannot tell you exactly what it is, but you probably want to check the connectors on the back of the factory stereo, and see if everything is good, do you still have the amp hooked up running straight from your rear speakers, or did you get an adapter? That could have caused a problem if it was hooked up without the adapter, I am not 100% sure what happened.
 

New member
Username: Secret_sound

Post Number: 8
Registered: Oct-05
well, im just taking in to like Circuit City and lettin them hook it up.
 

Bronze Member
Username: Gezyon

Havelock, NC United States

Post Number: 14
Registered: Nov-05
well good luck and let us know what happened.
 

Silver Member
Username: Fandim

Reno, Nevada United State...

Post Number: 392
Registered: Jun-05
Just FYI - After letting circuit city install my DEI alarm, my car would lose power periodically, and pretty much stall for a second or two, before a clicking sound, and power coming back and my car acting like nothing ever happened. Still not sure exactly what happened, or why it was happening, but after messing around with some of the wires (just jiggling them, checking connections) I would hear a clicking from one of the two fuse boxes under my hood. Checking the connections, they had drilled a hole through the sirens power wire when mounting it, and it was grounding to my cars chasis.. The fuse they had use was completely melted. Amazingly enough, the alarm still works.. But be cautious about letting CC do ANYTHING to your ride.
 

New member
Username: Secret_sound

Post Number: 9
Registered: Oct-05
well, seth, NOTHING as far as sound works in the car now, so they cant screw anything else up.
 

Silver Member
Username: Fandim

Reno, Nevada United State...

Post Number: 395
Registered: Jun-05
Heh - Nothing, as far as sound..

That's my point. Mechanically, your car runs well..(I'm assuming) ;) So they can screw something up.
 

Bronze Member
Username: Secret_sound

Post Number: 13
Registered: Oct-05
well, i took it there, and they told me my factory radio was burned up... well, thats ok... i brought one for them to hook up. well, they dont have the wiring harness for it. thats ok, i told him i would go up front and buy a new one for them to install. i get up there, and they dont have a certain part i need... Im gonna try to go to a GM shop and just buy a new factory radio from them... but they got everything hooked up and working at circuit city.
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