Re installing Audio Set Up

[DanOpi 10+ year member]

I had this set up in my old car but I got rid of it and took everything out. It's been around a year or two since I installed it so i'm a little rusty so please bear with me. I laid all the wiring this morning and I just want to clear some things up before I start connecting things and putting it into motion.

My head unit is a Pioneer DEH-P5200HD. So I have a Aura Force 250-A 2 channel old school amp. I was told the amp is under rated at 2x75 rms and its very heavy and well built. I'm running a front stage set up with 6.5 Digital Design Coaxials. This is being put in a 1998 Toyota Camry.

The few questions I have are:

I ran the RCA cables on one side of my middle console and the Amp Power cable on the opposite side of the console. Is this okay? I want them separated because of interference right? However the speakers wires and the ignition or start wire is ran with the Amp Power cable. Is this okay?

Also, what wire goes where? Power Cable, Ignition/Start Wire, Speaker Wires, Ground cable.

If i remember right i need the ground cable screwed into a metal part of the chassis?

Is it the positive or negative terminal of the battery I connect the Amp Power cable to"?

My last concern is i'm not exactly sure what to set the amp knobs and setting to. And if I should use any of the Head Units equalizer, bass boosts, etc settings.

Like I said i'm rusty on car audio and I hope you guys can understand. I thank all and any help in advance!

Thanks much!

~DanOpi

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[kat_black181 10+ year member]

Power cable to positive. Sorry, that's the only one I can help you with.

 

[DanOpi 10+ year member]

Ignore the boot... Phone uploaded that too for some reason.

 

[kat_black181 10+ year member]

Oh, also when setting your gains, you will want to use a DMM. One of the guys here will be able to help with the exact formula. I don't remember it...

 

[Exist_ential 10+ year member]

ok well you will need to separate the wiring near your console, you always want signal wires as far from power as possible.

Power Cable (red usually) from pos on battery to a fuse within 18 inches of the battery, then from the fuse to the pos (+) on the amp, however you need to get it there.
Ignition (blue/remote) from the harness on the radio (should be marked) to the remote (R) on the amp
Ground (Black) from a solid contact point on the car to the - on the amp. you will need to locate a spot in the trunk (or wherever you mount the amp) that is a solid electrical contact point, strip away the paint until there is nothing but pretty shiny metal and then (preferably) run a stainless steel bolt through the hole with a lock washer and 2 nuts on the other end, this will keep the bolt from shaking loose and enable a truly good contact.

anywhere you make connections should be done with high quality ring terminals (never bare wire).

as far as the amp and HU settings i would wait for someone else to chime in, i have never run a 2 channel or aftermarket component sets.
@princ3cmo ;

 

[Joe89 10+ year member]

I had this set up in my old car but I got rid of it and took everything out. It's been around a year or two since I installed it so i'm a little rusty so please bear with me. I laid all the wiring this morning and I just want to clear some things up before I start connecting things and putting it into motion.
My head unit is a Pioneer DEH-P5200HD. So I have a Aura Force 250-A 2 channel old school amp. I was told the amp is under rated at 2x75 rms and its very heavy and well built. I'm running a front stage set up with 6.5 Digital Design Coaxials. This is being put in a 1998 Toyota Camry.

The few questions I have are:

I ran the RCA cables on one side of my middle console and the Amp Power cable on the opposite side of the console. Is this okay? I want them separated because of interference right? However the speakers wires and the ignition or start wire is ran with the Amp Power cable. Is this okay?

All okay.

Also, what wire goes where? Power Cable, Ignition/Start Wire, Speaker Wires, Ground cable.
If i remember right i need the ground cable screwed into a metal part of the chassis?

Is it the positive or negative terminal of the battery I connect the Amp Power cable to"?

Amp power cable goes from battery positive to a fuse within ~6-8" of the positive terminal, then to the amplifier power hookup. The (-) cable from the amp goes to chassis, test the surface (once it has been scraped/cleaned of any paint, debris, finger oil, etc) with a DMM to ensure no resistance. Ignition or remote wire goes from a wire that is only live when the key is in the accessory position, you can test with a DMM, or your headunit may have a wire labeled for this. Speaker wire goes from the amp speaker outputs to your speaker(s) or subwoofer(s).

My last concern is i'm not exactly sure what to set the amp knobs and setting to. And if I should use any of the Head Units equalizer, bass boosts, etc settings.
Like I said i'm rusty on car audio and I hope you guys can understand. I thank all and any help in advance!

Thanks much!

~DanOpi

You can search the web or this forum for plenty of write-ups on setting your amp and headunit settings.

[/QUOTE]

 

[DanOpi 10+ year member]

Thanks. And so even the speaker wire you would use ring terminals?

 

[Exist_ential 10+ year member]

on that amp i would

 

[jungstah 10+ year member]

when setting gain or "level" for the amp with a dmm, V = sqrt(P x R) where V is the amount of volts you would want to see on your dmm according to desired rms output. P is how many watts rms you want coming out from the amp and R is the load your subs are wired to. so if you want your amp to put out 500w rms @ 1 ohm. it would be sqrt(500 x 1) which equals to 22.36V so @ 22.36V on the dmm, you're putting out 500w. try to lay off the bass boosts

 

[kat_black181 10+ year member]

when setting gain or "level" for the amp with a dmm, V = sqrt(P x R) where V is the amount of volts you would want to see on your dmm according to desired rms output. P is how many watts rms you want coming out from the amp and R is the load your subs are wired to. so if you want your amp to put out 500w rms @ 1 ohm. it would be sqrt(500 x 1) which equals to 22.36V so @ 22.36V on the dmm, you're putting out 500w. try to lay off the bass boosts

That's like a perfect explanation. Veryy easy to understand. First time someone tried to explain to me, it wasn't in this simple of a way.

 

[DanOpi 10+ year member]

So i'm still confused on the setting gains. Is that the level knob? What are my P and R values according to the amp? And what do I test with the dmm?

edit: and what about frequency and cross over?

 

[Joe89 10+ year member]

Your amp is currently set to Low-Pass, which would be for a subwoofer. Change it to High so it "lets the high frequencies pass" onward to the DD 6.5's. Set it at ~80hz and adjust from there (small increments) if you so desire.



This will help you with the gain setting, which is labeled "level" on your amplifier.

Your "P" value is the amp's power rating @ 4ohm (If your speakers are 4ohm).

Your "R" value is determined by the DD speakers, (I'm guessing they are 4 ohm)

 

[DanOpi 10+ year member]

My amp is 75 x 2. So is that 150 W or 75 W. I think 150. And they are 4 ohm. So my equation would be V = sqr (150 x 4) = 24.49 V? And when setting this I have my volume at 80% of the maximum playing a test tone? What hz? 50 or 60? Have heard of both being used.

 

[Joe89 10+ year member]

75w. 150w would be the value if you ran the amp bridged.

Use a 1khz test tone, -3dB should do the trick.

 

[jungstah 10+ year member]

use 1khz, 50hz test tones are for setting subs