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I bought a rather nice 300+ watt RMS amp with high level inputs, built-in low-pass xover. It was not very expensive, under $100 with shipping but looks extremely well made with big power transistors and lots of heat sinking. It looks pretty nice too, since it is a big 15+ pound chunk of black-anodized aluminum with no kiddie styling whatsoever. It is more than a foot long and 3/4 of a foot wide, so I'm pretty sure I am going to get as much output as my woofer can handle.
I will make the box tomorrow in my shop. I have lots of MDF, glue and screws already.
I was planning on disconnecting the rear door speakers, and using that for the high level inputs. However, from reading the install instructions with the amp, it looks like I should also attach a "turn on" wire from the stock head unit to the amp, so that the amp isn't running when I am not listening to the stereo.
The manual suggested the connection for an automatic antenna would be ideal. Is there any such thing? I suppose I could otherwise find a cheap relay at Radio Shack and connect to the panel lights on the LCD to provide this function.
I have tried searching for "wiring diagram", but I got lots of links but no answers. I swear that somebody has posted a link to this more than once, but there are too many bad matches to find it.
Is the cigarette lighter power sufficiently robust for a 300 watt rms amp? I know the lighter is pretty high current but it doesn't have to do 200 watts continuously like it would do under load from the amp. It would certainly be easy to connect to, and it is already fused, and rather conveniently turns off with the ignition switch. Again, I could also use a relay to turn on a more direct connection to the fuse block.
The only thing I ever use the lighter for is to charge my cell phone, so I don't care if the amp+cig lighter are too much. I won't be doing that.
Is good quality zip cord sufficient to power the amp? I have some vey high quality low-oxygen zip cord about 2x as thick (or more) and much finer wire braid than the usual lamp-style zip cord. I know that you have to go a lot thicker wire than I am used to with home wire because 12V wires need to run a lot of amps. I suppose I could just double it up to make sure.
I will make the box tomorrow in my shop. I have lots of MDF, glue and screws already.
I was planning on disconnecting the rear door speakers, and using that for the high level inputs. However, from reading the install instructions with the amp, it looks like I should also attach a "turn on" wire from the stock head unit to the amp, so that the amp isn't running when I am not listening to the stereo.
The manual suggested the connection for an automatic antenna would be ideal. Is there any such thing? I suppose I could otherwise find a cheap relay at Radio Shack and connect to the panel lights on the LCD to provide this function.
I have tried searching for "wiring diagram", but I got lots of links but no answers. I swear that somebody has posted a link to this more than once, but there are too many bad matches to find it.
Is the cigarette lighter power sufficiently robust for a 300 watt rms amp? I know the lighter is pretty high current but it doesn't have to do 200 watts continuously like it would do under load from the amp. It would certainly be easy to connect to, and it is already fused, and rather conveniently turns off with the ignition switch. Again, I could also use a relay to turn on a more direct connection to the fuse block.
The only thing I ever use the lighter for is to charge my cell phone, so I don't care if the amp+cig lighter are too much. I won't be doing that.
Is good quality zip cord sufficient to power the amp? I have some vey high quality low-oxygen zip cord about 2x as thick (or more) and much finer wire braid than the usual lamp-style zip cord. I know that you have to go a lot thicker wire than I am used to with home wire because 12V wires need to run a lot of amps. I suppose I could just double it up to make sure.