By J584btgoat (J584btgoat) on Wednesday, December 12, 2001 - 02:51 pm: Edit

Has anyone switched out the factory amplifier/s for better ones? By switching I mean simply unwired/rewired in the new one/s. I'd like to replace the amps without bypassing the existing wiring(in theory all of the hookups should be there). I plan on adding a single sub in the back and bypassing the door subs. This would be in a 99D1.
Thanks

By Craig on Wednesday, December 12, 2001 - 02:58 pm: Edit

You will need an amplifier with line level inputs (speaker wire). most amplifiers take their signal through RCA cable. Most brands have amps with this feature(linelevel), but it is not common. Look for an amp with 5 or 6 channels.
ch 1&2 for your fronts/ ch 3&4 for your rears/ and 5 or 5&6 bridged to run the new sub.
Hope this helps
Craig

By Robert Mann (Oldscout) on Wednesday, December 12, 2001 - 03:07 pm: Edit

If you try to bypass the LR amp and get your amp input from the stock radio the voltage is VERY low @ 1.5 volts. It's best to go tru the stock amp.

Ubid.com has some nice a/d/s 5 channel apms right now.

By J584btgoat (J584btgoat) on Wednesday, December 12, 2001 - 03:07 pm: Edit

Thanks Craig for your help. I'm just hoping that there's an amplifier turn on lead and such. I didn't know if LR had somehow combined all of these wires.

By J584btgoat (J584btgoat) on Wednesday, December 12, 2001 - 03:14 pm: Edit

You took the thought right from my head Robert.

By Craig on Wednesday, December 12, 2001 - 03:26 pm: Edit

You can pickup the remote turn on lead for the new amp from any ignition triggered acc. just don't want to take it from the battery.
the a/d/s stuff is nice, but not a lot of options when it comes to wiring. a/d/s loves to use din plugs for some reason. I've been fighting my a/d/s ph15 for years. Not sure if they have one with line levels. As Robert said, you will need to take signal from the stock amp. Either with a voltage regualtor to go in between factory and new amp, or a new amp with line levels inputs( the amp drops the voltage for you). Either way, you will be taking signal from the factory amp. the only difference is whether you buy a voltage regulator or let the new amp do it for you.
Craig

By lynden on Wednesday, December 12, 2001 - 04:43 pm: Edit

Don't know how set you are on using the old wires but I had an amp installed that runs my rear subs (replaced them w/ fosgate 6.5 speakers). The amp only runs the rears and I have the other speakers running off a 52W deck. It sounds really good. The stereo shop had to bypass the amp for the front speakers though, they just found the wires going into the amp by passenger footwell and ran the wires up to the deck. Seemed like a lot less hassle than other people have gone through to keep the original setup. Just some food for thought.
Lynden

By David Dryden (David914) on Wednesday, December 12, 2001 - 04:44 pm: Edit

The factory amps use line level as stated, but line level is the synonymous with "RCA Level". "Speaker Level" out is a much higher voltage and will overdrive a line level input unless padded down. My current set-up is temporary until I get around to installing my amp and subs. Right now I'm using an Alpine CD head unit driving the factory amps using the RCA outputs (as opposed to the speaker level outputs)with great results. If you're going to upgrade the amps, you might want to consider that using the factory wiring will be your weak link in the system.Also, by the time you go through the trouble to remove the stock amps, tap into the wiring, find a way to route the wiring to a location for your new amp (or wedge the new amp into the stock locations), you will find that is much easier to run all new wire. You will also find that the system will sound better as well. Just some thoughts that you may want to consider.

David

By D Cantrell (Discodad) on Wednesday, December 12, 2001 - 05:16 pm: Edit

Lynden,

How much chop did it required for the 6.5 Fosgates to fit?

Craig,

I was told I need to get the "Monster brand of inputs at 79 each x 3 " to convert speaker to RCA Which brand did you use or recommend

DD

By bryan on Wednesday, December 12, 2001 - 06:23 pm: Edit

Lynden,
Did you take your rig to a CDA or Spokane stereo shop to get your install done? What kind of amp are you running? I've got an old Adcom Amp that I had in my Lexus at one point, it's sitting around collecting dust. I'm thinking about using it (it's got low level inputs) with the stock stereo and upgrading my subs as well. I think I still have a couple of JL's sitting around at my brothers place. I just worry about the Lucas Gremlins rearing their ugly heads if some of the voltages don't jive.

By lynden on Wednesday, December 12, 2001 - 07:37 pm: Edit

Bryan, I bought all my stuff at bestbuy in Spo. The guy that installed it, Chris, did a pretty good job.

He installed the deck, then found the speaker wires going into the amp in pass. footwell and ran them to the deck. This runs the corner speakers.

Then he installed an amp under the seat. I went w/ the cheapest amp I could buy since it was only powering two 6.5's (lightening audio I think, $79). 6.5 inch speakers screw right in. Someone posted one time that they're 7 inch speakers back there, they're not. Didn't do any hackin' to get them in there.

It sounds pretty good for the $300 I paid. I suggest it to anyone on a budget who wants to get better sound w/out being the loudest kid on the block.
Lynden

By Craig on Wednesday, December 12, 2001 - 07:44 pm: Edit

Discodad-
I put two of those Monster adaptors into a friend Disco. Bought em at Cartoys. He had purchased an amp that only recoginzed RCA's. One for front channels, one for rears. We 'y'ed off the rear RCA's to get signal for the subs. Save yourself the aggrevation, and find an amp that uses speaker wire inputs as well as RCA's. much more simple, cleaner, better sounding, less clutter and adjustments. Kicker is big into offering multichannel/linelevel amps as well as Xtant. Put the $240 into the amp instead of adaptors, and you'll have a much better end result-
Craig

By D Cantrell (Discodad) on Thursday, December 13, 2001 - 12:00 am: Edit

I looked at my amps again it will accept both imputs, Good news on the subs i will get a set of 6.5 fosgates (Listen up Santa)

Thanks all

DD