1St Gen Audio Questions

[massacre]

So I am going through this audio build in my head, and everything is seemingly OK
Except I am trying to figure out where to mount the amp.
Under back seats is a no go, if I never folded them down it would be fine but I do fold them down a lot during the warm weather. Folded down I can barely get my hand under there.

Thought about behind the passenger rear panel, but I replaced my headliner last year and getting those panels off is a pain the butt! Doing it once for the install is fine but having to pull that off every time I want to make adjustments to tune the amp sounds ridiculous.

Driver’s rear panel has a little door on it already but the jack and handle are there. under front seats MAY be a possibility but the amp is pretty large (5-channel) and I’m not sure about ventilation as the truck currently has no AC.

Back to the passenger panel-
I would like to run the power down the pass side anyways since that is the side the battery is on. I think I can go through a grommet behind the glove box and down under the bottom passenger door trims... and save all that cable going across the vehicle and back. it’s only 4 gauge so not too huge.
RCA cables-
I will have 6 of them, 4 for doors and 2 for sub. These are to be routed away from the power wire, correct? Thanks!
So like if I ran the RCAs down the drivers side of the trans hump, that would be fine? Thanks!

Also had a thought about installing the amp in the center console. I would have to make a mount for it I think to keep it mounted securely. If I install it with the adjustments facing up, that would be an ideal location because I could tune it while sitting in the drivers seat.
But again, ventilation.

So there is a little storage cubby in the back of the rear passenger panel with a little cargo net attached. Seems like the sub for EB system maybe goes there?
Could I pop out that little cubby hole, and install a grille cover there?
That way I could maybe install my amp behind the panel but still be able to pop off the grille cover and make adjustments without having to remove the whole panel?

Or maybe I can cut a rectangle out of the forward facing part of the cubby hole to allow access to make adjustments, but make a smaller cover and keep the cubby hole?

Later this week I’ll pull the panel off and see what I’m dealing with.

Is it OK to run speaker wires near the power cable? Or should that be separated too?
Thanks!

sorry for all the questions just want to do the job correctly the first time if at all possible

 

[gmanpaint]

Plenty of room under the rear seat for an amp. I have both of mine there.

Best place for you is behind the passenger side cargo panel.

That spot in the back you mentioned, is indeed where the factory sub enclosure goes. People place a 2nd battery there. In the other side towards the rear passenger door, is where the factory amp is placed. Tons of room right there too.

Always run power and speaker wires on opposite sides when you can. The channels that run down the sides of the doors, are perfect for this.

Trying to figure why you need 6 sets of rca cables. Wouldn't you just need 3 sets?

 

[massacre]

Thanks so much for the speedy response!
So the RCAs, speaker wires and power cable all have to spaced away from each other?
Just want to be sure when I take my measurements. Going to get a roll of speaker wire but RCAs come in lengths.
Thank you for confirming the location of the EB sub and amp behind the passenger side panel. That is going to be my best bet I think, just going to have to figure out a way to make it easily adjustable. Putting a battery there is genius, thanks for that tip!

on the 6 RCAs-
Each door speaker is 1 channel (4 RCAs out from HU, 4 RCAs input to amp)
FL, FR, RL, RR
Sub has two outs (2 RCAs out from HU, 2 RCAs input to amp)
Sub1, Sub2 which I thought was right and left channel.
So I would need 6 I thought for input

on the output side, there are 8 locations for speaker wires for the 4 door speakers,
4 + and 4- same FL, FR, RL, RR orientation
and 2 locations for the speaker wires for the sub channel.
1+ and 1-

 

[massacre]

Here are some pics

input side

Output side

Here is the size of the amp, prob close to this location if I can

And here is the sub box and amp I plan on running

That’s a ported 12”

Thanks so much for your help
Much appreciated

 

[gmanpaint]

A set is a "pair" of 2 Rca jacks. If you had 6 sets, you would have 12 Rca jacks.

You need 1 set for front, 1 set for the rear, and 1 set for the sub, since you have 2 sub outs. = 3 sets.

You can also buy a single patch cord that has 4 or 6 Rca jacks on each end. You only have to run one cable from the HU to the Amp this way.

You can also buy a remote mounted sub gain control for the amp, if installed in a space you can't get to for adjusting. Pretty small part that you can add to the dash or console somewhere easily reached. Just depends if your amp can use one or not. Research, research, and some more research! lol

 

[massacre]

Yeah hahaha sorry
It is 6 pre outs but they come in pairs
Did I say 6 pairs? I meant 6 outs. Pretty sure I said 6 jacks, not 6 sets
Either way
So yeah 6 out, 3 pair.
6 cables either way to make the connections

The amp came with a remote sub gain control already so no need to research that lol
As far as research I have been searching all day but most of the posts are people modifying/upgrading/deleting the factory sub and amp, but my truck doesn’t have it
Either that or it’s a more late model truck stuff that doesn’t necessarily apply
But I keep reading and learning lol

 

[gmanpaint]

I probably read it wrong. Lol

Since you have the gain remote, mount that amp behind the cargo panel ftw!

1st gen battery is on pass side, so makes it perfect for running the amp power back there.

Run all speaker leads on the driver's side, and cross over under the rear seat to the amp. That's how I would do it.

 

[massacre]

So I removed the pass side cargo panel, and guess what?
There is an amp there! I thought I remember seeing something there last time I had the cover off, but I don’t have the sub box, so I figured it was ABS or fuel pump related or something. One wiring harness up top, one at the bottom. Nothing on it says amp or audio anything lol.
Looks like the amp has not been touched in 25 years, and the harnesses are unbroken and complete.
Looks like I can probably remove that harness and install my power supply cable in that location. Or maybe I’ll keep that cable under the door thresholds for a shorter run.

Head unit and wiring kit are ordered, along with RCA cables, 3 pairs. Gotta figure out a bracket to mount the new amp, it is like 3x the size of the stock one.

 

[massacre]

 

[massacre]

Ended up getting the amp mounted today.

I tried messing with the stock amp bracket, but add the thickness of 3/4” MDF plus the dogleg of the front lower bracket bolt, and i decided to just make the entire mount out of MDF. New amp is thicker and didn’t want any clearance issues plus heat.

So i made a cardboard template and cut the MDF and used the original bolts and J nuts.
Had to flip the front bottom J nut around and bolt that one in from the back which was a pain in the ass.
It is definitely really solid, slightest bit crooked but it will fit and be hidden anyways.
Wiring kit and HU came today but it got too dark so gonna tackle that tomorrow.

 

[massacre]

I put it there so i can try and still use the stock storage cubby. I think if i cut a square out of the front part of the cubby, i can also adjust the amp from the cubby but still use it.

 

[massacre]

So since i don’t need the stock amp harness, should i remove it? Might make more room.
There is a connector at the bottom of the B pillar and then it goes up under the dash.
Looks easy to remove, until it goes up under the dash. Has anyone removed the stock harness?
Thanks

 

[massacre]

So I ended up leaving the stock harness in, seemed like a lot of work to remove it. I was worried about having enough room behind the HU, but this HU is shorter than my old one so there was plenty of room.
Spent Sat and Sun installing the system, man I forgot what a pain in the ass it is to snake wires through the dash. Especially 3 sets of RCA cables lol
I bought 17ft RCAs, and they just barely fit. 18 feet would have been better.
My unheated garage is dark like a dungeon, so I had to keep the garage doors open and it was 20-30 degrees both days. Ended up running power and remote wire down pass side, RCAs down driver’s side. At first the sub didn’t work, and I feared the worst, but I messed up the RCAs. Ended up testing the continuity and sure enough I had labeled them wrong.
Hooked everything back up and it’s thumping for sure. I haven’t tuned it too much yet but it sounds great and I think it will sound better with some tuning.

Thanks so much to everyone here for the helpful advice! I could not have done it without you!

 

[massacre]

Didn’t take too many pics of the install, phone was charging.
But this is how I ran the power wire on the driver’s side.
There is a big oval grommet there, after removing the computer and bracket from the kick panel area it is easier to see and to access.
I could not get a good visual from the firewall side, this grommet seems to exit under the heater box. With an inspection mirror I was able to confirm this. But it’s close to a lot of stuff so I ended up removing the grommet which was a huge pita, drilling the hole, and then reinstalling the grommet.
It worked like a charm.

 

[massacre]

Couple of pics of the finished product

The RCAs got a little messed up, I had labeled them wrong so the length on that top pair is too short, and the length on the bottom one is too long. but it reaches and works, and will be covered up by the side panel. I might swap those two though to make it look more normal.
All in all I think it came out OK

 

[toypaseo]

I would swap those RCAs. No need to possibly strain the RCAs or jacks on the amp from the constant pull from being short. Might as well have slack on all of them since you can change them easily.

 

[massacre]

I would swap those RCAs. No need to possibly strain the RCAs or jacks on the amp from the constant pull from being short. Might as well have slack on all of them since you can change them easily.

Yeah I agree. There isn’t any strain right now but it’s close. And like you said it would be an easy swap.

 

[massacre]

Just swapped them, took 5 minutes. this is how it was supposed to be all along lmao

Thanks for the advice!

 

[toypaseo]

Much better...

 

[massacre]

Much better...

Thanks!
I tried to keep the wiring as neat as I could and that was bumming me out. This week has been so busy that I hadn’t had time to swap those.

Problem I am having now is trying to tune the amp.
The door speakers are really far away from the amp, so I can’t listen from the driver’s seat and also make adjustments. My arms are not long enough.