amp in 97 explorer - most convenient place to ground?

[thomasfortney]

I used one of the bolts that holds the rear seat in, i believe it was on the left side of the vehicle, doesn't really matter which bolt just as long as its within about 3 feet of your amp. Use the shortest wire you possibly can.

 

[toypaseo]

I think I used one of the rear driver-side seatbelt bolts, since my amp is under the seat on that side.

 

[617ricky]

I wanna confirm something guys... I'm hooking up the remote wire right now for the amp, and I realized that I don't have the blue/white remote wire on the stereo half of my harness.. I have an orange power antenna wire, and that's what I was using for the stock amp (it was wired into the blue/white wire on the other side of the harness for the amp turn on)

Now I just drew a blank for a sec - do I connect the long remote turn on to the STEREO part (orange antenna wire)? I was thinking the blue/white wire, but that's on the TRUCK part of the harness, and it was used for the stock amp..

I'm not using the power antenna wire for anything else - so yea, use it for me remote lead?

 

[sport97]

Either one should work, i honestly cant remember though its been a while since i cracked my dash open. You know the power antenna works so you can use that if you want since you don't have a power antenna, but the blue and white one is the designated amp remote wire. All the remote turn does is signal to the amp to turn on when there is power to that wire, so in theory any wire that works only when the key is turned would so the job.

BTW good call on getting the amp bypass now that your getting a sub, it will sound a lot better than if the sub was hooked up and with you still running that stock amp.

 

[617ricky]

BTW good call on getting the amp bypass now that your getting a sub, it will sound a lot better than if the sub was hooked up and with you still running that stock amp.

Exactly. The bypass alone made it sound alot better.. So yea I went out there about 2 hrs ago to start doing the amp install, and just swallowed my pride and said screw it and brought it to a place lol.. Not a big "Best Buy" type place, just a little install place, and they charged $40.. Not bad, cuz I just really didn't wanna deal with it after I couldn't find any wire strippers here..

Anyway, it greatly exceeded my expectations.. They had the bass midway, and I told them to turn it down a little cuz it was so deep and loud.. Although I've been in tons of cars with systems, I never actually had a separate amp/sub, so I was pretty much blown away when I heard what this sounded like..

One thing they mentioned tho, is the low-pass switch doesn't work in the LPF position, so apparently it's getting mids I guess too.. But I don't think it matters all that much, cuz it's in the Subwoofer pre-amp output on the deck.. Regardless, it still puts out a ton of clean bass..

So all in all, I'm just around $200 spent, and I'm definitely happy with it..

 

[sport97]

I guess i missed it, what size sub are you running?

EDIT: I found it. I want to grab a 10 incher in a box, my 8inch sub doesnt put out much.

 

[617ricky]

Yea I was just searching craigslist looking for something around 100 for a sub and amp and saw that.. I saw that the reviews online for the brands (coustic/orion) were generally decent and went for it cuz I liked how the amp was already attached to the side.. It was heavier than I thought it was gonna be which kinda surprised me, so I was curious what kinda sound it was gonna put out, and I'm happy with it.. I mean, it definitely sounds comparable to systems I've heard in cars with like 2 12's and an amp..

 

[617ricky]

So I've been listening to the new setup for the past 2 days, and while I do love it, I have one minor issue that I think I can fix.. It's surprising to me how it can sustain deep bass continuously, but sometimes I hear like a slight split-second delay for the bass note, cuz of it being all the way in the back.. It's more noticeable on certain songs, but I know I've heard of a "delay" setting on amps.. Anybody ever make the changes necessary to correct this?

 

[617ricky]

Another thing I've noticed after messing with the knobs is that I can't put the gain very high.. The bass gets really jumbled, although it sounds great at a lower setting.. Does this mean that the amp could be a little too powerful for the single sub, and I could get away with adding a 2nd one? I'm not sure what the listed wattage of the sub is that's in there is, but the amp is giving it 240w rms.. What do you guys think, would adding a 2nd sub be beneficial? It seems like it would, but that would only be 1/2 the wattage per sub..

 

[sport97]

Another thing I've noticed after messing with the knobs is that I can't put the gain very high.. The bass gets really jumbled, although it sounds great at a lower setting.. Does this mean that the amp could be a little too powerful for the single sub, and I could get away with adding a 2nd one? I'm not sure what the listed wattage of the sub is that's in there is, but the amp is giving it 240w rms.. What do you guys think, would adding a 2nd sub be beneficial? It seems like it would, but that would only be 1/2 the wattage per sub..

Even if you added a 2nd sub and turned the gain up the bass would still sound the same. If you crank the gain there is possibility of damaging something i believe. I would just set it where it sounds the best. I don't think a 240watt amp would power 2 subs as nicely as it does 1.

 

[617ricky]

yea that's kinda what i was thinking.. i might as well just leave it like it is, cuz it does exceed my expectations already..

 

[aaron81006]

I ran mine right out of the inside fuse box. My 93 Ex has a fuse slot in the master fuse box under the hood for power seats which my ride doesn't have. I got some of the huge fuses from the junk yard, jammed one in their and then another of the regular sized ones inside the cab. Then I found the wire comingnout of that fuse box for the seats and ran my amp off of that. No messy wires thru the firewall and the inside wires hide under the carpet. I used my label maker and marked the fuse locations so there is non confusion in the future. Viola!

 

[toypaseo]

I ran mine right out of the inside fuse box. My 93 Ex has a fuse slot in the master fuse box under the hood for power seats which my ride doesn't have. I got some of the huge fuses from the junk yard, jammed one in their and then another of the regular sized ones inside the cab. Then I found the wire comingnout of that fuse box for the seats and ran my amp off of that. No messy wires thru the firewall and the inside wires hide under the carpet. I used my label maker and marked the fuse locations so there is non confusion in the future. Viola!

Um... IMO, I think you created a possible electrical fire source...