Audio system help How to hook up a Infinity acoustic 10 system in a 95 explorer sport

[tuggey]

my friends 97 town and country recently blew up and he said i could gut the audio system and keep it before he junked it....

The system sounds a hell of a lot better then the 4 speakers i have in it now which are 4 - 5x1/2 pioneers i think and they dont even fit right( not my doing previous owners)....

So the Infinity Acoustic 10 System comes with 8 speakers... two "5-1/2's _ two "6x8's _ two "6-1/2x9's _ and two "2-1/2 little ones.... i know i only have 4 hook ups but i plan to make custom areas for the "5-1/2's and "2-1/2's..... Now the two "5's have bass blockers on them and only have 2 wires coming from them.. thats easy to hook up neg/posi, same for the "2's only has 2 neg/posi..... now the two "6x8's and "6-1/2x9's are different they have built on amplifiers and the 6x9's have i think built on tweeters? The "6x8's have 4 wires coming from it im guessing 2 for speaker and 2 for amp? Now the 6x9's have 6 wires coming from it so im guessing 2 amp 2 speaker 2 tweeter..... now heres me problems

1.The headunit only has 8 speaker wires total 2x for each speaker.. the infinity system has a overwhelming 28 wires... lol.... i know that alot of those wires arent going to go to the head unit only the 8 i need.....

2.Where do all the other wires go?
3.Where do the pos/neg wires from the amps hook up at?

Theres not a factory amp in the van i looked...
I heard something about having to get a NBS relay?
But how do i hook it all up???

If you know alot about car audio please help me...
I appreciate it.....

 

[jrowe6]

if you add up all those connections on the speakers that adds up to 28, just like on the stereo its self. sounds like you just need to match them all up. youre going to need a heck of alot of wire.

the extra hook ups are most likely power from the head unit, the reason the 6x9's have more is because they need more power and instead of running a heavier gauge wire they ran two wires.

the built in tweeters are most likely hard wired to that speaker and do not need to be hooked up. this is how most speakers are these days.

you will want to run all new wiring for this job, you can tap into the wires for the doors behind the dash easy enough, but all others will need to be run fresh. also if i am correct about all this that head unit will require a fair amount of power its self and you will need to run a bigger lead wire and ground wire, i would suggest 8 gauge. the lead and ground for your factory stereo is like 14 gauge at best and will not be sufficient. you will also need to put a fuse on the new 8 gauge lead, a 50 amp fuse should do the trick.

that is what i suspect but i could be wrong.

it would be helpful to know where all these speakers were placed in the car. 2 tweeters in the front up high somewhere, 5's in the front doors, 6x8's rear doors and 6x9's on the rear deck?

 

[tuggey]

if you add up all those connections on the speakers that adds up to 28, just like on the stereo its self. sounds like you just need to match them all up. youre going to need a heck of alot of wire.

the extra hook ups are most likely power from the head unit, the reason the 6x9's have more is because they need more power and instead of running a heavier gauge wire they ran two wires.

the built in tweeters are most likely hard wired to that speaker and do not need to be hooked up. this is how most speakers are these days.

you will want to run all new wiring for this job, you can tap into the wires for the doors behind the dash easy enough, but all others will need to be run fresh. also if i am correct about all this that head unit will require a fair amount of power its self and you will need to run a bigger lead wire and ground wire, i would suggest 8 gauge. the lead and ground for your factory stereo is like 14 gauge at best and will not be sufficient. you will also need to put a fuse on the new 8 gauge lead, a 50 amp fuse should do the trick.

that is what i suspect but i could be wrong.

it would be helpful to know where all these speakers were placed in the car. 2 tweeters in the front up high somewhere, 5's in the front doors, 6x8's rear doors and 6x9's on the rear deck?

if i understand what you said in the beginning the "Stereo" is the head unit? if so then there isnt 28 wires on the stereo itself in the van, or even 28 wires coming up to the stereo.... the head unit out of the van is aftermarket Dual 220W i took it out an i am now useing it, i looked at the wires it was hooked up to and it just has the basic hook ups... i dont think all the speakers where ran off the head unit....
and heres the locations of the speakers

5's in upper dash - 6x8's in front doors - 6x9's in the rear pillars right behind the rear doors - and the 2 tweeters was in the very back next to the hatch in the pillars....

Also the color of the wires on the 6x8's and 6x9s is this pretty much
(6x9)
red - power
black - ground
4x multi color smaller than the red/black wires - speaker wires

(6x8's)
Red - power
black - ground
2x multi color - speaker wires

im not sure if thats correct but almost all audio equipment goes by that...

and when you said "you will want to run all new wiring for this job, you can tap into the wires for the doors behind the dash easy enough, but all others will need to be run fresh. also if i am correct about all this that head unit will require a fair amount of power its self and you will need to run a bigger lead wire and ground wire, i would suggest 8 gauge. the lead and ground for your factory stereo is like 14 gauge at best and will not be sufficient. you will also need to put a fuse on the new 8 gauge lead, a 50 amp fuse should do the trick."

could you explain this a little more? i know basics a little not to much though...

 

[jrowe6]

by stereo i meant the head unit. and i do not think that after market head unit will need new wiring, forget about all that. i thought the head unit was the original factory unit and this was a complete factory system. lets start over.

this is of course a fairly complicated problem, and its very hard for me to direct you without being there to tinker with the components.

do you recall if there were any RCA's running out of the head unit? those amped speakers will need an input signal, which could be just from the speaker outputs from the head unit, or they could be from RCA's converted to speaker wires. there is a big difference in how much power runs from a speaker wire vs an RCA, if it needs an RCA line and you use a speaker line it will liekly cause distorsion and the volume will be far too high, on the other hand, if it needs a speaker line input and you use an RCA it will be super quiet and will not have the proper volume compaired to the other speakers.

also it sounds like perhaps the 6x9's have an output for the 2's, but thats just a guess.

let me know about the RCA's, ill be back on tomorrow and we can go from there.

 

[tuggey]

by stereo i meant the head unit. and i do not think that after market head unit will need new wiring, forget about all that. i thought the head unit was the original factory unit and this was a complete factory system. lets start over.

this is of course a fairly complicated problem, and its very hard for me to direct you without being there to tinker with the components.

do you recall if there were any RCA's running out of the head unit? those amped speakers will need an input signal, which could be just from the speaker outputs from the head unit, or they could be from RCA's converted to speaker wires. there is a big difference in how much power runs from a speaker wire vs an RCA, if it needs an RCA line and you use a speaker line it will liekly cause distorsion and the volume will be far too high, on the other hand, if it needs a speaker line input and you use an RCA it will be super quiet and will not have the proper volume compaired to the other speakers.

also it sounds like perhaps the 6x9's have an output for the 2's, but thats just a guess.

let me know about the RCA's, ill be back on tomorrow and we can go from there.

There where no RCA's when i took the head unit out of the van i remeber because when i took out the headunit the person who installed it did a sloppy job and just spliced and tapped it all instead of useing connectors... and i just had to rip all the wires apart... but there was no RCA's just the wires and antenna and a chassis for a ground(i think thats what it was)....

 

[jrowe6]

well that probably means the input signal for the amped speakers is a speaker level input so you just run speaker wires from the head unit to the speakers. i suspect then you just run lead and ground wires to them, then the 6x9's most likely have powered outputs for the 2's. thats what it soudns like to me

you can always mock up the system outside the vehicle. run wires from the battery of your car to get power to everythign and run speakers wires everywhere you think they should go, turn it on and see if it works.

thats what i would do anyways. when you hook it all up dont forget to put fuses on and lead wires you run, and put the fuse as close to the battery as you can so the majority of the wire is protected. a lead with no fuse is a fire hazard man, trust me i have made this mistake, damn near burned up my car! not cool. i would suggest 12 gauge wires for the power to the amped speakers, and i doubt they need any more than a 10 amp fuse, 20 amps maximum. the smallest fuse that gets the job done is best.

 

[jrowe6]

did you pull wires off of all 6 connectors on the 6x9s? and if so do you know where they went?

 

[tuggey]

did you pull wires off of all 6 connectors on the 6x9s? and if so do you know where they went?

Well i did a little more research and i found out that 2 wires from the 6x9's do go to the 2's and ive already matched them up....

And can i run 4 power wires and 4 ground wires from the headunit safely? lol
i dont think it would support it...
my headunit is 220w and

When you said "then you just run lead and ground wires to them"
Whats a Lead? just another word for power wire? lol

Also when you said "when you hook it all up dont forget to put fuses on and lead wires you run, and put the fuse as close to the battery as you can so the majority of the wire is protected.

Could you explain how to do this a little more? ive never done it and want to make sure i do it right...

And also in my research ive come by people putting in NBS relays (Name Brand System) and then grounding it out and that hooks up to the amps?

And i appreciate for the help... sorry i ask alot of questions though...

 

[jrowe6]

lead = positive power wire. an no, you would not run those from the head unit, you would run those from the battery. as for the fuses, you will need to hit up a auto parts store and find fuse blocks and fuses. they should be the standard fuses you find in alot of american cars and trucks. you can use whatever you find and want really. they just need to be about 10-15amp fuses and the fuse blocks need to fit onto 12 gauge wire, which is what you should run for your lead/ground wires. you put a fuse on each lead close to the battery so if anywhere down the line that lead grounds out it will blow the fuse instead of that wire getting red hot and catching on fire.

 

[tuggey]

lead = positive power wire. an no, you would not run those from the head unit, you would run those from the battery. as for the fuses, you will need to hit up a auto parts store and find fuse blocks and fuses. they should be the standard fuses you find in alot of american cars and trucks. you can use whatever you find and want really. they just need to be about 10-15amp fuses and the fuse blows need to fit onto 12 gauge wire, which is what you should run for your lead/ground wires. you put a fuse on each lead close to the battery so if anywhere down the line that lead grounds out it will blow the fuse instead of that wire getting red hot and catching on fire.

Ok this might be a stupid question but i want to make sure i get it right...

if i run straight from the battery itll have power drawing from it 24/7 wont it? better way to explain here...

When i hooked my amp up i ran like what youre saying, a power wire with a fuse from the battery to the amp but the amp doesnt stay on though, because it has a Turn on/off wire that goes from the amp to the headunit
when i turn the car on the amp will turn on, when i turn the car off the amp shuts off... dont i need the same concept for these? and none of the wires on any of the speakers are turn on/off's

 

[jrowe6]

you do indeed have a point. i do not know if those speakers would have an integrated on/off control, its possible they turn on when a signal is present, but perhaps not. i would say just put in a switch, but you would either need 1 for each speaker or you would need a heavy duty switch so you could run a heavy gauge wire into it and then run the 4 leads for the speakers out of it. i cant really think of a cheap alternative to that. i know there are power distribution blocks that are digital and have an on/off built into them like an after market amp, you use the remote signal from the head unit and it will turn on when the head unit is on. but those are semi expensive and im not sure they are all too easy to find.

 

[tuggey]

you do indeed have a point. i do not know if those speakers would have an integrated on/off control, its possible they turn on when a signal is present, but perhaps not. i would say just put in a switch, but you would either need 1 for each speaker or you would need a heavy duty switch so you could run a heavy gauge wire into it and then run the 4 leads for the speakers out of it. i cant really think of a cheap alternative to that. i know there are power distribution blocks that are digital and have an on/off built into them like an after market amp, you use the remote signal from the head unit and it will turn on when the head unit is on. but those are semi expensive and im not sure they are all too easy to find.

Yea... In wire alone im going to spend alot trying to run it everywhere lol...
i went out to play with it yesterday and i took my head unit out and i disconnected my left rear speaker wires from the head unit and connected the 2 speaker wires from the 6x9's in its place and connected the 2 wires to the tweeters and i didnt know if i should connected the power to the yellow 12v power wire or the ACC red wire reseaon why i didnt know which is cause power wire coming from speakers amp is red lol, so i took a guess and just sqeezed it in to the connecter of the yellow and connected the ground... i plugged my cd player back in and put in a cd and player music but couldnt tell if it was working so i faded the music to that one speaker and it was working.. and so was the tweeter but it seemed liked it wasnt getting enough power :/