Some audio Questions

[Ives]

OK, I'm going to try to cover a good number of audio questions at once, so I don't have to as a million over time, but first I will give some background info, so I don't have to answer a bunch of questions. I have a 99' Explorer Sport, with a 5 speed, it has a new CD Player in it, a Sony, can't remember which kind, but it isn't an X-Plod "K-Mart" deck. I believe I have the original door speakers in it, but I might have JBL Pro-Audio 9X6 composite speakers in the back, and that's all I know. Now for the questions:
1. If I were to put in subs, I would go for two 12 inchers, but I want as few wires as possible to show. Do I just mount the amp on the sub box, and run the wires under the carpet from the amp on, or could I mount the amp in compartment where my jack is stored, and then run the wiring under the carpet from there???
2. In the back cargo door, I noticed that there are 2 vent-like openings, I have no clue what they are for? I would look in my drivers manual, but the truck didn't come with them. If they are just decoration, Could I possibably mount the amps in there behind a plate of lexan, so I could make adjustments as needed, and run the wiring through the door with the lights and wiper motor???
3. Right now, the speakers that are positioned in the 2nd row of seats move a good deal of air when they hit bass notes, and in moving so much air, the plastic interior panels around them rattle like none other. Besides turning down my bass, what can I do to stop this annoying rattling???
4. What is the best way of mounting the sub box, and do the wiring so that I do little damage to the interior, and I can easly get everything back like it should be???
5. What is the most practical sized sub box I should get for a 99 Sport???

Thanks for the help, I know a good deal about car audio, but due to the interior space in an Explorer I'm kind of lost at what to do in moving the air for a good bass sound.
Ives

 

[athscuba]

3. Right now, the speakers that are positioned in the 2nd row of seats move a good deal of air when they hit bass notes, and in moving so much air, the plastic interior panels around them rattle like none other. Besides turning down my bass, what can I do to stop this annoying rattling???

I have the same problem, at first I thought maybe a clip was off but they are fine.... I decided to buy a bulk pack of Xtreme Dynamat to hopefully fix the problem, and then two packs of Dynaxorb to put behind the speakers... I wont have it done for a few weeks, but I think the problem can be fixed by dynamatting...

-Also, what speakers do you own?

 

[Cartman]

I'll try to answer all your questions

1. You could mount the amp to the back of your sub box so that it is hidden, use some spacers so that the amp doesn't get shoved against the back seat. The other spot that works is to remove the cargo pocket and build a rack for the amp (see my website for some pics)

2. I would NOT mount the amp to the rear hatch, slamming the door would not be good for the amp and the wires could work loose.

3. Use some dynomatt or other sound deadining material around them to reduce the rattle.

4. Run the power wires down the driver side, coming thru a rubber grommet in near the pedals, then pop off the door trim on the bottom and there is a little channel, then under the rear carpet and under the cargo areas carpet, no wires need to be visible and no damage to the truck. The RCA's follow the same basic path just use the passenger side (running power and RCA together = noise)

5. How much do you use your cargo area and how much are you willing to give up and what are you going for in terms of sound, if you want lots of bass then a bigger ported box is needed, if you want good bass but not overwhelming a small sealed box works.

 

[ShadowA2J]

I agree with everything Cartman said except mounting your amp on your box. Not a very good idea. A lot of people do this, and it leads to frying your amp from the vibrations from your subs.

 

[karl_burns]

Cartman pretty much answered your questions

I actually looked at mounting two amps to my lift gate. In addition to the beating they might take, the lift gate hydraulics might not be able to support the added weight too terribly long. Especially with the amps I was looking at.

Karl

 

[brendan]

1) For the 5 years I've owned a vehicle I have also always had a subwoofer in it. I've also always had the amps mounted on the sub box, on a vertical panel (back or sides, NOT TOP) because this mounting strategy (vertical) helps dissipate heat best. And I've never had a problem with vibrations from the box or any craziness of that sort. If the amp is well-built a little bit of good vibrations are not going to lead in any way to frying your amp.

ShadowA2J: if I am wrong here, please explain to me how some vibes will fry an amp. I'm an EE and see no way this could happen unless components are cheaply connected inside and "pop" out from the vibrations. In which case you own what I would call hillybilly junk!

Sorry to contradict, but I would just like to know the technical or any aspect of this. I've just never heard of it and in theory makes little sense unless I'm missing something.

 

[ShadowA2J]

I don't know all the specifics of what exactly will happen, but I know that a couple of my friends do a lot of comps and they are helping me design a box and false floor and they said DO NOT mount the amp to the box. Know this might just be for the really loud systems, for a daily driver, it probably wouldn't be that big of a deal. The other reason I wouldn't mount it directly to the box is because it is really hard to make the install look good. There's usually wires running everywhere, and it just looks bad. It would be one thing in a trunk, but in our X's I think it would look crappy.

 

[jssong]

i have all 1/0 power wire run up the drivers side, and rca cables, remote turn on wire come up the passenger side. all are zip tied behind the rear seats, and a lil bunch of wires, neatly ties togheter come up and i have a clean install for my system. my sub amp is on the sub box, running 3 10s, with 2400 watts rms. havent had a problem for the past 4 months. my speaker amp is mounted behind the 40 split seat, and i will be moving that soon to amore hidden location, not sure where yet though

 

[brendan]

ShadowA2J:
Good point, it does make the install look bad w/all the wires. That's why I put mine under my back seat one day when I was bored, looks much cleaner now.