Car audio question

[Rowdy S13]

I currently have the following installed in my 2007 Chevy Cobalt:

Head Unit: Alpine CDA-9857
Front speakers: JL Audio C2-650x (6.5" coax)
Rear speakers: Diamond audio D393i (6x9" coax)
Sub: Infinity Perfect 10d VQ in a custom sealed fiberglass box
Sub Amp: Alpine MRP-M500

I plan on adding an Alpine MRP-F300 which is the same size as my current Alpine MRP-M500 meaning I can fit it under the driver seat keeping with my clean look. It is 50x4 so I don’t think I will have to worry too much about over powering the sub, but I will have much more head room. Wiring wise they both take 8ga input for power but different amp fuses, so I think I plan on getting a Stinger pro fused distribution block that takes 1 4ga in, through two separate AGU fuses (1 50 amp for the interior amp, and 1 60 amp for the sub amp) that then go to two 8ga outs. That takes care of power and fusing all in one so it will take up less space and look cleaner.


Now for my one concern, as it is with just the one amp when I turn the system up the lights will dim. It’s not the worst I’ve seen, but I don’t want it to do that at all. Would I be better off getting a 1farad cap, or a better battery? I know this isn’t a very hardcore set up by any means, but should I consider upgrading the wire from the alternator to the batter, or is that a waste for what I have? Also I figured guys could help better with my other dilemma, speaker wire. For the Sub I'm using Stinger Pro 12ga, but I don’t know what to do for the interiors. Do you think that 14ga would be ok, or should I stay with 12ga? The only problem is it is harder to run 12ga through the doors, but I will if it’s worth it. Pricing wise it’s about the same (close enough anyway). Sorry if some of the post doesn’t make a lot of sense, I copied from another post on a different site to be lazy.


Thanks,
Sean

 

[GlocksRock]

Start with a better under the hood battery, something like a Optima yello top would be great, if that doesn't help, do the big 3, or even do the big 3 anyway. Caps don't really help too much with dimming, that's not what they are for. The big 3 is upgrading the wiring under your hood, battery pos. to alternator, battery neg. to chassis, and engine block to chassis. Just use some 4 gague for that upgrade and get a better battery and you should be all set.

 

[Rowdy S13]

Battery under the hood?!?! Factory truck mounted Makes all of this easier for sure. With the small amount of power (relative) and the fact I barely ever turn it up to even talking level (nevermind loud) I think a good battery will take care of it. You think a yellow top should take care of me?

Sean

 

[UH Matt]

Go with on of these http://www.kinetikaudio.com/2009/product.asp?C=1&P=KHC600 . I use the 800 in my truck and its awesome. You should only need the 600 in your car though.

 

[GlocksRock]

kinetik batteries are expensive, a yellow top will be just fine, but if he has money to blow, get the kinetik.

 

[ErinH]

before you do anything check your grounds. both under the hood (battery ground) and the amp's ground.

I suggest starting off on the cheap... upgrade the stock battery ground to at least 4 gauge or 0 gauge. That should help alleviate your system's strain. You can also finish off with the 'big 3' upgrades as mentioned above (+ battery to alternator, alternator ground, - battery to ground). Make sure all your grounds are completely free of paint/grime/etc. You want bare metal. That is KEY!

That should cost no more than $30-50 tops. If that doesn't work, then move on to a larger capacity battery. Optima is fine. Sears Die Hard platinum is fine. Kinetik is fine. etc, etc, etc. Size is the key, here.

Simply upgrading the big 3 and the battery to a group 34 size (from 51) took away all my problems. I had about 1800w rms on tap in the last system, based off a stock honda civic 90amp alternator.

Fixing these issues is easy. Start with the basics (again: GROUNDS).


For sub wiring, just go with 12g. You use more power to feed lower frequencies, in general. The smaller the wire, the more resistance you have, w hich results in a higher voltage drop. AC power (coming out of your amps) isn’t really as big a deal, though. DC (going into the amps) is…
My entire car is running off 16g wire, except for the subs which are 10g, simply because I could.

 

[Rowdy S13]

Found a Kinetic KHC800 for $88.96 new, so not bad. I know the importance of grounds. The battery is factory in the front and the back (remember battery in the trunk) and the amp is very good. I will probably see what the battery does, maybe upgrade the ground on that but I dont really want to bother with running new wire from the alternator to the battery.

Sean

 

[UH Matt]

Optima yellows are good, but the kinetik is better. And judging by the components that you've chosen you obliviously want better than just good. For $86 you cant go wrong. Way Way cheaper than i paid for mine.

 

[fast1]

wow $86? thats pretty cheap

 

[Rowdy S13]

Actually it was $88.86, but the shipping was crazy. I found one for $114.00 shipped, so not to bad.

Sean

 

[Nemo128]

You drive a domestic. Get a rebuit alternator with higher output or have yours rebuilt. Lots of places to get that done for Chevys. It's a permanent, better fix that future-proofs in case you want to really go nutty eventually.

EDIT: Looks like you don't pump it and have no intention of going nutty. Replacing the wiring should do it.

 

[Rowdy S13]

OK, I got the battery Friday and ordered the wire yesterday. The plan is to obviously change out the battery to the Kinetic HC800 and upgrade the ground. Currently the stock ground is just an 8ga to a ring terminal, so I'm going to change it to a 4ga and bring it to one of these. We will see how that works for now because upgrading the rest will be a big pain in the butt. The main wire coming into the battery is a 4ga, but I am not sure that it is straight from the alternator. For all I know it could be 16ga from the alternator into a distribution center, then 4ga to the battery from there. When I start doing all the work I will look into the factory wiring a little more, but I have already been told from some cobalt experts that I shouldn't have to upgrade the main power wire. Anyway thats all for now, just figured I'd give you all an update. I'll post pics when I'm installing it all in a couple weeks.

Sean

 

[Rowdy S13]

OK on with the install!!!

We will start with the door wiring. Since I have a 0 option car I ony had 2 small (20ga?) wires going to the door as seen here.

I took that out and was greeted with this.

I then decided that I could just taket that out since I dont need it for anything now, so I got this

And here is the stock wiring that came out

I then ran my new stinger 14ga wire through the stock gromets and threw in the new speakers (JL Audio C2-650x)

Moving on to the trunk I was changing the battery to a new Kinetic KHC800 battery, adding a ground, and redoing the amp wiring.

Here you can see the battery mocked up with the pices I had to make inorder to hold the battery with the factory tie down.

Here is the battery without the top piece (The wires were from a battery tender)

Here is the bottom piece to hold the battery from side to side and front to back movement.

and painted

 

[Rowdy S13]

Here is the new Stinger distrobution block that has 2 seprate fuses because each amp needs a different rating. It has 4ga in and 2 8ga out.

Here is new 4ga ground lug I added (the paint was ground off underneith it)

Here is a shot of all the power side of things

Here is the ground side

And over all

Next came running the new RCA's adding my Sirius box, and cleaning up some of my wiring behind the headunit. I didnt get many pics of all of this but you can see the sirius box on the bottom left and the strat of cleaning up the wiring.

Now the best part, installing the new amp!! Here is just seeing how it will look (you can see some of the mess in this pic)

Installed

And both together

Well thats all the pics I took, I was to busy working to get very many. Over all I am VERY happy with it, sounds a lot better and is a lot louder! Sorry for the long post, but Im excited about my stereo.


Sean

 

[adwilk]

Ummmm... gonna need a picture of the sub.

Really nice work. I remember the days of having my car torn apart like that. Fun fun. thanks for the photos.

You also need to describe how much richer the mids are with the new ground wire...

 

[Rowdy S13]

Ummmm... gonna need a picture of the sub.

Really nice work. I remember the days of having my car torn apart like that. Fun fun. thanks for the photos.

You also need to describe how much richer the mids are with the new ground wire...

Ehhhh no pic of the sub. It was my first fiberglass box and it is not up to my standards.

That interior all snaps together, its not even work getting it to that stage. Im more of a motor guy (Im a dragracer more than anything) so this is easy.

LOL I wouldnt say the ground did anything to richen my mids, the new JL's probably did though The reason for the added ground was I was going to just replace the ground with a better one, and people commented to leave the stock one. I already ordered the wire and the ground lug, so I figured 2 grounds are better than 1. I may still have to upgrade the wire from the alternator to the battery though The voltage is much higher, and more stable with the new battery BUT when I really crank up the sub the lights still dim. So comming up on the list of audio mods is:
1. Build a new better box for the sub
2. Sound deading
3. Upgrade the wiring for power (and maybe a larger alternator)


Sean

 

[GlocksRock]

Yeah, do the big 3 and that should help with your dimming. Everything looks good so far, can't wait to see the pics of the sub when it's all done.

 

[Rowdy S13]

I planned on looking at how the wiring is set up for the big 3 but I never got around to it. The reason I need to check it out is because the battery in in the trunk. There are 2 positive wires factory, one is bigger than 4ga but I didnt think it was quite 2ga? Then there was a 10ga or so wire that goes to a 50amp fuse. I assumed that the larger wire is what is comming from the alternator, but the other one has a fuse. If the small wire is going to the alternator that is for sure my problem. Ill be sure to keep you all up to date.

Sean

 

[UH Matt]

i'm glad you like the kinetik, after I got mine they are all I recommend. after seeing your car torn apart I wanna tear my truck apart again and put in a new system lol. good job man.

 

[Rowdy S13]

Thanks man, Im very happy with it. I do need to take care of a couple things though.

Sean