Amp to power door speakers Q's

I am completely new to audio so please don't be offended

What I want to do is power my 4 door speakers with an amp and keep the stock headunit (I know).

My question is since the amp I want to by has speaker level inputs. Can I run speaker wire from the existing wiring (extend the wires to the amp) and then run new wire back to the speakers? Then I would need to find a power source from the back of the headunit to the amp?

Seems to simple in my mind so im thinking there is more to it..Please correct me if im wrong. Also I will be using Alpine 6.5" components along with an Alpine MRX-F35

 

I am by no means an expert on your question but will offer what I know. Depending on your amp, you can run your speaker wires out the back of the HU directly to it AS LONG as your amp has a HI / LO switch for input. Even though the HU puts out weak power, the amp still sees it as a high level input. In this case the switch would be set to HI.

If your amp cannot handle direct speaker wire input, i.e., no HI / LO switch, you can purchase a "line out converter" that will take your HU speaker wires as an input and change it over to low level for the amp. Sometimes the LOC has RCA type jacks on the output that will plug directly into the RCA jack input of the amp.

From the amp, your output speaker wires go directly to the speakers.

There are plugs and stuff (technical term) that are made so that you do not have to cut into your HU wire harness.

Hope this helps.

Donald

 

Yeah I believe it accepts hi/lo inputs. Trying to stay away from loc's if I can to keep everything simple and clean..think my best bet is to install and see how it sounds and go from there. I'd rather buy a new HU then wire in a loc and try to tune it..main reason for keeping the stock HU for me is keeping theives away..

 

The high level outputs from your stock HU go to the your amp provided it has high level inputs. You would have to abandon the stock wiring that goes from your stock HU to the speakers. From the back of the stock HU you have to run 8 (FR,FL, RR, RL ) wires 16-18 gauge to the amp wherever you will mount it. From the amp to each door speaker you should run 12-14 gauge. The amp is NOT powered from the head unit. The amp requires its own fused power connection of 4-8 gauge cable and a short as possible 4-8 gauge cable to chassis ground.

Im not sure what you have against LOC. They really are a necessity when doing OEM integration. I like the JL Clean Sweep.

 

I've just read horror stories about them..Making static sounds turning on/off, etc. What would be the difference just extending the speaker wiring to the amp which will be mounted behind the rear seats? That way I dont have to trace wires from the back of the HU

 

Yes, you can do what you want. A negative though, the output from the stock HU has some tuning and controls in place that affect the true sound being output. A good LOC (Cleansweep), helps to remove that and get the signal back to true. If you like the sound that the stock HU puts out, just want it louder, you are probably good (boosting a questionable signal may get you hearing some of the bad stuff though).

End of the day though, doing just the amp with the high-level's won't cost you anything extra, except some time, if it doesn't work out. If you don't like it, can insert a LOC or a new HU into the mix.

 

Thats exactly the answer I was looking for. Just wanted to make sure it was possible and if the sound isnt what I am hoping for I'll probably get a HU vs a loc

 

Let me get this straight. You want to extend the speaker wires from the doors all the way to an amp that is mounted behind the rear seat that back up to the doors to drive the speakers. Thats going out and into the doors twice! Just run them from the back of the HU to your amp.

 

I realize that lol Reason behind that is so I dont have to trace the wires behind the HU and figure out what goes where. Do you think I'll loose any sound quality with running that much extra wire? Really when you think about it; seems so much cleaner and quicker. That way Im not feeding a bundle of wire from the HU to the back of the truck. Yet again, I could be wrong..

Ordering amp, dynamat, and components Friday. Already have my speaker adapters from *********. Will get all the speaker wire and amp wiring kit local

 

might be easier to tap the speakers wires before they go into the door if you don't want to pull the HU and tap them there. Personally, I'd pull the HU and tap them there, but it is your choice