Car stereo installation questions

[iTurbo]

I bought a new car stereo setup for my Shelby Lancer. It consists of:

Pioneer
DEH-P77DH CD reciever (1.5 DIN GM/Chrysler fit)
TS-A878 3.5" dash speakers
TS-1371R 5.25" front door speakers
TS-6991R 6"x9" rear deck speakers
GEX-P920XM XM tuner (IP bus connection)
CDIB100 iPod interface (IP bus connection)

...and a 60GB Apple iPod video.

I'm wondering what the best way to hook up the speakers would be. I have six speakers but the reciever only has four outputs. Should I splice the 3.5" dash and 5.25" door speakers together or will this mess up the impedance? Also, the reciever is rated at 45W x 4 (22W x 4 RMS). Is this enough power to run all six speakers? I think it would be fine for the dash and door speakers but the 6"x9"s I have are top-of-the-line Pioneer units and can handle 460W (80W RMS).

I'm thinking the best way to do this would be to hook the 3.5" dash speakers to the recievers front outputs, hook the 5.25" door speakers to the recievers rear outputs, and then get an external amp to drive the 6"x9"s.

This leads me to my next question. If I get an external amp to drive the 6"x9"s, would it work to use a four channel amp such as the Pioneer GM-6200F to drive the 6"x9"s in stereo, and bridge the other two channels to drive a 10" subwoofer (3-channel operation)?

Somebody please help....I haven't bought an external amp or subwoofer yet and I want to know what I'm doing before I spend any more money!

[1990 shadow vnt]

hello,
to help you out. as i understand it, your not suppose to hook speakers to amp. they get hooked in automatically when the wiring harness is connected.(unless your car didnt have 6 speakers to begin with).
now,saying that...you can hook up to the rear rca outputs if you use amps.
this helps you in two ways.it allows you to hook up all 6 speakers and it gives them the power they were ment to have. all headunits(even the exspensive ones) are not powerful enough.
you had it right when you mentioned using them,only amps get hooked in there and the speaker wire goes from amp to speaker.
front output...25wx2 rms amp(small dash speakers)
rear output...50wx2 rms amp(medium speakers)
suboutlet...125wx2 rms amp(6x9's)

these are just estamates in wattage. always try to power you speakers with an amp thats rms is slightly higher then your speakers rms.that way you can turn down sensitivity on amp and not have to crank bass/treble up on your headunit.hope this helps...............ryan........

[1990 shadow vnt]

ow!forgot! if you want to add that 10" sub you will have to get a 4 channel amp and hook it to front outputs and power the 3' and 5" speakers from that.that hook a 2 channel to rearoutput to power 6x9. than buy a third mono amp and hook it to suboutlet for the 10" sub.
.again,just my 2 cents................ryan

[iTurbo]

Oh, forgot to say that I'll be connecting the speakers with aftermarket speaker wire. The factory wiring is 20 years old and pretty small gauge stuff.

It originally had six speakers, but the dash speakers were wired in by Shelby Automobiles with the original Pioneer DEX-77 stereo which is long gone. The factory plugs still remain but they only have the connections for the front doors and rear deck speakers.

[layapatch]

In my Shelby Lancer I have 5 1/4" componet speakers in my doors and I took the 1" tweeter's and put them in the dash. Have some 6x9's in the rear. I have a 4 channel amp that runs a continous wattage of 60x4 and another amp that runs 75x2 for my 2 10" subs. I may not have a ton of power but when I crank it I can hear mid's and high's not just the subs. I like to hear all of my music.

It you bought the speakers in front new and haven't opened them yet I would consider looking for a set of 5 1/4" componet speakers. You only need 2 sets of wires to hook them up and they sound awesome!

I ran all new wire as well, no use getting amps and not running the proper gauge wire thoughout the car, espically for powering the amps too!

[bfarroo]

If your just looking for a normal listening drive to work performance from the stereo then the aftermarket deck should have no problem doing that. I've run both sets of fronts off of countless head units and have had no trouble. Just hook both sets up to the deck front chanels and hook the 6x9's off the rear. If your looking for more performance then you have a few options. I've been out of the stereo business as a profession for a little bit now but I don't think a whole lot has changed. One option would be to run the 3.5's off the front chanel and then use a 4 channel amp for the door and rear deck speakers. One drawback to this is that you would have to tune the system to the dash speakers since you would have to way to adjust them. Second would be to power the Door and dash speakers off the same chanel of the amp. The problem with this is the speakers are very different in size and you would probably over power the dash while underpowering the doors. Third would be running each speaker on its own chanel either with a 4 chanel and 2 chanel amp or a single 6 chanel. This would give you the best tuning ability but is going to cost the most. It all comes down to how much you want to spend. I did the USAC competition thing and it was fun. currently I'm running all the speakers in my DD 88 daytona off the deck. Same with the 91. The 87 Still has the competition system in it and it is nice to take a cruise in it and crank it once in a while. Good luck and have fun.


Benji Farr
Green Bay WI
87 Shelby Z TII 15.2 @ 90.7
88 Shelby Z TI 2.2 auto
91 Shelby TI 2.5 5spd
http://bfarroo.tripod.com
http://www.extremepsi.org

[iTurbo]

Will it hurt the recievers power amp to splice the 3.5" and 5.25" together, so both are run off the front ouputs? Would it affect the impedance?

What if I get an external power amp to drive everything? Will it hurt the recievers amp if there aren't speakers connected?

[iTurbo]

Will the recievers fade and balance controls still work on the RCA pre-outs for connecting an external amp?

[sl3196]

Should be fine to splice the 3.5 and 5.25 together. If your going to add a sub don't even worry about powering the rear 6x9's with an external amp. Sub will drown then out any ways.


BTW: I have a shitload of extra speaker wire if you want it. Believe I have 14ga and 18GA. (ill have to check)

[layapatch]

Quote:

Will the recievers fade and balance controls still work on the RCA pre-outs for connecting an external amp?

on my 4 channel amp for my main speakers the amp has a front and rear output knob for front/rear balance. Same for my sub amp.

Quote:

What if I get an external power amp to drive everything? Will it hurt the recievers amp if there aren't speakers connected?

No the radio amp will be fine, since you have the rca plugs on the back the radio is designed for people to use the external or the radio amp.

Quote:

Will it hurt the recievers power amp to splice the 3.5" and 5.25" together, so both are run off the front ouputs? Would it affect the impedance?

Not sure if that would affect it or not? I wouldn't think it would effect the speaker if you ran the wires to the 5 1/4" and then to the dash speakers? Like bfarroo said you won't be able to adjust between the 2 sets of speakers. With component speakers they are more balanced and I think sound better. One set will over power the other, based on the location of the speakers, you will probably hear the dash speakers more.

[layapatch]

Quote:

Should be fine to splice the 3.5 and 5.25 together. If your going to add a sub don't even worry about powering the rear 6x9's with an external amp. Sub will drown then out any ways.

If your amps are setup not to overpower each other then you will be able to hear the 6x9's in the car. My car pounds pretty nice but I can hear every speaker in the car. Running a sub at 200 watts and other speakers at 40x4 the sub will just over power the main speakers. Try to match you amps output if you want more of a balanced system.

[Subliminal]

Good advice there, Jim. That's the optimal way to run the stereo...although I've heard some coaxials (like the focals I have in my car right now) that i think are every bit as good as components.

Honestly though, i still say you should just try running the speakers off the deck first. You never know until you try if they meet your needs.

But still solid advice nonetheless. I don't really understand why anyone would want to polute a perfectly good system with some coaxial 3.5 inch speakers. Yuck.

I also like how this thread is actually about 30 replies long, since it's going on at at least 2 forums.

[Subliminal]

PS - For optimal sound stage, you dont want to hear the rear 6x9s. You want to hear the fronts, as you don't sit at a concert with your back turned. Bass isn't really directional, so it doesn't matter where your subs are, but really, if you have subs, you should turn down your 6x9s so they just soothe the ears of your back passengers. Of course, w/o a sub, you want that extra bass from the larger cones in the back, but with a sub, you really don't even need rear speakers except for passengers.

[Una]

That deck sucks ass. It's been out on the market for like 6 years or more now. It's FUGLY.. Have they revised it to support satellite and iPod since it first came out? Because it sure as hell didn't support either of those back when that deck first came out.. Maybe I'm spoiled, expecting car stereo manufacturers to revise their designs each year, but THEY DO... It'd be like buying an '06 Caravan that looks just like a '96.. errr, wait, I guess they do.. Let's hope the internals are updated like the van's, or you'll be hurtin.

[iTurbo]

The DEH-P77DH does support the XM tuner and iPod interface through the IP-bus port. My brother has one in his turbocharged Cutlass and I like it a lot. It has built in LPF and HPF crossovers and 3-sets of 4v preouts. It doesn't read MP3/WMA discs but I could care less since I have the iPod now.

I bought the 3.5" speakers before I started this thread. I'd rather not go through the hassle of returning them but if you guys think they will just make the system sound worse then I'll return them. I thought they would help with the stereo imaging by using them with the recievers built in HPF, but I don't know a whole lot about car stereos. Most all my time and money go into making the car handle and brake better and making it faster.

Am I wasting my time running new speaker wire if I'm using the reciever's built-in amp?