CHORO44

Hello,

I bought the following for my wife's 2002 WRX wagon: 6000cs components, 7520a 2 channel amp, and a Basslink X.

My plan is to do the components in the front doors driven by the 7520a mounted under the drivers seat. I then was thinking to have the 7520a pass the signal to the basslink X in the rear hatch area.

I have the following questions:

Do I need the thin front spacers from iaperformance.com?

The amp has speaker level inputs can I use any of the speaker wires feeding the front or rear speakers or do I need a line out converter? Does the stock deck really amplify or decrease the sound/bass to the stock speakers? If so what is the best way to setup the amp?

What should I mount the amp under the seat to?

Where does one ground both amps?

What should I use to power down the amp when I turn the key?

Any recommendations on what RCAs and power cables to use? I figure I need a two fuse setup from the battery, one for each amp.

Thanks,

D

flat broke

CHORO44 wrote:
Hello,

I bought the following for my wife's 2002 WRX wagon: 6000cs components, 7520a 2 channel amp, and a Basslink X.

My plan is to do the components in the front doors driven by the 7520a mounted under the drivers seat. I then was thinking to have the 7520a pass the signal to the basslink X in the rear hatch area.

I have the following questions:

Do I need the thin front spacers from iaperformance.com?
using the information on their page and the depth I found online for your driver(2.250" as per Infinity), the thin should work If it were me, I'd by the thicks and if I needed to shave them down I could, but if you don't have appropriate tools to accomodate this, it looks like the thin would work.

The amp has speaker level inputs can I use any of the speaker wires feeding the front or rear speakers or do I need a line out converter? Does the stock deck really amplify or decrease the sound/bass to the stock speakers? If so what is the best way to setup the amp?
If it were me, I'd use the line level inputs on the amp rather than a 3rd party line converter. They both do the same thing, and the fewer devices you have touching the signal, the better. The stock deck HAS to amplify the sound because if it didn't the system wouldn't work in stock configuration. Unless you want to buy an aftermarket HU, the setup you have proposed is the cleanest way to go using the stock head unit.


What should I mount the amp under the seat to?
I would make a plate out of aluminum that catches 2-4 of the seat bolts. Then through bold the amp to the plate, and bolt the plate to the car by sandwiching it between the seat and the floor. Use 3/16 aluminum so you can put some contours into it where your tangs that will catch the seat mounting locations have to bend to follow the contour of the car.

What should I use to power down the amp when I turn the key?
as far as I know the Impreza doesn't have a lead for a power antena or external amp switch, so you'll have to wire the amp's turn on lead to a 12v switched line. This means that the amp will be on whenever the key is on, regardless of whether or not the radio is on. As far as I know there isn't a way around this as I think even the factory subwoofer behaves in the same manner.

Any recommendations on what RCAs and power cables to use? I figure I need a two fuse setup from the battery, one for each amp.
On the RCAs I make my own to length, but it requires some soldering and will be just as expensive if not more so than buying a decent set of Monster Cable RCAs. Measure the distance of the cable routing between your intended mount locations for the amp and the sub. I like to use some cord or cable that follows my exact installation path, then I use that to make the RCAs.

As for power, use whatever gauge is recommended by the amp manufacturer. (I'm guessing Infiity recommends 8gauge). Most people will tell you to run the largest you can fit, and I would agree. (though I think 2 or 4 gauge would be overkill for this install) But as long as your meeting the MFGs recommendation, you'll be okay

Thanks,

D

Hope that helps,
Chris

Yin

iTrader: (40)

but in order to run an amp with your stock subaru headunit, i think you will need a line out converter because the amp connects to the headunit via RCA connection, which the stock headunit lacks. so there would have to be an LOC between the amp and the stock headunit. then from the amp you could wire the speakers directly into the amp.

Also had a question about RCA's for the sub. do these have to be 'shielded' in any way, or could you simply use the cheapo ones you could get for home stereo/theatre applications?

flat broke

If the amp in question has "line level" inputs (in this case it does), a converter is not needed, and is going to render a dirtier sound than if the amp has "line level" inputs.

As far as the quality of cables you buy... That's waaay too subjective a question for a yes/no answer. The bottom line is that if you buy the cheapo ones and they let some noise in (usually from a grounding issue), you'll have to turn around and buy the good ones. If that happens, then you've spent more than you would have on the good set in the first place, and have had to open everything up a 2nd time which cost you valuable recreation time. The general rule of thumb on stuff like this is "buy once, cry once".

In a more direct response to your question, I'm runing a "cheapo RCA to minijack for my Ipod install via FM modulator. I don't get any noise, but then again, my Ipod isn't part of my car's electrical system either.

Chris

Yin

iTrader: (40)

oh, i didnt know the 7520 had line-level inputs. so you would just splice into the stock deck's wring harness and connect the deck to the amp directly?

flat broke

Pretty much,

I would buy a pigtail for the HU (not an adapter to the factory harness) and run the speaker outs directly to the amp, along with the lead from pin 10 to turn the amp on. Then I would use your typical head unit adapter plug to connect to the factory harness, and connect your power leads to the leads comming off the pigtail. By doing it this way, you don't cut any of the stock wiring, and if you ever want to go back to stock, you just unplug the pigtail and adapter and then plug the factory harness back into the HU.

Remember that you'll have to run the leads from your amp out to your speakers. For this you either run wire back up from the amp to the HU and connect into the open speaker leads on the adapter, or run new cable from the amp to the speakers directly.

Hope that helps,
Chris