Need some guidance (amp removal)
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Joined: Sep 2007
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From: Thornhill
Need some guidance (amp removal)
To the audio gurus, I bought my car used with an Alpine H/U and a cheap MTX amp but no subwoofer. Right now, it is stuffed in the spare tire cargo area.
I don't play loud music but would like to keep H/U. Should I remove the amp or is the power draw insignificant? If yes, how do I do it properly? Is it just a matter of disconnecting all cables or is it more complex like re-wiring the H/U and speakers?
I also read that I need to disconnect power fuse. Where is this?
TIA
I don't play loud music but would like to keep H/U. Should I remove the amp or is the power draw insignificant? If yes, how do I do it properly? Is it just a matter of disconnecting all cables or is it more complex like re-wiring the H/U and speakers?
I also read that I need to disconnect power fuse. Where is this?
TIA
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 9,984
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From: SFV, California
Hey there, I would check the amp to see if its running the speakers because if it is then you might want to keep it. If you remove it you will have to do some slight re wiring to have the HU power the speakers.
Thread Starter
Joined: Sep 2007
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From: Thornhill
Thanks for the reply. I found the fuse for the amp and disconnected it. You're right, with the amp powered off, I get no sound from any speakers. I was hoping the previous owner just used the amp to power a sub.
Can I just splice the front/rear speaker IN wires with the corresponding OUT wires that enter/exit the amp?
Can I just splice the front/rear speaker IN wires with the corresponding OUT wires that enter/exit the amp?
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 9,984
Likes: 1
From: SFV, California
If he is running the speaker wires from the Speakers to the AMP then you need to run them to the HU, If he grabbed the signal from the OEM harness the you just need to rewire them to the HU harness. If this sounds ambiguous let me know and I'll explain some more 
Some times I wish I had one of those boards that John Madden uses then boom!
Some times I wish I had one of those boards that John Madden uses then boom!
Thread Starter
Joined: Sep 2007
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From: Thornhill
Thanks again. The wiring kind of looks like this from memory. Since the HU is powered even when I disconnect power to the amp, can I connect the yellow line from the HU to the magenta lines that go to the speakers?
I'll try to take some real pics.
Joined: Sep 2004
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From: NJ USA
If the amp is connected to the headunit by RCA cables, as in this diagram,
you can't connect them to the speaker wires as you proposed because
the signal is a preamp signal not powerful enough to drive speakers.
Some amps can accept speaker-level inputs, though, and if it was wired
that way, with speaker wires headed from the headunit into the amp, you
could connect speaker wire to speaker wire, bypassing the amp.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of different ways things could have been
wired.
a couple questions to answer:
1) is the amp connected to the headunit by RCA cables or speaker wires?
2) do the speaker wires coming from the amp go directly to the doors, or
are they connected back into the car's harness, thus entering the doors
through the stock wiring?
you can't connect them to the speaker wires as you proposed because
the signal is a preamp signal not powerful enough to drive speakers.
Some amps can accept speaker-level inputs, though, and if it was wired
that way, with speaker wires headed from the headunit into the amp, you
could connect speaker wire to speaker wire, bypassing the amp.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of different ways things could have been
wired.
a couple questions to answer:
1) is the amp connected to the headunit by RCA cables or speaker wires?
2) do the speaker wires coming from the amp go directly to the doors, or
are they connected back into the car's harness, thus entering the doors
through the stock wiring?
Thread Starter
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 651
Likes: 5
From: Thornhill
Originally Posted by oth,Apr 14 2010, 11:03 AM
If the amp is connected to the headunit by RCA cables, as in this diagram,
you can't connect them to the speaker wires as you proposed because
the signal is a preamp signal not powerful enough to drive speakers.
Some amps can accept speaker-level inputs, though, and if it was wired
that way, with speaker wires headed from the headunit into the amp, you
could connect speaker wire to speaker wire, bypassing the amp.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of different ways things could have been
wired.
a couple questions to answer:
1) is the amp connected to the headunit by RCA cables or speaker wires?
2) do the speaker wires coming from the amp go directly to the doors, or
are they connected back into the car's harness, thus entering the doors
through the stock wiring?
you can't connect them to the speaker wires as you proposed because
the signal is a preamp signal not powerful enough to drive speakers.
Some amps can accept speaker-level inputs, though, and if it was wired
that way, with speaker wires headed from the headunit into the amp, you
could connect speaker wire to speaker wire, bypassing the amp.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of different ways things could have been
wired.
a couple questions to answer:
1) is the amp connected to the headunit by RCA cables or speaker wires?
2) do the speaker wires coming from the amp go directly to the doors, or
are they connected back into the car's harness, thus entering the doors
through the stock wiring?
Thanks. I'll try to find time to trace the wires and also take some pictures.
The speaker IN wires are terminated with RCA into the amp and the OUT wires use a screw clamp, if that helps in any way
There's also a light blue connector which looks very OEM which is not connected to anything. I'm wondering if this is the extension from the OEM wiring harness.Appreciate the help, will follow-up with more info.
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