Questions about new system setup

[Meingottinhimmel]

Aye my name is bruce i am new to this forums so hopefully i am posting right.

I have 2x Pioneer Car Amplifier GM-5100T - 2CH 760 Watts
2x 10 inch xplods only for now cause there was a short somewhere and took my good ones out so they wouldnt blow the xplod woulds
With a capasitor

In a 2003 saturn Ion lvl 3 so idk if this was suppose to be in the ION section

I was wondering if i could connect these up KICKER DS10L5 LOADED DUAL 10" L5 CAR SUB WOOFERS + BOX - eBay (item 400138459655 end time Aug-21-10 12:23:42 PDT)

KICKER DS10L5 LOADED DUAL 10" L5

[emperorjj1]

depends. to run it on ur 2 amps it would need 2 terminal cups which it probably doenst have. also you would be severely under powering the subs

[Meingottinhimmel]

2 Terminal Cups? how come right now 2 amps 2 speakers work now? whats the difference?

How much am i falling short on power? amp wise? battery wise? Alternator wise?


Sorry very new to putting systems together, so pretty much i have been doing trial and error :P

[newfiedan]

to run subs you should be running 1 amp for 2 subs or 1 sub, its not a good idea to run more than 2 off 1 amp since it drops the resistance and increases the ampage draw, think of resistance and current as a teeter totter effect, one goes down the other goes up. So if you run 2 amps powering 2 subs each you will be fine, the bigger problem that you will run into though is whether or not the factory charging system and battery will hold up to the draw which will be pretty high with 4 subs running. FYI capacitors are paperweights they do not help with high sustained draws for sound systems.

[cobalt123]

listen to ^ he knows it all lol

[newfiedan]

I do not profess to know it all but I am pretty knowledgeable. thx for the vote of confidence cobalt123 lol. As an added fyi the factory battery in the trunk is a lead acid battery you would get much more life from a gel cell battery instead and upgrade the chassis ground while your at it. If you are unsure of how to split the power source you can opt for a power distribution block or just wire both to the battery with inline fuses, always remember to fuse the amp power source this is a MUST HAVE.

[emperorjj1]

you can run as many subs on an amp as you want as long as its wired right (doesn't mean u should but you can)

the reason you need 2 terminal cups is because u have 2 amps you plan on using. The subs are dual 2 ohm so either 4 ohms separately on diff terminal cups (you cant run multiple amps to a single terminal cup) or 2 ohms final impedance on the single supplied terminal cup.

neither one your amps can run at 2 ohms properly so the "best situation" would be to add a terminal cup on the box and rewire the subs if you plan on keeping those amps. The reason i say they your falling short on power is because those subs ask for 500w a peice and the amps are like 250 on a good day... they arent the best amps IMO in general but also just much smaller then intended by kicker

[Meingottinhimmel]

yeah i just used the capacitor because i got it for free .

The way i am going to have it setup is 1 Amp connect to 1 sub
so it will be 2 amps total and 2 subs total
I am trying to just figure out what would be a good set of subs for my amps, because i want to get those xplods out of there :P

Yeah i know newfiedan knows his stuff, i have read a lot of his replys on these forums

I was planning on upgrading my alternator first, because i talked to the optimal battery guys and they said my stock alternator may be too weak to power their batteries

[emperorjj1]

and that would almost work but you have 2 subs in one box with one terminal cup so unless you plan on runing wires out the port ur gonna have to add another terminal cup

[newfiedan]

The box/sub combo he posted should have 1 cup either side but from the specs it looks like there is just one so in that respect emperorjj1 is correct in saying that wiring one amp to power both subs would not work well. Whether or not the subs are run in parallel in the box or outside the box does not matter so you can wire 2 subs, or 1 dual voice coilover sub to 1 terminal cup if you so desire, the same applies to a series arrangement the biggest thing to do in the case of a parallel arrangement though is to make sure that you have a bigger gauge from the cup to the single amp. For a setup to wire both kickers to a single amp is this wiring schematic to follow http://a248.e.akamai.net/pix.crutchf..._2-ohm_2ch.jpg but in your case they would under-power the subs pretty badly so instead opt to use 1 amp per sub and wire it like this http://a248.e.akamai.net/pix.crutchf..._2-ohm_2ch.jpg that way you can power both to as close as you can get with the existing amps. Just drill a small hole on the back or opposite side of the box and fill it with adhesive silicone after you run the wiring through it. The rms power handling listed is 450 watts a piece so each amp can power them you just will not get the most out of them. The amps you have are capable of 380 W × 1 (at 14.4 V, 4 Ω, 20 Hz — 20 kHz 0.8% THD) continuous output so yes they will be a little underpowered but on the bright side with 2 amps running the subs you will get some good thump.

I was planning on upgrading my alternator first, because i talked to the optimal battery guys and they said my stock alternator may be too weak to power their batteries

Upgrading the alternator is not required for any battery type that is a load of crap, so long as it puts out between 14.2-14.4 volts at idle it can charge any battery the problem with gel cells like the optima brand is that they can not be charged quickly, if they are drained they need a trickle charge to charge them properly. The advantage is that they hold up well to vibration and abuse. An upgraded alternator will help with current draw but good batteries and upgraded wiring are the way to go first. A bigger gauge charge wire along with a better chassis and engine ground strap will do much more for you than dumping the cash into a bigger alternator. Remember that when they make cars these days they give you the bare minimum for wiring, upgrading the wiring makes a huge difference to the electrical system and what it can handle. I run a 800 watt rms amp on 2 subs at the moment and under heavy loads it holds up just fine with the upgraded wiring/battery.