Couple question for the experts...

[azmtbkr81]

After my last system that I bought at Best Buy was stolen I decided to get a new system but do everything myself. I've already made a box for my sub and I plan on doing the wiring myself and I have a few questions because I am learning as I go:<p>1. Is it okay to bolt the amp to the top of the sub box? <p>2. I have a 6 disc in dash factory Mazda CD player that I installed after my first system was stolen. It doesn't have pre-amp outs so I was going to use the speaker level inputs on the amp, is it better to use those or but a speaker wire to RCA converter? <p>3. I was thinking about rewiring the car with new speaker wire, how difficult is this to do? Because the CD player uses the stock wiring harness how would I fit a larger guage speaker wire into the stock harness or is there a way around this? <p>4. I bought a component system for the front speakers, what is the best way to mount the crossovers and where is the best place to mount the tweeters?<p>Thanks for your help!

[lakersfan1]

If you got your last system stolen, then question 1 should be what kind of alarm should you buy, and what options should you get for it.

[azmtbkr81]

I already have that figured out. I am going to have an alarm installed and luckily I have a clear view of where my car is parked from my bedroom window. If someone tries to break in and my alarm goes off I can yell at them to stop, if that doesn't work they will have a lot of hot lead flying over their heads, that should change their minds. Hoepfully it won't come to that, the guys around here are amatures, and probably easily scared off. In addition I am planning to bolt down my box and amp.<p>[ September 10, 2003: Message edited by: azmtbkr81 ]</p>

[lakersfan1]

Make sure you get a piezo siren installed in your cabin to keep the thief out of your car. A battery backup would be a good idea too.<p>1) Yes. That's fine.<p>2) You don't need a seperate line-ouput-converter. Actually if it was a crappy one, it'd do more harm than good. Just hook it straight up to the amp. You can still get excellent sound like this, but you'll probably not be able to turn the volume all the way up before the speaker level leads start distorting. No big deal. Just don't turn the volume up anymore if it starts distorting.<p>3) Are you using the external amp to drive your highs also? Then I'll answer from there.<p>4) The crossovers can theoretically be mounted anywhere, but closer to the speakers is better. A good place would be either in the dash behind the glove compartment, or under the front seats. The tweeters should be mounted where they sound the best. I generally prefer tweets up in the A-pillar, but with the automatic safetly belt system being housed in the A-pillar, I don't want to hack it up. It looks too narrow for tweets anyways. Maybe try putting the tweets in the kickpanels.

[azmtbkr81]

I was actually planning on using the deck's amplifier to run the all the speakers except for the sub. <p>Once I get the amplifier what is the best way to splice the rear speaker wire to run to the amp? Should I try to solder it or just use those twist-on wire connectors? Maybe there is a better way that you know of?

[lakersfan1]

If you're using the headunit power, it's pointless increasing the speaker wire size. I wouldn't do it unless you went over 100 watts RMS per side. Not the 15 watts or so you're probably getting out of an OEM head.<p>Soldering is always best if you have the time, but otherwise, you can get some wire taps. You put both wires in the splice and squeeze the tap down into the wire with a set of pliers.