Question about wiring speakers

[jdl01gt]

i had the BA system but have since upgraded to a MTX system with a Kenwood DNX7120. I am want to totally rewire all of the speakers to go directly from my amp to my speakers(currently have speaker wires t-tapped into existing wires. looks tacky.) when i use a four channel amp to power six speakers, how do i wire them up?

[89grand]

i had the BA system but have since upgraded to a MTX system with a Kenwood DNX7120. I am want to totally rewire all of the speakers to go directly from my amp to my speakers(currently have speaker wires t-tapped into existing wires. looks tacky.) when i use a four channel amp to power six speakers, how do i wire them up?

So you are bypassing the stock amp and are using an aftermarket 4 channel amp with 3 pairs of MTX speakers?

If so, you are going to have some minor issues. The factory system uses a crossover to remove the high frequencies from the door 6x9's and removes the low bass from the dash 3.5's and I'm pretty sure the rear 6x9's runs full range. You would have to wire two sets of the speakers in parallel, either the door and dash speakers or the door and rear speakers. The problem with that is that you'll have no way of removing the low bass from the dash speakers...you know what, before I get too deep into this, let me know exactly what you have because I'd hate to write all of this to find out I'm not correct about your system.

So anyway, respond back with exactly what you have including the speakers and amp and we'll move forward.

[jdl01gt]

yes i have decided to bypass the factory amp and upgrade to the MTX thunder elite 404 amp. I am running TDX3502 3.5's in the dash, and TDX6903 6x9's in the doors and in the back. I want to do this the right way so if i need to add something to make it work please inclunde those also. Thanks in advance.

[89grand]

OK, I've checked out what you have. You have several problems actually. You only have 4 channels to work with, but you have 6 speakers. If you want to use all 6 speakers you have no choice but to connect two sets in parallel to the same channels, either the front or the rear channels of the amp. Connecting them in parallel itself isn't a problem, it's that you're going to have two sets of speakers playing the same frequencies at the same level. Another issue is your crossover choice in the amp, which is limited to just an 80hz high pass one the front channels and an 80hz low pass on the rear channels and that doesn't really work for your setup.

Now with your subwoofer, you're ok, you have a low pass crossover adjustable from 40-200hz on the amp and probably some choice on the deck. That works just fine. I'd recommend setting it at 80hz as a starting point either from the deck or the amp, but not both. Now the Kenwood has a selectable highpass crossover for the front and rear outputs, but it doesn't solve all your problems. Now you don't want the 2 sets of 6x9's and 3.5's playing the same frequencies as the sub, so setting the front and rear high pass crossover to 80hz sounds reasonable, but the problem is that the 3.5's can't go that low and produce much output.

Ideally you'd want the the door 6x9's playing from about 80-300hz and the 3.5's playing from 300hz on up, with the rear speakers playing from 80hz and up, but you don't have those options. There are several reasons for those crossover point recommendations. One, 3 sets of speakers all playing the same frequencies in various locations through out the vehicle is one of the worst things you can do from an imaging standpoint, you'll have vocals and high frequencies coming from all over the place instead of focused up front and from one set like you'd actually want. Second, like I mentioned earlier, the 3.5's are not going to be happy trying to play from 80hz and certainly not doing it as loud as the 6x9's could get doing it.

Anyway, using what you have right now, I'd connect both sets of 6x9's in parallel (positive to positive and negative to negative) to the rear channels of the amp and set the crossover on the deck (leave the crossover on the amp off) to 80hz. Then I'd connect the front 3.5's by themselves to the front channels of the amp and set the crossover on the deck for the front channels at 220hz, the highest I think the deck goes. Then adjust the front and rear gains on the amp to achieve a decent balance between the front 6x9's and the front 3.5's.

This isn't the best solution, but the best one considering what you have. If you find you don't like it, you're going to need other equipment. If I had designed this system for you, I wouldn't have chosen three pairs of full range speakers, and I would have selected equipment that gave you more options, but anyway start with what I've said and see what you think, then if you have issues we'll go to the next step and that is replacing or adding equipment.

Hope this helps and wasn't too boring to read.

Steve

[JamminWagon]

maybe this help some

[jdl01gt]

Thanks alot for all of the info. it is sounding like i should have planned this out a little better. But if that doesnt work, what are my options. i did want to keep my amps looking the same (being i have the TE1501d and the TE404) but it doesnt do me any good if it doesnt sound worth a crap. I will try this and get back.

[jdl01gt]

so are you saying on my subwoofer that i dont want to set it on my deck and my amp. if i set it on my amp should i set it as through on my deck. could you explain this more please.

[89grand]

so are you saying on my subwoofer that i dont want to set it on my deck and my amp. if i set it on my amp should i set it as through on my deck. could you explain this more please.

What I'm saying is that you have a crossover on the amp and you have one in the deck don't turn them both on (just talking about the sub amp and sub out on the deck). You could get some phasing issues using both crossovers combined with each other. If you can by pass it on the deck then do that and adjust it on the amp instead. I'm pretty sure it's not defeatable on the amp, so turn the crossover off on the deck, or set it to pass through or whatever option you have on the deck.

You have some options with the other issues I discussed earlier, but we'll get to that after you try rewiring things and see for yourself what you think about it.

[89grand]

Thanks alot for all of the info. it is sounding like i should have planned this out a little better. But if that doesnt work, what are my options. i did want to keep my amps looking the same (being i have the TE1501d and the TE404) but it doesnt do me any good if it doesnt sound worth a crap. I will try this and get back.

Without replacing anything you currently have, you could just add one more piece and that'd be an electronic 2 way crossover. You can find a lot of them on ebay for a decent price, but there's a lot junk out there too so you want to be cautious with what you buy. I can help you find one when we get to that point.

Anyway once you had a 2 way crossover I'd rewire the rear 6x9's to run off the speaker outputs of decks rear channels instead of the amp and set the crossover at 100-150hz something like that (another option is to add a small 2 channel amp for those rear speakers, you don't need a lot of power back there). Then I'd install a 2way crossover between the front outputs of the deck and the front and rear inputs of the 4 channel amp. Set the decks crossover to 80hz and set the 2 way crossover to about 250-300 hz. I'd send the rear output of the 2 way crossover to the rear input of the amp, and the front output to the front input of the amp. Then wire the front 6x9's to the rear outputs of the amp and the front 3.5's to the front outputs of the amp.