Is this a good combo for a civic sub?

[sbrunkow]

My son has a 97 civic and wants to add a sub. This is what he is looking at. A pioneer TS-W3001D4 dvc 12" sub with an Alpine MRP-M1000 1000w amp.

Would these be a good choice?
Are there better options in this price range?
Does the stock alternator need to be upgraded to run this amp.
What does he need to hook up this amp to a basic head unit with no pre-outs?
What gauge power cable is needed for this amp?
Has anyone used this techronics.com place?

http://www.techronics.com/index.cfm?...roduct_ID=8292

http://www.techronics.com/index.cfm?...roduct_ID=6060

Thanks for the help!

Steve

[shagone]

these are good choices but i would not hook them up to a head unit without pre-outs. this would be a waste of money in my opinion. you would have better results if you went a step down in amp and sub level to be able to afford a good quality head unit with say 4v pre-outs.

with one amp that size your alternator should be fine as long as you use 4gauge power and ground cable and you have a decent battery. you could also upgrade "the big 3" search for info on that.

never heard of techronics.com but i have heard of sonixelectronics, woffersetc, crutchfield and partsexpress.

also be sure to use the reccomended size sub enclosure for best results.

Good luck.

[jol50]

That and most amps have speaker level inputs so you don't need anything, but like Shagone said it is not a good idea the quality will suffer. Get a 4ga amp kit, or same stuff as in a kit. Get/build the larger box size recommended for music, it will play lower. Does not matter if you just want loud. I've heard good about that brand amp and those subs. Make sure you figure shipping and find out if you get a warranty, some audio brands will not warranty on certain internet sites. I have not bought there. If you can do it get a HU with crossovers in it, then you would be set just RCA the amp to the new HU. Later you can pick up a 2 or 4ch and power all the front speakers with that, is what I would do. It is nicer to have the crossovers in front so you can adjust them, but you don't have to as most amps have them.

[sbrunkow]

Do you know waht size of fuse would be required for the power line on this amp?

He has a Kenwood in-dash also. It has pre-outs for the rear as well as the speaker level out for the four. However it's only 1.8 volts and the amp needs 4 volts. Maybe he should hook the speaker level to the amp until he can upgrade the HU.

Thanks for the help.

[jhon walton]

yes Man i like your choice.Its really cool

[jol50]

No amp I know of needs max input voltage to perform well. I used 1v HU's with hundreds of amps over the years until just lately and I could clip all of them. You will only get that voltage with the HU all the way up anyway, it is mostly a marketing gimmick. I suppose it could happen but doubt an alpine would be inferior like that.

If you run a 4ga wire you fuse for 4ga, a 100+amp usually comes with them for on the battery. In fact I think my 5ga kit has 100a on it. As long as you are over your total load is all you need. Say you have 60A draw on sub amp and 20A on high amp, a 100 would be fine. That is assuming they did not put 60A of fuses on a little 200rms watt amp, some like to do that for show plus a fuse will flow much more than rated for a short time.

You can find what power X gauge wire will carry and estimate an amplifier's draw on this page.

[shagone]

Originally posted by sbrunkow
Do you know waht size of fuse would be required for the power line on this amp?

He has a Kenwood in-dash also. It has pre-outs for the rear as well as the speaker level out for the four. However it's only 1.8 volts and the amp needs 4 volts. Maybe he should hook the speaker level to the amp until he can upgrade the HU.

Thanks for the help.

1.8 volts is fine. don't use the speaker level as inputs as the impedence is different and the rca's will sound much cleaner with less noise. all you will need to do is set your gain properly. i'm guessing just past half way on the amp will do.\

if you had a 4volt head unit you could leave the gain almost all the way down and lower the noise flor but around 2volts is pretty much the standard these days so you shouldn't have noise issues with proper installation and tuning.

[troystg]

Parts Express sells Wiring kits at a reasonable price. Everything you need in there, no hassles.

http://www.partsexpress.com/webpage....ctGroup_ID=731

Would be my choice...

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...number=263-694


A Kenwood HU with pre-outs will be plenty sufficient to dive the RCA inputs of the Sub amp.

Apline AMP-

It is a class-D amp so you will not have to change or upgrade alternator as it is the most power efficient amp class thus far.

It has built in XO so you don't need to worry about a new HU with one built in.

If he has the Kenwood HU internal amp driving the factory or aftermarket front speakers he will have to be careful in not "boosting the bass" on the head unit and blowing the front speakers. Their bass will be drowned out by the woofer/amp combo.

The internal amp will run out of power MUCH sooner and start to distort. THAT is what kills speakers. It is always better to have too much power (with self control) than too little and turning the volume too high and the amp throwing out garbage.

Best of luck.. I still remember my dad helping me with my first "box" in my car.. >20 yrs ago... He thought it was a waste of time but did it anyway... That box didn't last 2 months in that car (box was fine, the "design" was terrible). I learned a LOT quickly and then made my own so as to not bother him, but always appreciated that he took the time to help and teach me the first time...

[troystg]

Originally posted by shagone
....
with one amp that size your alternator should be fine as long as you use 4gauge power and ground cable and you have a decent battery. you could also upgrade "the big 3" search for info on that.
........

Searched for "the big 3" and didn't come up with anything meaningful.

[0ldSch00lf00l]

Actually, you can get away with upgrading two of the big 3 in the 1997 Civic because I am getting ready to do the same thing in my 1997 Civic EX Coupe.

I am going to upgrade the battery ground (negative terminal) to a 1/0 wire where it grounds near the fender and the engine to chasis ground to 1/0. I am slightly old school and believe that upgraded grounds will provide a much better result than trying to snake a 1/0 cable from the alternator, under the engine, to the fuse block, then back to the battery. After all, the alternator wire currently run is already designed to carry the maximum charge that the battery can take from the factory alternator and unless it is replaced with a HO alternator, I would think that the factory wire should suffice for charging the battery.

Then again, if you want, you can undo the factory crimps and replace the charging circuit wires with 4 gauge welding leads!

One last thing, before upgrading the alternator, I am going to start out with a Kinetik HC1400 battery under the hood to go with my Big 2 (of three ). The only difference between your son's system and mine is that I am only going to run about 750 watts rms via a mixture of Class D (Crossfire BMF1000D @ 2 ohms) and Class AB (Linear Power 1502IQ) amps.

ETA: I can't believe how tiny the battery ground and engine to chasis ground wires are. They must be 8 guage...