Subwoofer and Amp mount ideas?

[ticopowell]

Haha I saw someone remove the seat and put a board there then the amps, and that went right on the metal, another one i saw someone use 3m tape to secure the amp right to the metal back wall... is that even safe? haha And from what I remember there is no plastic between the window and the back seat, not enough room, there is some type of fabric material and the child seat straps i believe. So right now the plan would be to use as much of the old amp rack as possible behind the seat, then put the sub in front, and run the wires either under the carpet (should I be worried about wear and tear there?) or run them the long way down the side of the truck under the plastic trim/floor panel.

[Longshot270]

I completely forgot that the cab you have has a tiny little bench seat. I knew a guy who built something like a center consol and mounted a high quality 12 inch sub in it. It was a good idea because you did lose a little bit of floor space but you gained a small table/consol in the back...you just didn't set an open cup in it when the radio was going.

Wherever you mount the amp remember that they can get to be over 200˚ (I kept a thermometer on mine one time and watched it climb when the subs were getting hard use).

The wires will be fine under the carpet. I've got my CB antenna wire run down there and it is still good but you can go along the trim if you want to do it easy. I have found that the best tool to run wires is a decent length of weed eater line. It is stiff enough where it will push through stuff but is not so stiff that it can't make turns. When you get the line through just tape whatever wire your running to it and carefully pull it through.

[ticopowell]

Sounds like a great idea with the weed eater line! I went and looked at it today and I think i know how to get the rear seat off, there were lots of ideas that people told me, from unbolting the bottom part and getting a crowbar to pry it up(sounds fishy to me), then some car audio installer said i just need to get my hand back there and find a little latch and unhook it. But ill see what i can do, probably easies to do it after removing the plastic side panel in back. and with the sub i went to a place and asked and the guy said that my current box should work, I just need wont have a center seat, and I just need to add some "legs" to make sure the sub isnt hitting the ground when its going. I will also have to add something to it so there isnt a gaping hole next to the armrest. Ill take a pic tomorrow to show what it looks like now, and then highlight what I think might work for at least a short term install .

[ticopowell]

So i guess i forgot to take a picture lol... But i did get the Amps installed, and the subwoofer "installed"... well temporarily at least. There was a small car show here at the academy today, and I was playing my stereo in it and I guess the amps heated up a little back there... so the sub stopped working... I am guessing/hoping that it just overheated the amp and didnt do any real damage, but if it did I guess I will have to buy a new amp sometime soon, so any ideas of a small, COOL, amp with maybe even a fan that would work for my 500 watt sub? I am also considering using a 5 channel amp to power everything but IDK how much that would be, or if its even worth it since my door speakers seem to be working just fine. Also that was the first time the stereo was playing anything decently loud for an extended period of time so it looks like it needs a cooler area. I really dont want the amps under the back seat, but If i have to I guess i can do that. Any other ideas for amp placement?
On another note here are some pics from today!




now you all know what it looks like here... if anyone is around and they want a tour then by all means let me know!

[Longshot270]

How did you have the subs hooked up? There are 2 popular ways to do it and one has more power but will overheat an amp QUICK.

+1,-1 is positive and negative connections for sub #1,
+2, -2 is positive and negative connections for sub #2

This is for a 2 channel amp but I'm not sure if thats what your using. the tabs to connect the wires are this little symbol, [. A 2 channel amp has 4 little tabs, 3 channel has 6, etc.

For standard hookup, this will generally work the best.
-[...-1
+[..+1
-[...-2
+[..+2


This is for "bridging". Bridging will have a slightly higher output but the amp will heat up WAY faster. Also, not all amps are bridgable.
-[...-1,-2
+[
-[
+[...+1,+2


To help keep the amp cool a friend of mine made a small box that fit around his amp and he mounted computer fans on it to move air.
What watt are the subs(is it one 500 watt sub or 2 250s) and what watt is the amp? You said 500 watt sub but I thought you were running two subs.

[ticopowell]

It is a mono amp, an orion cobalt 800.1, so 800 watts max, 400 watts rms, the sub is a memphis 12" shallowmount 500 watt rms 1000 watt peak, it also is a dual voice coil, but im not sure if its a dual 4ohm or a dual 2 ohm, i know both exist with this sub. the amp has 2 speaker outputs even though it is a mono, and the sub is hooked up with the positive wire in the output for 1, and the negative in the output in the other. I hooked it all up just like the place that first put it in did, so IDK if that is bridged, or how the sub is exactly wired. I want to say that the sub is a dual 4 ohm wired in parallel so the amp sees 2 ohms.
let me know if this helps, im still fairly new at this whole car audio stuff, but i researched a lot before I put this system in, but i still dont know too much haha Thanks for the help.

[Longshot270]

Dont worry, your already smater than the average bear just for knowing that much. Since it is a mono amp hook the (-)(+) on the outside of the speaker output. I dont think that amp is considered "bridged" unless you hook it up to another...or thats at least what they say. How was it hooked up originally?

For the speaker resistance, they should have something like 2, 4 or 8 ohm stamped into the housing or on a sticker on the back. I have always just tried to keep the total speaker rms close to the amp's rms. For example, my amp is 250 watt rms and I have 2 subs, a 100 and a 150 (or something similar)

How long and how hard did you have it going?