What can I do with what I got?

[4DoorAccordDX]

After browsing through a couple posts, I now realize that I know absolutely nothing about car audio. Anyways here's what I have:

Deck= Clarion 180w CD Player Model # BD216

Speakers= Concept 6.5in Model # CFA-650

Amp= Jensen 500w w/ remote Bass control Model # XA2125

Subs= (2) 12in MTX 400w Thunder 4000 Model # T4124A

I don't yet have the amp or subs installed. My question is how to I properly wire them up so I get the best quality, (BUMP), without fying anything? Reading some other posts there is talk of ohms and mono and bridgeable and all that other car audio guru lingo, but that means nothing to me. What do some of those terms mean and how can I apply it to my system? And are my subs and amp a suitable combo?

Thanks in advance for any and all info.

2-Knee

[dXsquared]

i would say that you should run the subs in STEREO configuration... you cant bridge the jensen amp so just hook it up like two channels... left and right...get a 1.5 Cube/ft box for each sub and it will bump hard...

Travis

[4DoorAccordDX]

Does having the subs in seperate boxes make a difference? I already have them in a single box, the damn thing is about 3 feet long and weighs a ton. How do I set the controls on the amp? Is there a certain way to propelry adjust each control? (i.e. BASS, L-CHX, R-CHX, LEVEL) What do the L-CHX and R-CHX controls do? Is that just the individual levels for left and right? I can bridge the amp, it says on the box. That's when you use L- and R+ right? Can I use that to my advantage at all?

Thanks in advance for any and all info.

2-Knee

[4DoorAccordDX]

Can someone please explain what it means when it says that my subs are 4 Ohm? Is higher or lower Ohms better? Also on my amp it gives some of it's features:
2 Ohm stable (stereo operation)
Number of Channels- 2
RMS Power Per Channel @ 4 ohm- 125x2
RMS Power Per Channel @ 2 ohm- 175x2
RMS Power Bridged @ 4 ohm- 350x1

Those are some of the features it lists, what does all that mean and how do I wire my amp properly?

Site for the amp:
http://www.jensen.com/mobile/prod_mobile_no.asp?product=123

Site for the subs:
http://mtx.com/caraudio/archive/thunder4000.cfm

Sorry to drag on and on, but I just want to make sure I hook up everything properly so I can get the best performance ithout toasting my system.

Thanks in advance for any and all info.

2-Knee

[kennycm]

yeah, if u want the most thump, i would suggest that you bridge the amp and run the remote and place it under the dash. yeah, your amp and subs will work well together because i have a friend with the exact same setup that i installed for him although a more powerful amp couldn't work

[kennycm]

yeah, if u want the most thump, i would suggest that you bridge the amp and run the remote and place it under the dash. yeah, your amp and subs will work well together because i have a friend with the exact same setup that i installed for him although a more powerful amp couldn't hurt.

[kennycm]

oops, didn't mean to post that twice, my bad

[AccordEpicenter]

Nice deck and speakers, the Jensen amp maybe a little on the weaker side, but they are prolly fine for the MTX 4000s because they cant take much power to em, anything approaching rms (200w per sub) is overkill for them, they tend to smoke, but I think they are more toneally accurate than my Kicker Comp VRs.

[shepherd79]

read this http://www.eatel.net/~amptech/elecdisc/caraudio.htm before you start messing with.

[SPDboy]

dont bridge the amp unless you run the speakers in series. Your Amp is not capable of a 2 ohm bridged load, you will burn it out and possibly burn up your car. Since I am assuming your MTX 4000's are 4 ohm you should hook them up stereo, or bridge them series (positive of one speaker goin to the pos bridged term on your amp, the neg of that speaker going to the positive of the other speaker, than the negative of that speaker going to the negative of the amp bridged neg output.

[SPDboy]

http://images.cardomain.com/installs/313000-313999/313113_11_full.jpg
hook them up like this, or in stereo. Your best bet would be to sell the amp and buy a mono block amp like a cheap Bazooka mono amp from Circuit city

[AccordEpicenter]

ive had good sucess with a few other cheap brands, like a few Lanzars (wouldnt reccomend anything but the 1200d) and profile. My friend is still running my old CL400 profile at 2 ohms bridged (its 4 ohm stable bridged) and it gets damn hot but its never gone into protection on him or anything and put out good power. They have decent x overs too

[kandyflip445]

I say run the sub's in parallel and kill the Jensen. Then go buy a better amp...US Acoustics makes really good amps that are pretty inexpensive. But if you don't want to do that then just hook them up like the drawing in this thread shows. Also, put them in a ported box for more boom(a good ported one) and a bandpass if you can find someone to make one well(they will hit harder in certain freq. but not as hard in others.....). I wouldn't go with sealed just because I takes more power to make it sound as loud but it would make it sound cleaner.

[shepherd79]

i would say that your best bet would be to get a better amp that can handle 2ohm load.
you could do 8ohm load but they will sound like shit.

[dXsquared]

just run them in stereo.... that will yeild most power... trust me.. i have two jensen amps powering mah subs and this is the best way to get power

Travis

[SPDboy]

your not gunna see a sound quality diff between hooking the subs in stereo or hooking them bridged in a series circuit to 8 ohm, the only negative to this setup is if you blow a voice coil neither will work, the benefit is if you blow a voice coil, you will know one isnt working :)

[87DXHatch]

SPDboy,

Nice to see another member who is knowledgable about car audio. Do you have a background in it at all? (I noticed you are 31 :D)

[AccordEpicenter]

it usually sounds best when you get the most wattage, if the amp is stable down to 2 when bridged but youres isnt, so in this case your sq should be best when run in stereo because it increased the damping factor and the amp has more control over the subs. Wether you would actually hear a difference or not would be tough to say.

[SPDboy]

I dont believe this gentleman is concerned with sound Q, however somtime I like to just teach alternate methods of system wiring, ya kow to get people to learn a little. I used to to car audio installs and compete about 5 years ago, now I just get stuff stolen from me.

[SPDboy]

I dont believe this gentleman is concerned with sound Q, however somtime I like to just teach alternate methods of system wiring, ya kow to get people to learn a little. I used to to car audio installs and compete about 5 years ago, now I just get stuff stolen from me.