96XJ2Door

Well not really,,,

But I got your attention right?

I upgraded the head unit from junk to a Kenwood KDC-148. It has MP3 and my I-ANYTHING plugs into the aux too.

4 channels @ 50 Watts is fine,,,SO I THOUGHT.

I wanna get a 5 channel amp to add a subwoofer,,, I NEED to keep it as simple as possible thats why I wanna go 5 channel.

And I'm so OCD that I MUST have a Kenwood one too.
So I was thinking this one
http://www.kenwoodusa.com/Car_Entert...ers/KAC-7005PS

BUT the output is 40 x 4 with a 300 W sub amp.

Would this be better than just running the head unit without an amp?
Or should I just get a sub amp (1 channel) and do it like that?

Im kinda confused with all this. My main music interests are live Grateful Dead shows so I want realism ya know.

ANY tips , hints, suggestions will be researched fully. I don't mind spending money for something thats nice either.

Thanks all

96XJ2Door

And the wiring bugs me too,,, I had to get a specific plug to use to match the head unit to the existing wiring setup. and I guess if I amp it all I will have to run all new wiring.

Because the output side of the amp is set up like that.

Guess there are no special plugs or jumpers to use . Either input or output side right?

I REALLY wanna do this but it HAS to be done right.

PLEASE,,,, neeed some advice here.

THANKS

RideRed264

With the deck you have, you only have 2 outputs, usually front and sub. If you hook it up to a 5 channel amp you wont get any front to rear seperation. So songs that would usually "rotate" inside the cab only go left to right(if that makes since lol). You will have to run 2 rca cables, and a remote wire from the deck to where ever the amp is located. You will also have to run power to the amp and ground it. Then run speaker wires from the amp to all the speakers/sub. I personally would go with the 5 channel since anytime you run sound through an amp you get more depth in the music. You should also upgrade the speakers if you already havent. I personally run a jvc 2 output deck, with a 5 channel infinity amp at 60x4 with 350w sub and i love it.

Lowrange2

According to Crutchfield that HU only has one set of outputs... switchable to SW.

You're going to have a hard time running a 5 channel amp off of that.

I'd run 3 sets of RCA cables. (If you had the outputs on the HU.)

Power, ground, remote... all that jazz.

Then run 2 smaller 4 lead wires from the amp to speaker side of the headunit plug to avoid running wires directly to each speaker.

With that head unit your only real option is to ONLY add a SW or buy a different HU.

RideRed264

My bad, misinterpreted (2-channel preamp) outputs as having "2 sets" of outputs.

Power73

That headunit only puts out 22 watts rms. the 50 watts is peak. The rms ratings are what really matters. That 5 channel amp puts out 40w x4 rms so that's a good upgrade over the headunit

96XJ2Door

================================================== =======
So,,
I CAN run a 5 channel amp and it will have "rotation" and l-r, f-r seperation?

I don't mind running the cables,, I can hide them all,, I just want my live music to sound,,,

Well LIVE.

Your post kinda confused me,,, Using MY head unit,,, what can I do to add a sub and have it sound good.
Just trying to avoid extra crap,, that's all.

THANK YOU !!

RideRed264

A 5 channel amp will have "rotation" if the head unit has 2 sets of preamp outputs,front and rear. If you only have a front preamp, you will still get left and right separation, just not front to back. Your deck only has one set(front/sub). If you don't want to change the head unit, you will have to choose to either run a sub, or to run your speakers(without front to rear separation). If you plan in upgrading the HU in the future, I'd get the 5 channel. Do you know how many/ what kind of subs you are looking at?

zimdogg

Since your deck only has one set of pre-amps, use those pre-amps for the subwoofer channels. That 5 channel amp will work fine.

Don't worry about not having enough pre-amps for the amp. Purchase something like this: http://www.crutchfield.com/p_142SLC4...+level&tp=2001

That will allow you to run all the speaker wire output's from the head unit into that converter. That will convert the line-out signal to a pre-amp signal which then works the same as having 3 sets of pre-amps to feed the proper signals to the amplifier.

With the above piece from crutchfield and the amplifier you chose, this is how you'll hook up that system and what you'll need:

16 guage speaker wire
3 sets of RCA cables
8 guage power and ground wire
remote wire
(A 4 channel amplifier wiring kit will include all of this except the 3rd set of RCA's and speaker wire. Just buy another set of RCA's and a spool of speaker wire and you'll be all set.)

Wire the amp for power and ground.
Wire the blue remote wire to the blue remote wire on the rear of the head unit. The other end of this remote wire connects to the amplifier on the remote post.

Use the head units wiring for all 4 speakers, and connect them to this http://www.crutchfield.com/p_142SLC4...+level&tp=2001. Once all wires are connected, run two pairs of RCA's from this device to the front and rear channels (channesl 1,2,3, and 4) of the amplifier.

Use the existing pre-amps from the back of your head unit and connect them to your 3rd pair of RCA cables. Run these to the subwoofer channel of the amplifier.

Run new speaker wire to each speaker from the amplifier.

Configure your head unit to send the subwoofer signal from the pre-amp on the head unit.

This will work just fine. You won't lose any fade/balance with this setup either.

91 limited owner

I ran a 1400 watt 5-channel amp, but I used a head unit with 6 preouts. And I can tell you, that three pairs of RCA will fill up one side of the door jam tunnels. All my power leads run in the other door jam tunnel. Which gives me 250 watts to each corner, and 400 watts for sub. Sound great.

96XJ2Door

ALL these are EXCELLENT replies. And I will look at each one closely.

I really appreciate the help here with this small issue.

Hard to believe I babysit Mainframe computers for a living and cannot fathom something like this.

Oh well,,, gotta read, live n learn eh?

THANK YOU ALL

If I have any more questions,, I WILL be asking,,

If anyone else has any other thing to add,, please do,,

I am ALL EARS on this topic before I get anything bought.

Lowrange2

Unfortunately, those converters are pieces of ****.

Other than I suggest a different HU with more outputs I agree with the rest.

zimdogg

The amp he's using might have a line-level input built in also. Most newer amps do, and he could hook it up essentially the same way (using the speaker wire signal from the head unit and connecting to the line-level input). If the amp has it, that's the way I'd go. If not, a converter will suffice, but will probably create some noise in the system also.