at the moment i have infinity 652i's at all four corners of the car. I have an old pioneer amp for the fronts that i disconnected a few months ago because the alternator whine is horrible. when i originally installed the amp it was minimal, but noticeable if the music wasn't cranked. now it's unbearible.

i have a decent quality clarion HU that i've been fairly happy with; it's simple, looks almost stock and sounds good. the amp is wired to the speakers using the stock front wiring from the harness (i just used some cable to extend everything from the amp to the harness). the amp is under the front passanger's seat and the cabling is routed between the carpet and plastic cover on the right side of the raised divider that holds the shift lever, arm rest and e brake (if you sit in the passenger's seat your left leg will rest on the plastic). the power is tapped into the cig. lighter and the ground is one of the bolts that mounts the passenger's seat. I can't remember why I didn't use the power lead from the HU, but i'm sure there was a reason. i did use the remote turn onm, though. RCA cable is a plain cheapie home theatre one and the cabling is 14 gauge speaker wire.

i want to straighten this ghetto **** out once and for all. i want a nice 4 channel amp to push at most 70W RMS to each corner and i'd like your help in telling me what amps you would recommend and how I should wire them. where should i tap the power from? what kind of cabling should i use? should i replace the stock wiring? should i dynomat the doors while i'm at it? is this possible for ~$200? I'm looking at a US Acoustics USX4065, it's gotten great reviews at
sound domain. it's 65W RMS x 4 and 100 dB signal to noise plus a 3 year waranty... and $125. this would leave me some money left over to get some decent cabling.

please help me out, i'm pretty lost here and every faq i read applies to mostly subs or doesn't cover the questions i have, stupid or obvious as they may be.

should I maybe consider a new head unit while I'm at it? what do you think about the Pioneer DEHP5500MP?

 

I don't know much about the amp, but it doesn't sound like a bad deal. the only thing I would suggest is an 8ga wire amp kit. You should run a power wire straight to the amp. If your budget is tight, you can buy an 8ga kit at Walmart for $20

 

i'm an idiot... please tell me what you mean by "running a power wire straight to the amp"

thanks for replying, btw. seems like everyone else thinks they're above helping a shmoe who isn't knowledgeable in this area.

 

run an 8ga power wire from the battery terminal, thru the firewall, connect to the amp. 8 gauge wire is about the thickness of a bic pen.

 

thanks. yeah, i know gauge more than well enough... an old girlfriend had 26 piercings