Someone on another forum asked me to explain the basics of wiring up an active system. And also what the necessary wiring would be needed. I thought this might help some people here.
The equipment being used is
Headunit: Pioneer Premier DEHP-960MP
Tweeter amp- Diamond Audio D5300.2
Midwoofer amp- Diamond Audio D5300.4
Subwoofer amp- Daimond Audio G5600.2
Speakers- LPG 25NFA tweeters, Seas G18RNX/L
Subs- Arc Audio 10D4 (Pair)
To split power between the 3 amps, you will want to use a Fused Distribution block that is MAXI fuse compatible.
http://www.cardomain.com/item/LITLSPD4
I would use an 80 amp MAXi fuse for the Sub amps fuse on the distribution block.
http://www.cardomain.com/item/LITMAX80
Then use 50 or 60 amp fuses in the distribution block for the other amps.
You need 0 gauge wiring from the battery back to the
distribution blocks.
You will want to use an inline fuse on the 0 gauge wire less no more than 18" from the battery.
See what style you like
http://www.cardomain.com/shoptype/Fuse+Holders
You will want to make sure it will accept 0 gauge and except ANL type fuses.
http://www.cardomain.com/item/LITBANL2
Something like that.
Then make sure to get a 200 amp ANL fuse. And maybe a spare or two.
http://www.cardomain.com/item/LITANL200
For battery terminals I like to use the ring type,
http://www.cardomain.com/item/LITLSBCDSU1
Instead of just shoving the stripped wire into the Battery terminal you use these ring terminals and it comes out pretty clean.
http://www.cardomain.com/item/LITLSRT1
If you don't want to spend the cash on those things you can use the other type battery terminals too.
http://www.cardomain.com/item/LITLSBCMU2
The Diamond amps have the type of inputs that you just strip the wire and insert it into the terminals, so you wont need ring terminals when running the power wire into the amps. The speaker connections are like that too.
You will need 18-20 gauge single wiring for the Remote turn on lead. So buy a roll of that. The headunit will have a Remote turn on lead on the back of it. Splice into that and run a lead back to the amp. Then tee off the wire into 3 different leads, one going to each amp.
You can also chose to have each amp getting it's own seperate wire coming from the back of the headunit. Up to you.
On each amp you will need to use 4 gauge power wire for a ground. When hooking up the ground wire, try to keep that less than 18" as well. Make sure to scrape away the paint where you plan to ground the amp. This is very important so take your time with this.
You will need 3 different sets of RCA wires. Try to figure out the lengths you will need before you order them.
I would mount the fused distribution block somewhere where each amp will have an equal length of power wire coming from it.
Also try not to let the RCA's near the Power wires as it can cause alternator whine. If you have to cross the wires, do so at a 90 degree angle.
Wiring up the amps with speaker wire.
The Sub amp will need to be bridged. What this means is that you are going to use the 2 channels and turn it into a single mono channel.
To do this instead of using all 4 outputs on the amp, you will only use the left channels Positive + output connection and the right channels Negative - output connection.
Here's the owners manual for the D5600.2 2 channel amp for the sub.
http://www.diamondaudio.com/products...0.2-091902.pdf
Now that you have a single channel for the subs you will wire the subs in this configuration.
http://www.jlaudio.com/tutorials/wir...C_Series_2.gif
Here's another diagram (option #2) Same as the JL site diagram just different pic.
http://images.cardomain.net/sites/so...2_4ohm_dvc.gif
For the tweeter amp you will wire it in stereo like you normally would do. The left channel to the left tweeter, and the right channel to the right tweeter.
I would bypass the amps on board filter but be sure to set the crossovers in the headunit, which I will go over later.
The midbass amp(D5300.4) will have to be bridged as well. You will be bridging the 4 channel amp to 2 channels. You will use the front channels as the left speaker output and you will use the rear channels as the right channel.
You will bridge the amp the same way you would with the 2 channel. The left channels positve output will be used as the positive, and the right channels negative will be used as the negative.
Set the amp to 2 channel mode on the selector switch.
You might need to use Y adapter's 1 Female to 2 Male on the 4 channel amp. for the RCA's.
Now for setting the crossover frequencies in the headunit, I highly rec. you read pages 39 and up of the owners manual for the headunit.You will be putting the crossover into 3 way network mode.
http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pi...DEH-P960MP.pdf
As a rough guide on where to set these frequency points, check out this thread.
http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/...ossover+points
You will have to play with it for a little bit to get it right, but I'm thinking what would be best is the HPF for the tweeters set to 3.15khz
The mids HPF set to 80hz (not khz)
The mids LPF set to 2.5 or 3.15khz
The Subs LPF set to 80hz.
You might also want to try setting the mids HPF to 63HZ and the Subs LPF to 63HZ.
The slopes should be close to what the first guy posted in that thread.
But do play around with these figures. Make sure you have set the crossovers to around these figures before playing any music. You don't want bass frequencies going to the tweeters, if you know what I mean.
You'll also need to properly set the gains on the amps.
http://www.bcae1.com/gaincon2.htm
If this seems way too confusing, it might be best to have someone who is familiar with active crosovers wire this up. But you can still do all the deadening to help save money on the Labor for installation.
Linear Mode
