QuestionQUESTION: So, just like a lot of people have experienced, one of my Infinity amplified speakers in the front door of my Jeep is blown. I'm trying to figure out what to do with the amps mounted on the speakers. I'm planning to purchase a set of alpine speakers rated at 80 watts rms to replace the old ones. Would I be able to connect the old amps to the new speakers and use them to drive the sound system like it did before? I just don't have the money to buy speakers and a brand new amplifier at the moment.
I don't have a factory head unit installed. I have an Alpine iDA-x305. So, is it possible to use the old amps? How difficult would the installation be (I've done speakers before)?
ANSWER: Hi Craig,
You have two options: you can keep the factory amplifier in the system, or remove it. There are advantages and disadvantages to either option.
If you elect to keep the amplifier, you'll need to find a different place to mount it in the door. You won't be able to attach it to the after-market speaker in the same way it was attached to the factory speaker. You can probably extend the wires that run between the amplifier and the door speaker, and mount the amp lower down below the speaker opening. This would probably be the easiest method when it comes to installation.
If you remove the amplifier, you'll need to do some re-wiring at the amplifier plug to keep your rear speakers working. Also, you won't be able to keep the dash tweeters in the system. Re-wiring consists of locating the rear channel input wires (from the head unit) and connecting them directly to the rear channel output wires that run to the rear speakers. This lets the rear speakers run directly from the head unit, instead of using the factory amplifier. You'd also need to locate the front channel input wires, and connect these directly to your new door speakers.
Generally, in a system with new speakers and a new head unit, I prefer to bypass and remove the factory amplifier. The stock amp usually has built-in equalization and crossover settings that are designed for the stock speakers, so they don't always work as well with after-market replacement speakers.
Hope this helps!
Brian
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Okay, that really helps out a lot. I think I'm going to remove the factory amps. When I'm doing the rewiring for the rear speakers, do I need to pull out the head unit to locate the rear channel input wires or will those wires already be connected to the factory amps?
AnswerHi Craig,
The rear speaker wires--both the input wires from the head unit, and the output wires to the speakers--will all be present in the factory amp plug in the door. All that's required is to connect the input wires directly to the output wires.
Here's what I have for the wire colors at the amplifier:
Left door:
Input wires from head unit:
front (+): dark green
front (-): brown/red
rear (+): brown/yellow
rear (-): brown/blue
Output to rear speakers:
(+): white/red
(-): white/black
Right door:
Input wires from head unit:
front (+): purple
front (-): dark blue/red
rear (+): dark blue/white
rear (-): dark blue/orange
Output to rear speakers:
(+): tan/violet
(-): tan/black
Note that there may be more than one tan/black wire on the right side. Therefore, I'd suggest doing the left side first, and noting the pin positions of the speaker wires in the factory amp plug. The pin positions for the wires should be the same on both sides, even if the colors aren't.
Hope this helps!
Brian
