I decided to add some power to the rear speakers. Since I had installed new JL C2 650 speakers, I wanted to have some additional power for rear fill. They were running off of deck power. Of course in order to do that, I needed to install a second amp since the 4-channel was powering fronts and the sub. This required/took care of 2 things: (a) power to the rears and separate power for the sub (b) 4 AWG in case I need/want better amps later on.
I had the RF P400-4 running fronts and the sub. Adding a dedicated amp for the sub was the plan. I also wanted to retain my remote bass knob upfront so getting another RF amp made sense. Grabbed one for nearly nothing so all I needed was the wiring/fusing. I searched around and landed at Knuconceptz.com for a nice kit. I only needed 4AWG and another set of RCA as I had everything else lying around or installed already. I had all of the 8 AWG already running so just needed the 4 AWG to run from the battery to the rear. The material from Knuconceptz appears to be very good. Solid yet flexible 4 AWG and the RCA looks decent. Came with all of the nice connectors that a quality kit should have. I did grab some 4 AWG connectors for the ground as I was going through the big *** bolt in the rear (3/8").
First up was setting up the new board. I like setting up the amps on a wood board as it makes life easy. That way I can just lay the board in the cargo detent area under the false floor. I decided to use just a spare piece of pine I had laying around as the base and mount everything to that. Since I was now going to run 2 amps in addition to switching on a 12v relay up front (for the DVD player by-pass) I wanted to add another 12v relay to run everything from. That way the HU remote only operates 1 relay and the 2nd relay and 2 amps would run off of the supplied +12v from the battery.
Laid out everything.
Since I was going to add an amp and a relay I figured I would add a small fan to the rear to help move some air around. Not sure if the amps needed it, but I figure positive air movement can't hurt. I put the new relay under the center console in the event that I need to replace it. From that, the supply feeds the DVD by-pass relay and then "remotes" to the rear. On the new board I added a 6-way fuse box to fuse the fan and 2 amp remote leads. That way everything is properly fused. A dedicated, 12 gauge fused line runs from the battery to the 1st relay and then to the rear fuse box. Then each component is fused at the 6-way using blade fuses.
Next up was the amp power supply. On the new mounting board, I really wanted to lay out everything for safety. Ran the 4 AWG power line - fused with a 120 amp fuse at the battery - to the rear and installed the fused d-block - this also from Knuconceptz. Just an average AGU fused block. Then the split for 8 AWG was laid out to power both amps. For the ground I also used a ground d-block from Knuconceptz. I kept the ground lines as short as possible and mounted one 4 AWG to the same ground area as before.
Then added some new 16 gauge rear speaker wires through the doors the same way as the fronts - through the Molex plugs. These were 10x easier than the fronts. Ran all of the new wiring to the rear and got everything laid out. I then removed some extra "fins" on the underside of the false floor tub plastic to allow more air movement. I adjust the gains and got everything powered up nicely.
Now keep in mind the board method is only set-up for safety and to limit the jostling in the back. All RCA and power wires were loomed and properly zip-tied. Nobody will ever see it, but I want peace of mind. Plus with that much wiring, I wanted everything neat and secure. I am not in it for show but I do want it safe and installed correctly. This was a fun *** project. I wish I had unlimited funds to do an awesome system. All in all I spent around $120 as I only purchased the amp and wiring kit. The rest - wood, screws, speaker wire, 8 AWG, holders etc - I already had. Everything was properly loomed, zip-tied, separated and tightened up. No rattling of any sorts.
So what did it give me? A rear fill at the proper desired sound level and a tiny bit more power to the sub (~50 watts according to build sheet). Dedicated RCA lines for front, rear and sub. Now I don't have to power down the fronts to hear the rears through the HU power. I can blend each separately and fill in the bass to match everything. Proper HP filters through the HU and the amps, crossovers set to my liking and bass just right. Again I have to say the Pioneer unit is amazing. For an average cost unit, it really delivers. Plus with the wife gone, I was finally able to finish it up all in one shot. No hour here….. hour there install! I also relined the caro area with additional MLV/CCF to completely finish off the recessed area. The system sounds so amazing. I built it for average-joe SQ and it delivers. I played my 2 "test" songs and it is exactly what I wanted. It was worth the 2 days of torture…
Everything all hooked up..
