# installing an amp under front seat and have a few questions



## legend94 (Mar 15, 2006)

Amazingly I have never had an amp under a seat...

Is the vent of any concern that comes out under the seat?

Is Velcro an option for keeping it stable?


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## 1996blackmax (Aug 29, 2007)

I ran several different amps under the seats of my last car. Never had any issues, & I did use Velcro on the smaller ones. My Arc Audiio XXKs needed no Velcro though, it was a nice tight fit.


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## Alrojoca (Oct 5, 2012)

A piece Wood and mount it on the wood. Velcro under the carpet, or many other options others will share. Use a carton to put under and trace the shape and corners, seat brackets or mounting legs, use it to cut the piece of wood, then the wood would be tight or secured and will not move or slide easy. Many ways to do it, hard to avoid not opening small holes on the carpet. Rivets? Threaded not threaded just to loop zip ties, o well I can keep going, maybe you can come up with better ideas.

I have seen many installs where they remove the vents, it takes like over an inch to allow more space for the amp.


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## legend94 (Mar 15, 2006)

I had thought about removing the vent because in this instance I could run wiring through hole that vent goes through. 

If I go that route I suppose I'll need to cap of vent where it splits behind the dash. 



Also, was considering a wood piece mounted under the carpet then mounting amp to that. 

Velcro was only an option because I figured if I ever was in an accident where I flipped the car so many times the amp got loose it would be the least of my worries.


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## 1996blackmax (Aug 29, 2007)

I thought about using some wood as well, but didn't want to make the amp high enough to be scratched by any seat movement. If you get a thin enough piece & low profile amps, it shouldn't be an issue. The Velcro was strong enough to hold my Rockford Power T1500-1bd & T600-4 in place...both a little on the heavy side.


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## jb4674 (Jan 29, 2015)

Personally, I would mount the amp in the trunk instead of under the seat. Sooner or later, someone will kick the amp or something will spill and then you'll have bigger issues to deal with.


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## 1996blackmax (Aug 29, 2007)

I ran my amps in my last car this way for many years...no issues. My son now has the car with the same setup & no issues either. I get what you're saying, but things could go wrong in the trunk as well. I've had wet beach toys, boogie boards, sand, & coolers in my trunk....those things could be problematic as well.


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## diy.phil (May 23, 2011)

I did that with 2 cars about 25 years ago. It's actually pretty good ventilation down there. However one day there was a flash flood in the parking lot and it sure got soaked... that was the last time I put an amp there


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## GroundLoop (Feb 11, 2015)

Installed many amps under seats when I was installing long ago, never used wood - always just secured it to the floor of the car. The concern is to make sure the RCA cable connections are not facing toward the back of the car. If someone pushes the seat forward to accommodate people in the back there is a good chance someone will kick the amp. RCA landings on amplifiers are soldered in and usually plastic. They will break if kicked hard enough.


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## ChrisB (Jul 3, 2008)

GroundLoop said:


> Installed many amps under seats when I was installing long ago, never used wood - always just secured it to the floor of the car. The concern is to make sure the RCA cable connections are not facing toward the back of the car. If someone pushes the seat forward to accommodate people in the back there is a good chance someone will kick the amp. RCA landings on amplifiers are soldered in and usually plastic. They will break if kicked hard enough.


You never had a problem with a ground loop being introduced through the chassis of the amplifier by mounting it directly to the vehicle's sheet metal? That happened to me ONCE, and I always made sure the amp chassis was isolated from the vehicle chassis, usually with wood, to prevent noise issues. Granted, I was told that is a non-issue with most modern amplifiers...


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## 1996blackmax (Aug 29, 2007)

GroundLoop said:


> Installed many amps under seats when I was installing long ago, never used wood - always just secured it to the floor of the car. The concern is to make sure the RCA cable connections are not facing toward the back of the car. If someone pushes the seat forward to accommodate people in the back there is a good chance someone will kick the amp. RCA landings on amplifiers are soldered in and usually plastic. They will break if kicked hard enough.


Exactly what I did with my Rockford Power series amps, had the wires pointing towards the front of the car, just in case.


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## GroundLoop (Feb 11, 2015)

ChrisB said:


> You never had a problem with a ground loop being introduced through the chassis of the amplifier by mounting it directly to the vehicle's sheet metal? That happened to me ONCE, and I always made sure the amp chassis was isolated from the vehicle chassis, usually with wood, to prevent noise issues. Granted, I was told that is a non-issue with most modern amplifiers...


 No, EVERY good amp uses a switching power supply that isolates the circuit board from ground loops. If you were to touch the shield on one of the the RCA plugs to ground you would get noise. By doing that you negate the chassis isolation.


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## gstokes (Apr 20, 2014)

The purpose of mounting the amp to a piece of wood or similar is twofold, one is to isolate the chassis of the amplifier from the chassis of the vehicle and the second is so you can use .5" - 1" standoffs that raise the amplifier off the wood so there is air space under the amplifier allowing good ventilation, you might not need it but it's good practice to follow..
Electronic components don't enjoy being heated up, they're designed to tolerate it but the cooler you keep those components the longer they will last, just like the automatic transmission fluid in your car, the cooler you keep it the longer both your ATF and transmission will last..


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## 1996blackmax (Aug 29, 2007)

If needed, you can turn on the AC. That's the nice thing about having the vents down there.


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## GroundLoop (Feb 11, 2015)

gstokes said:


> The purpose of mounting the amp to a piece of wood or similar is twofold, one is to isolate the chassis of the amplifier from the chassis of the vehicle and the second is so you can use .5" - 1" standoffs that raise the amplifier off the wood so there is air space under the amplifier allowing good ventilation, you might not need it but it's good practice to follow..
> Electronic components don't enjoy being heated up, they're designed to tolerate it but the cooler you keep those components the longer they will last, just like the automatic transmission fluid in your car, the cooler you keep it the longer both your ATF and transmission will last..


Every amplifier I have seen has the heat sinks on top - heat rises. All power transistors are bolted to the top "plate" of the amp for the heat to dissipate. Raising the amp off the floor lessens the space above the heat sinks not allowing the heat to dissipate. I would say the goal is to get the amp as low as possible in the floor board. I even pounded down / massaged the floor board in one of my cars so I would have an inch or so of free space above the heat sink.


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## gstokes (Apr 20, 2014)

GroundLoop said:


> Every amplifier I have seen has the heat sinks on top - heat rises. All power transistors are bolted to the top "plate" of the amp for the heat to dissipate. Raising the amp off the floor lessens the space above the heat sinks not allowing the heat to dissipate. I would say the goal is to get the amp as low as possible in the floor board. I even pounded down / massaged the floor board in one of my cars so I would have an inch or so of free space above the heat sink.


I keep forgetting you guys drive cars with low seats, the seats in my van are mounted on pedestals that are at least 12" high, my bad


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## 1996blackmax (Aug 29, 2007)

gstokes said:


> I keep forgetting you guys drive cars with low seats, the seats in my van are mounted on pedestals that are at least 12" high, my bad



Nice 

The seats in my current car would make it difficult for an under the seat install. It is possible on the passenger side with a lower profile amp, but forget the drive's side. It has a fan & cooling/heating elements...so no room at all. I plan on running one more amp, that one I will try to get under the passenger's seat.


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