# Wiring advice for my O/S Chevy



## Joedirt (Mar 30, 2013)

Hi this is my first post, coming for some advice on the audio in my project, if there happens to be a thread already that answers my questions I apologize. 

I do have experience in basic wiring and consider myself mechanically inclined, I've wired up my amp and the sub I had (before it blew:mean many times. Right now I am getting the system set up in the car I hope to have until the day I die, 1970 El Camino. I have wired and mounted the HU I grabbed from a junkyard, have 2 tweeters under dash pad, and a temporary, rough cut box for some 6.5 speakers behind the seat. I plan to put the midbass 8 in speakers I was given in the center of the box with 2 6.5s on the outer ends (this is at neck level). I'm not looking to beat the sheet metal off just clear SQ with full lows, smooth mids, and clean highs...but that requires a good amount of money so here is what I have to work with:
Polk audio 880 PA880 - Car | Polk Audio®
2x 8in Powerbass speakers4XL-80-94 8" Mid Bass Driver | PowerBass USA 
2x 4in Lightning AudioLightning Audio® : Product Details
and two random 6.5 speakers hopefully replaced soon with 2x Polk Audio MM651 6.5in MM651 - Car | Polk Audio®
Also have a 200w Pioneer gm-x262 but I doubt that will come in any use for what im trying to achieve.

I've never delt with midbass speakers so heres my questions. What gauge wire is ideal for the 8s? Will my amp will suffice for the 8s and 6.5s or will it be too much? Do I need an active crossover (never used crossovers) for the 8s? And any opinions on speaker choice would be nice too, my budget is around $150-200 for a pair of speakers.


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## BoostedOne (Nov 15, 2012)

What are you planning to use to get the "full lows"? With an Xmax of 1.4mm(excursion), I doubt that 8" mid bass will do much. It just can't move any air with such a small cone and small excursion.. 
If you are already planning on the 6.5s, if they are decent quality coupled with a true 8" sub you should get pretty full range.. A pair of 6.5s will play anything except for a bass pretty decent, and thats what an 8" sub will give you.
Id run one amp on your 8" sub(s), and one on your 6.5's and 4s. 
Ideally you'd run a 4 channel amp on the 4's, 6.5's and tweets, and a mono amp on your sub(s), and some sort of crossover..
The Polk amp has a crossover to filter the highs out of the subs.. If your headunit has a high pass filter to keep the bass from going to the other speakers, great. if not, find an amp with a high pass crossover..
or you can do it on the real cheap(and it sounds that way) by putting bi polar capacitors on your speaker leads for your 4's, tweets, and 6.5s.. You will need them anyhow on the tweeters(or you will blow them instantly), or you could add an external crossover of some sort, but in some way shape or function you need one..
Most modern headunits in the 150 dollar price range have front, rear, and sub outputs and internal crossovers. Only thing that sucks is everytime you disconnect the battery you need to reset the crossover settings.

As for speaker wire, honestly the 16ga crap from walmart works fine.


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## Joedirt (Mar 30, 2013)

Sorry it took me so long to reply. I said "full" lows more so with a lack for better words. What I was saying is I don't want to "beat" I just want good sound quality with what I've got or have the funds to purchase (I know if my budget was bigger it would be easier). Are you saying I could wire the subs directly to the pa880 I have? I assumed it would be too much which is why I was going to wire the 6.5s to it. The reason I want to go with 6.5s is simply because I dont really have the room (if I use the 8s) to use 6x9s in the area I'm mounting the speakers and I havent gained the courage to cut my kick panels yet =P

Thanks for your responce.


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