Factory Amplifier

[tarp]

quick question.. how can I find out if my head unit is hooked up directly to the speakers or if it goes through the factory amp? I have a 97 240SX SE and I bought it used, with an aftermarket head unit already installed.. all I did was take the aftermarket head unit out and use its wiring harness for my own Sony head unit.

Any help would be appreciated! Thanks.

[Grant]

its hooked up to the amp, but there is a way to bypass it easily.

[DSC]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Quote: from Grant on 11:32 pm on Jan. 1, 2002
its hooked up to the amp, but there is a way to bypass it easily. </td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'>How can you bypass it easily? If you get new speakers and a new head unit its no problem but if you keep the old speakers (which run at 2ohm) and a new head unit (my sony can't go below 4ohm) then you are pretty much screwed. Only way we could think to do it is run them in paralled to make it 4ohm each, problem is I can't fade front to back anymore <img src="http://www.zilvia.net/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':('>

[AJ]

quick question regarding the stock amps. &nbsp;I just ordered some kapaa 6.5's for the back, and they want to run at 4ohms.. if i run them through the 2 ohm amps, how quickly will i melt them? or will i.... eventually i'm going to amp all 4 speakers.. i just don't want the hastle right now.

[transient]

If i'm not mistaken, series would make it 4 ohm...

[tarp]

So how can I bypass the factory amp? I have Sony speakers and head unit.

[DSC]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Quote: from transient on 2:15 pm on Jan. 2, 2002
If i'm not mistaken, series would make it 4 ohm...
</td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'>Yes, your right, i'm retarded <img src="http://www.zilvia.net/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'> thats what we did.

[tarp]

So anyone know how to bypass the factory amp? :-)

[maddindian]

I have a '95 240SX that has factory (I think?) 6-speaker sound system with a cd/tape deck. It has an amp under the rear deck between to two rear speakers. Does that amp only power the rear speakers or all the speakers?? Also how powerful is it? And is it a good amp?? The system sounds pretty good to me, but then I don't have much experience in that area.

[tarp]

<a href="http://www.240sx.org/faq/articles/stereo_bypass_amps.htm

You" target="_blank">http://www.240sx.org/faq/articles/stereo_bypass_amps.htm

You</a> might have the bose system. I don't know...

I have a 97 SE and I am pretty #### sure that I only have 4 speakers... I guess the 6 speaker setup was bose, in that case the factory amp in the back only powers your rear speakers. Check http://www.geocities.com/canuckamp/bose.html for some info relating to Maximas which might be of interest.

If anyone can tell me what to do for my Clarion 4 speaker system I would appreciate it.. volume level is low and system sounds bad.. thanks.

[maddindian]

Thanks for the info!

No I don't have BOSE, I don't think any 240SX came with BOSE?? Do you have stock tweeters on your A-pillars?? If so that means a 6speaker system. Some ppl don't consider tweeters as seperate speakers..so I was just clarifying that.

Thanks for that link though.

[tarp]

I don't have any tweeters, but what are A-pillars?

[DSC]

when you say 6 speaker you are counting the tweets right? Thats how mine is. POS stock clairon amps (two of em under the rear deck) powering all 6 speakers. Or thats how it was untill a couple weeks ago. I put in a sony cd player and was forced to run my speakers in series so the front and rear left are together and the front and rear right are together. I think it sounded better with the stock setup but I don't want to spend money on new speakers so...oh well. For anybody else upgrading sound, just do it all at once (speakers, head unit, subs) it will be a LOT easier that way.

Edit: look Here (http://www.240sx.org/links/installs/chrisr/crobl4.jpg) those are tweets in your A-pillers.

(Edited by DSC at 10:11 pm on Jan. 2, 2002)

[tarp]

I'm having trouble locating the tweeters.. are you saying they are hidden behind the plastic..?? In the picture you linked I dont quite see tweeters. I'm used to little round tweeters about an inch in diameter with a grille on them.. so im having trouble lol. Do all 240's have these?

And where are those two stock clarion amps? Under the rear deck, near where the speakers are mounted? Any idea what they look like?

Thanks dude.

[DSC]

The amps are right inbetween your two rear speakers. they are long and silver and have a bunch of wires in comming out of them. Those square things are tweeters, they are just weird ones <img src="http://www.zilvia.net/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'> I think all s14's have them but I'm not 100% on that.

[tarp]

Weird, you mean the rectangular things in the middle of the a-pillars? I don't hear any sound coming from inside the a-pillar and there is no grille there.. plus oddly enough my car doesn't have an amp in between the two speakers.. I guess only some 240's came with 6-speaker system and a factory amp.

[DSC]

Oh, hehe yeah there should be a (rectangle) grille there if you have them. I guess when whoever put the other cd player in took the stock amps out cauz I am pretty sure all s14's had those. Maybe they replaced the speakers too?

[maddindian]

When I say 6-speakers, I am counting the tweeters that are mounted on the A-pillar. If you have a grille on the A-pillar, most likely you have a tweeter there.

So the amp on the rear deck, that powers all 6-speakers?? If I were to replace that amp with a more powerful one, while still keeping the stock speakers, would it sound better??

btw, does the stock cd deck play all kinds of CDRs?? Mine only plays a few, and it skips a lot also.

[AJ]

maddindian, mine does the same in terms of skipping on some cdr's.. you just have to make sure that the cd is REALLY clean.. that fixes most of the problems, i still have a few cd's that don't work, but ####.. &nbsp; &nbsp; I am also wondering about replacing the amps directly with better ones.. &nbsp; i am putitn gin 6.5 infiniti kappa's in the rear, and i'm amping them,, so... can i just replace the rear amp with a better one? or is it a lot more complicated than that.. thanks!

[tarp]

No, they did not replace the speakers. The speakers are 4-OHM Clarions that say 30 Watts max on them. I bet only the 6 speaker option had the amps built in. Since I have only 4 speakers, there is no amp in my car.. not a big deal, I was just trying to figure out why my sound is so bad. I had the same head unit in a 1990 Celica ST and it sounded GREAT. I think the Celica must have a factory amp which improved the sound. So I'm going to probably buy either a Kenwood or an Alpine 5-channel amp and hook up some phat noise :-)

madd - if you put a more powerful amp in there, it will blow your stock speakers. There is no way they are rated for any more than 30 watts. If you want better sound you need new speakers and an amp... Your LE comes with a 6-speaker system so you could just put a 2 channel amp with a crossover and play bass on a subwoofer, leaving the speakers in. But you'd still probably need a new headunit too, since stock head units don't have preamp outputs.

[Grant]

well usually the amps run according to the speakers. so if u got 4 ohms speakers ur amp runs at 4 ohms, but it cuts the power output of the amp in half

[thekid14]

it has almost 6 years and i found this postto be helpful.

[thekid14]

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[thekid14]

wery halp ful