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Interesting Wiring Concept. 
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I'm not sure if this is a common thing, but hear me out.

So my friend has decided to put sub in the boot of his MkIV Golf. However considering boot-space, he wants it to be removable which is fair enough. He enlisted my help because I had a full-boot setup jobby in my Punto and frankly even though I know barely anything about it I know more than him!

So if the task is to create a removable system, the wiring needs to be simple and not secured anywhere. Obviously that means attaching the amp to the back of the sub (300W FLi amp, 500W 17" Sub in a ported box - he got them free). Wiring can be done as usual with the RCA and the sub remote cable, as they don't draw any power. But i'm a bit dubious about having the power and grounding cables hanging loose.

Then it got me thinking.. Lighter sockets are basically just an extension of the battery's capabilities right? So that means that if we wanted, we could wire this amp into the boot's lighter socket and it wouldn't need to be wired down to the front of the car..

A quick search on ebay brought THIS. Do you reckon it would be possible to cut off the adaptor at the end, connect the red wire up to the bit on the amp for "power" and the black wire to the bit on the amp for grounding?


Wed Sep 09, 2009 2:46 pm
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It would be a miracle if those little cables in that cigarette lighter could carry 25 amps.

Is there any reason why you couldn't wire up the amp normally, and mount it vertically on one side of the car. From there, you could just plug/unplug the speaker cable when you want to take the box out.

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Wed Sep 09, 2009 5:39 pm
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^^^Agreed - I've seen setups where the connectors are secured down and the sub can easily be removed and connected to the connectors. Head over to talkaudio and get your mate to join golfgti.co.uk too.

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Wed Sep 09, 2009 6:53 pm
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I looked at making my old system removable but the connectors you need aren't easy to get hold of.
I'd have to agree with the others and leave the amp mounted and just remove the sub. Either that or mount everything in stealth boxes.

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jonlumb wrote:
I've only ever done it with a chicken so far, but if required I wouldn't have any problems doing it with other animals at all.


Thu Sep 10, 2009 9:25 am
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As CW mentions, TA have a host of guys using plug n' play wiring setups in their systems - which you usually have to search through massive build threads to find the particulars on - but in short, they revolve around well considered, well specced wiring setups laid down as a foundation for any system - terminated at both ends with sockets so only short runs are required at each end...

Most have moved away from using phono for such a purpose - and have moved onto either XLR (the SQ guys anyway - since it's easily the best for balanced setups and not to mention the cool factor of an XLR distro panel in the boot) or Neutrik's Speakon (the SPL guys needing to exploit massive gauge connection compatibility of PA-orientated gear).


Sun Sep 13, 2009 3:53 pm
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Well turns out he didn't go for it in the end, which probably makes sense for him with such a small boot.

It got me thinking, and I figured i'd do it to my car instead. I've got pretty much the same amp (Think mine is a little better) and a sub the same size (though mine is 750W).

Seeing as there was nowhere to mount the amp in my boot i've attached it to the back of the sub box itself. Thankfully the slope of the box the sub is in is different to the angle the rear seats are at, so it leaves a perfect gap for the amp behind it.

It has been grounded quite precariously, by scratching a small square of paint away underneath the boot-carpet and putting the bare wire there. It is kept in place by the fact that the sub is so heavy, and wedged into place by the shelf. However this makes it much easier to be removed. The only things that I need to tidy up when removing the amp are the RCA cable, power cable and sub remote. It's pretty sweet-sounded, and my "premium Renault sound system" which came with the car does the mid-treble justice.

=)


Wed Sep 16, 2009 12:20 am
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That grounding sounds dangerous! :shock:

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Wed Sep 16, 2009 11:54 pm
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What could go wrong?

>.<

In fact I had that grounding method in my Punto due to a lack of any place in the boot to ground the bloody thing. All I got were a few sparks every now and then when shifting things around in the boot, but that could've been because it was pretty precarious..

I can't think of any other place to do it. There's no bare metal in the boot, and the seatbelt bolts are totally out of the question.


Sun Sep 20, 2009 11:45 am
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Angelic wrote:
What could go wrong?

>.<

In fact I had that grounding method in my Punto due to a lack of any place in the boot to ground the bloody thing. All I got were a few sparks every now and then when shifting things around in the boot, but that could've been because it was pretty precarious..

I can't think of any other place to do it. There's no bare metal in the boot, and the seatbelt bolts are totally out of the question.



Drill a small hole through the boot floor where you've scratched the paint of f& bolt the lug down.

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jonlumb wrote:
I've only ever done it with a chicken so far, but if required I wouldn't have any problems doing it with other animals at all.


Sun Sep 20, 2009 8:21 pm
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My sub is completely removable, but my amps are mounted vertical on the near side of the boot. All the cabling is neatly tucked away and then permanently terminated at the amps. The amp for the comps is mounted on the factory CD changer mount and the sub amp is on a custom bracket just above that. It looks great and doesn't get in the way if I need the whole boot.

Snowy's right, XLR or Speakon are the way forward for connectors. I prefer speakon, but really, do you need all that?


Tue Oct 06, 2009 8:29 am
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