Several questions for a new owner

First of all, let me say that I'm proud to be the new owner of a Laser Blue 2003 ES. I've actually had the car for about a month now and the first 3,000 miles have left nothing but smiles. I drove a 95 Eclipse GS-T, so I lost a little power, but gained quite a bit in reliability, which is what I was after. I absolutely love this car!

On to the questions. I have the 6 disc changer in the dash and I've decided not to carry over my audio system from the Eclipse. I want to use the factory head unit. The only thing I'm bringing over from the Eclipse is the amp, a PPI A404.

So, here are the questions I have for you Protege experts.

1) What, if any, are the possible negative factors involved in converting the speaker leads from the head unit into RCA-level cables?

2) Do I have any other options other than converting the speaker leads to RCA? There are no speaker level inputs on my amp.

3) Can any of you recommend some high quality speakers that will fit the front, rear, and some nice subs? I would like to spend about $200 on the fronts, $100 on the rears, and maybe another $200 on the sub(s).

4) I've read a lot of people having trouble with dimming headlights, etc. This PPI is a huge current hog and I'm wondering if straight 4 gauge cable to the battery will be enough?

Any comments, advice, experiences you may have are greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance to everyone who responds.

-Huffy

huffydmb said:

First of all, let me say that I'm proud to be the new owner of a Laser Blue 2003 ES. I've actually had the car for about a month now and the first 3,000 miles have left nothing but smiles. I drove a 95 Eclipse GS-T, so I lost a little power, but gained quite a bit in reliability, which is what I was after. I absolutely love this car!

On to the questions. I have the 6 disc changer in the dash and I've decided not to carry over my audio system from the Eclipse. I want to use the factory head unit. The only thing I'm bringing over from the Eclipse is the amp, a PPI A404.

So, here are the questions I have for you Protege experts.

1) What, if any, are the possible negative factors involved in converting the speaker leads from the head unit into RCA-level cables?

2) Do I have any other options other than converting the speaker leads to RCA? There are no speaker level inputs on my amp.

3) Can any of you recommend some high quality speakers that will fit the front, rear, and some nice subs? I would like to spend about $200 on the fronts, $100 on the rears, and maybe another $200 on the sub(s).

4) I've read a lot of people having trouble with dimming headlights, etc. This PPI is a huge current hog and I'm wondering if straight 4 gauge cable to the battery will be enough?

Any comments, advice, experiences you may have are greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance to everyone who responds.

-Huffy

Click to expand...

1. if you get good quality LOC's there is no real negitives.....cheap ones? you could induce a lot of noise into your system.

2. the other option would be to get a different amp that accepts speaker level inputs.

3. as for speakers....its mostly personal preference...go to the store and LISTEN to them....pick out sets that match one another...front and back. if you look in the stickied thread at the top it will give you all the SIZE information you could want. as for subs....and your speakers....as for specific model numbers it would really depend on how much power you plan on pushing to them.

4. How many Watts is the amp.....can't answer the question without that information.

huffydmb said:

First of all, let me say that I'm proud to be the new owner of a Laser Blue 2003 ES. I've actually had the car for about a month now and the first 3,000 miles have left nothing but smiles. I drove a 95 Eclipse GS-T, so I lost a little power, but gained quite a bit in reliability, which is what I was after. I absolutely love this car!

On to the questions. I have the 6 disc changer in the dash and I've decided not to carry over my audio system from the Eclipse. I want to use the factory head unit. The only thing I'm bringing over from the Eclipse is the amp, a PPI A404.

So, here are the questions I have for you Protege experts.

1) What, if any, are the possible negative factors involved in converting the speaker leads from the head unit into RCA-level cables?

2) Do I have any other options other than converting the speaker leads to RCA? There are no speaker level inputs on my amp.

3) Can any of you recommend some high quality speakers that will fit the front, rear, and some nice subs? I would like to spend about $200 on the fronts, $100 on the rears, and maybe another $200 on the sub(s).

4) I've read a lot of people having trouble with dimming headlights, etc. This PPI is a huge current hog and I'm wondering if straight 4 gauge cable to the battery will be enough?

Any comments, advice, experiences you may have are greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance to everyone who responds.

-Huffy

Click to expand...

Oooo, PPI amp, always choice

1) Depends on the LOCs quality like Nuke said. It does add some cabling complexity, but other then that, if done propery its fine.

2) Get a new amp, Get a new radio, try soildering RCAs to speaker wire leads and see what happens. THis usualy doesn't work.

3) Listen to speakers and make your own choices. Never buy speakers without listening to them. I like JL, Infinity can be decent for cheap but alpines seem to be as much enjoyed. There are plenty of selections in your price range.
For subs, 2 JL 10W0s.

4) Just fallow the manufacturers recommendations for cabling and you'll be fine. If your amp is a 4 channel then that is a MAJOR contributer to light dimming. $ channel amps when bridged use alot more of the cars power to make sound then monoblock class D amps.

1. How would you go about running wires from the amp to the speakers?
2. Would you use the factory wiring, or run new wires?
3. If you run new wires, how difficult is it to get them to the doors?
4. I have a 2003.5 P5, would it be better to install the LOC off of the subs harness?

1) You have to remove and drill out the molex plugs in the door to do it. its a several hour task for a good installer. The easier option is to grab the factory wires behind the radio.
2) Factory wires ar fine up to about 50 watts rms @12 volts
3) A b****! It can be done as I ran Monster Cable 14 gauge into mine but it took 1/2 a day.
4) No, since that is only 2 channels of the 4 channles of the radio and if the wiring convention for aftermarket decks was fallowed, then they tapped the front right speaker and rear left speakers wires (scratch)

thanks for the info.