Best location for a front amp?

[toby]

Best location for a front amp?

I bought this kenwood jobbie and was going to install it in the area under the heater controls unless there's a better place?





Cheers
Toby

[StuBeeDoo]

Seen it done, and was going to do it with mine.....

Top of transmission tunnel, forward of ashtray, beneath dash, hidden by centre console.

That what

under the heater controls

you're getting at???

[d6dph]

Quite a warm area to put an amp in imo, Not a lot of cool air passing over the amp.

[mattG]

In my mk2 & 3 escort days under the front seats was the way,

BTW Toby did you get the megasquirt?

[StuBeeDoo]

Quite a warm area to put an amp in imo, Not a lot of cool air passing over the amp.

That was why I didn't do it that way.
Toby, if you're interested, I can post pics of my Touring amp install solution.

[toby]

StuBeeDoo cheers, it would be good to see pics of another option.

It's the heat that concerns me. Have fitted an Alpine amp in a previous E30 in this location with no probs but it looked to have better cooling ducts than this new one.

mattG, MS is on my xmas list, but I don't think I've been good enough and Santa knows.

[StuBeeDoo]

OK, here's what i did with the amp. I designed the box from scratch and built it with 9mm ply (same as Touring boot floor).







The sides are left open to allow a bit cooling. I don't have it above half-volume at all, but on a 4 hour drive I had it on constantly with no problem - overheat or otherwise.



I cut the front section off the boot floor. The floor comes out to allow access to the spare wheel without having to move the amp box.







The box is slightly under 3in deep. I use the boot for loads quite a bit and have yet to find load carrying a problem. The lid does lift with the box in situ for access to the amp.
Hope this is some help to you Toby.

[mattG]

Nice work stu, what size are the rear speakers on the sides?

[StuBeeDoo]

Nice work stu,

Thanks Matt.

what size are the rear speakers on the sides?

They're 13cm Infinity's
With the benefit of hindsight, I should have gone for 6x4's - they would have fitted better. Not sure if anyone does that size component speakers though.

[miniblob]

Stu - thats a nice tidy install mate!!!
That's one place i hadn't thought of putting an amp and it's given me an interesting idea - although my amps are a bit bigger than yours!!!!

Someone else had a thread on here fairly recently about putting an amp under the heater controls - not sure if they did or not though!!

Would think it will depend on the use etc really, and i think i suggested it could be vented - you could fit a small pair of fans, pulling air from one side of the console and sucking it out of the other.

Personally, i think it's a nice idea, but it'd get way too hot under my kind of abuse!!!!!!!!

[1an]

Stu - thats a nice tidy install mate!!!
That's one place i hadn't thought of putting an amp and it's given me an interesting idea - although my amps are a bit bigger than yours!!!!

Someone else had a thread on here fairly recently about putting an amp under the heater controls - not sure if they did or not though!!

Would think it will depend on the use etc really, and i think i suggested it could be vented - you could fit a small pair of fans, pulling air from one side of the console and sucking it out of the other.

Personally, i think it's a nice idea, but it'd get way too hot under my kind of abuse!!!!!!!!

also another problem would be with coming up to winter, you would be using the heater more so therefore heating it up more,

best thing i can think of would be to mount it in the boot, i know you would have to run longer cables but it wont make that much difference.

[SHAKEELE30]

Ive put mine under the passenger seat! Easy to access, pretty well ventilated there to...

[StuBeeDoo]

Ive put mine under the passenger seat! Easy to access, pretty well ventilated there to...

That was one of my first "preferred sites" as mine is a Touring. I decided against it as Wor Lass is somewhat large and has to have the seat adjusted right down and back. Wouldn't have left enough clearance.

[toby]

I'm going to mount the amp up front though as my 'boot' is full already with stuff. As I say, I've fitted an amp under the heater controls before without problems so I may risk it with this amp in my current car too. What's the worst that can happen? I'm not worried.

What a cool thread - StuBeeDoo that's a great install!

[StuBeeDoo]

Thanks for the comments lads.
If a job's worth doing, it's worth taking time over and doing properly.

[toby]

Not great for front speakers though - too much cable farting about

[StuBeeDoo]

Not great for front speakers though - too much cable farting about

Ain't that the truth!
I've only got the rear's connected to my amp.

[touringandy]

Quite a warm area to put an amp in imo, Not a lot of cool air passing over the amp.

true wouldnt sudjest putting it there that area bakes were the fans are

[toby]

Not great for front speakers though - too much cable farting about

Ain't that the truth!
I've only got the rear's connected to my amp.

This amp is to drive my front component set up. (Why didn't I say that at the beginning?!)

[StuBeeDoo]

Why didn't I say that at the beginning?!

D'OH! :lol:

[BadDave]

This is what i did with mine




The amps for front and sub are hidden behind the rear seats and the amp for the rears/crossovers are hidden under a false floor

[toby]

Ok I've had a rethink and am going to put the amp in the boot area somewhere.

I'm hoping there's enough space behind the side panel for a concealed install.

Thanks for all the pics and inspiration zoners.

[BristolBulldog]

might be a little extreme, but what about a fake floor in the front passenger well, or behind the drivers seat maybe? and then jsut use one or two pc fans linked to ignition t keep it nice and cool?

[toby]

I think behind the trim panel in the boot is favorite, for me anyway. I'm after a stealth install.

[toby]

It went in there quite nicely in the end, with no interior space lost at all.

Not quite the standard of some other installs on here and I'm grateful for your pics.


Cheers
Toby

[StuBeeDoo]

Nice one Toby.