Adding a bigger fuse for an aftermarket stereo

Hi, I recently bought a 2000 sr5 and planned to put a descent stereo in...nothing overwhelming just up to date and descent...no subs, just good speakers.

I guess I bought an underpowered head unit because the new speakers I put in sound very underwhelming, a lot like its missing a descent low end range. Which if I summon my teenage years means they arent getting enough power.

To help the under powered head unit I'm looking at adding the alpine power pack and sitting it in behind the head unit where the stock amp would fit (unless anyone has any suggestions for another good mini amp). Biggest issue I can see with this is to run the alpine power pack inline with the aftermarket head unit, which id like to do, and not have to run an independent power cable to the battery and independent ground from the amp. The circuit breaker needs to 15amp to the head unit, but best I can see the cb is 7.5 or 10amps which will not power both the head unit and power pack.

Does anyone have any tips for running extra power through those stock wires? If they could handle the extra power up to 15 amps? Or any tips for adding power to an underpowered stereo would be awesome.

thanks!

 

If you are going to draw more current than the wiring is rated for... i.e. running 15A load on a 10A circuit, you risk melting wires or starting a fire. If you need 15 amps, run the correct gauge wiring on a dedicated circuit.

That said, been a long time since doing any aftermarket car stereo stuff. I would imagine a current head unit’s internal amp will drive standard coax speakers without issues. Have you tried bypassing the stock wiring harness and run the speakers directly to the head unit?

 

What speaker/HU did you buy.

I'm always confused on the ohms and stuff but I do know it needs to match up to get the full potential.

And please run the power separately as it should be.

 

I bought a Boss BVCP9685A headunit and JBL CLUB6520 6.5" 300W Club Series speakers.


Admittedly I got caught up in the CarPlay capability of a cheap boss unit and didnt look to much further, Ive learned my lesson and hopefully can still make it work to what I was hoping for.

Thanks whiteturd, thats a great idea and worth a shot before putting in a mini amp. I know over currenting wires is a terrible idea but I had hoped that they may be appropriate gauge to run a 15amp. I know the head unit can handle 15amp so running dedicated speaker wires seems like a good substitute and bypasses the low current wires/cb.

Running a dedicated power cable would open up the options of a different mini amp to go with if required but I really like how clean the install of the alpine power pack would be just being run off the head unit power.

 

Well the Boss sayd 4 - 8 ohm.

The JBLs are 3 ohm per coil. But its 2 way so does that make it 6 ohm?

I'm no expert but I've heard ohms and impedance do matter.

 

Only problem I can think of by wiring the speakers directly to the head unit is the head unit is still being run off of the original circuit so its power in would still be super low.

I would have to run a dedicated power to it as well yes?

 

No, as long as the circuit is rated for the current demand on the headunit, it is fine.

Power supply from the harness will not cause the head unit to receive less power. If anything, the headunit would demand more power than the circuit is rated for causing excess heat, melting, fire, etc.

As for bypassing the OE speaker harness, in an older vehicle, the speaker wires can become compromised by corrosion causing more resistance (impedance) and poor conduction of the audio signal. Speakers rely on good clean signal for good audio quality, it’s not a function of power delivery as in the power stto the head unit.

 

Ok cool, Ill try running direct wires from the head unit. But Im still kinda lost how a 15am capable head unit could put out more power to the speakers than its taking in on a 10amp circuit.

Does anyone know how the wires are run into the cb panel. Is it like a house where theres larger gauge wires into to run the panel as a whole, or is it individual lower gauge wires in and out? Because Im thinking I could run a 15amp breaker and run appropriate gauge wire to the head unit so its getting full power providing its not a smaller gauge into the cb panel.

You guys are being super helpful thanks!

 

OK looks like I can help clear things up... You purchased a BOSS head unit. That is an entry level head unit even though it has CarPlay and Android Auto. I sell the sister brand Planet Audio. They are basic units. I am not bashing it. What you are wanting to do is something that you will not really be able to accomplish. Do you have a factory amp? If you do you can still use it as long as you get the right harness. If it's a basic audio then all the speakers are ran direct from the HU. Putting in a bigger fuse on the radio will not improve the power output, but will increase of over-running your radio and burning it up. You can still make do with your radio, but will probably have to make a few changes. JBL Speakers are known to run at 3 ohms and the higher models at 2 ohms. If you have yet to install them, I suggest you get a pair of 2 or 3 way speakers that have a low RMS rating like 25-40 watts. That radio does not do anywhere near 80 watts per channel. You will be lucky to get half of that on a good day. Never, and I mean never, view the max power handling of any speaker and subwoofer. Rule of thumb, look for rated power aka RMS. I myself have an 02 with the factory amp. I replaced the stock deck with an Alpine iLX-W650 thanks to my wife. I am still using the stock amp with the stock speakers and let me tell you it sounds very good for 18 year old speakers. Mind you I bought the truck from my parents so they rarely used the radio anyway. Why do they sound good? Because they are working within their specs and limitation from the factory amplifier. Plus the Alpine has plenty of fine tuning options to make it sound even better. The only thing I did was add a sub and amp to fully complete the sound. If you need a bit more assistance let me know. I'll do my best to help.

 

Ok awesome, thanks. I dont have the stock amp anymore and I have already installed the new speakers hoping it would help with sound quality. The overall sound from them is acceptable its just very harshly lacking any low end range. I knew boss was a low end product, but I had anticipated a brand new unit being able to put out a descent sound. I did not do enough research on them looks like.

My best course of action would be to wire in a 4 channel mini amp then? Do you have any recommendations on them?

Ive been looking bewtween the Kenwood kac-m1814 and the alpine power pack ktp-445u. Would this help power my speakers more appropriately? Or am I just spinning my wheels trying to fix a problem I cant solve with a cheap head unit?

 

You will not get any decent bump out your speakers even if you add an amplifier. There are some compact amplifiers you can use and hide behind the center console which will make the install easier and faster. Look for a 4 channel that can give you 50 watts RMS to be able to use the full potential of the amplifier and speakers. The amplifier will help with delivering the power you need to get better sound. I can't guarantee a clean fulfilling sound with the radio since it only has 2 Volt RCA outputs and lack of additional sound setting outside of the Preset EQ options. It's your first system and it's OK not to have the best right away. It's like a home audio setup or building a computer... you can always change components to make it better. Eventually you can get yourself an updated stereo with more sound options and be better off. If the amp helps you and you like it, congrats. If you feel like you need some bass, look into a self powered sub enclosure.

 

Ok, thanks for the info. I know your right about setting a descent base and improving from there. Would you recommend a power pack behind the dash for the speakers or a small powered sub under the seat?

Again, not looking to bring trunk rattle back into fashion. Just hoping for a nice full sound.

 

The power pack would be to run your door speakers. A sub would need a seperate amp in itself. Or you can go with a 5 channel setup which will allow you to run your 4 speakers and a sub on the same amp.

 

Yea I get they do different things. I was wondering if you thought a power pack would be enough to add good sound to the door speakers, or Am I just chasing something that wont even happen from my headunit/speaker set up and I should stop trying to bandaid the power to the speakers and get a small 8inch ish powered under the seat sub.

 

The powerpack would heighten the highs to get more power to hear the words and instruments. You might not get much bas and if you do, it won't be real fulfilling.