coustic power logic amplifier 268u 50 watts

[pedrick30]

Hey guys i just picked up this Amp from a friend. I never really dealt with amps so I'm kind of lost as to how to install this. Attached I have pictures of it.

If anyone can help me out as to what wires and plugs I need and a basic how-to, that'd be awesome

 

[Hepar]

Are you running an aftermarket head unit? What do you plan on running off the amp?

 

[pedrick30]

i have a jvc kd-r530 head unit (radio i guess). I'm not really sure what i'd be running. I'm not too familiar with audio and amps so would it be possible just to run the speakers off it? or would i need a sub?

 

[Hepar]

You could run speakers off of it. Not familiar with the amp itself, so not sure its specs. I wouldn't run the stock speakers off of it though. They're not designed to handle much power and you'll probably significantly shorten the life of them by doing so.

That being said, to wire the amp, you need three wires for power. One fused wired to the battery, one to your radios remote line (which is usually blue) and one ground. Then you'll probably have a set of RCA lines that you'll need to run from your radio to the amp and then the speaker wires to the speakers themselves.

 

[pedrick30]

wow thanks a lot. and if i do pick up a subwoofer, do you know what i'd have to do?

 

[Hepar]

wow thanks a lot. and if i do pick up a subwoofer, do you know what i'd have to do?

If you run a sub on that amp in addition to speakers, you'd want to run the speakers on the front side and set the switch to HP. That will cut out some of the low range (bass) sound to those speakers which is usually what will cause smaller speakers to distort. Then hook up the sub to the rear side and set that switch to LP, which will do the opposite. It will cut the high end noise and only send the low end to the sub. You'd have to wire both your front speakers and rear speakers to the front side of the amp, so you'd lose the ability to fade sound between the front and rear, but you'd still be able to balance left and right.

 

[pedrick30]

awesome. thanks again

 

[slomatt]

Ha, I had that exact same amp in the late 90s.

There are a ton of tutorials online covering how to install an amp, so this is just a quick summary.

Power
As mentioned above you should hook the amp up to +12v and ground using wires of suitable gauge (8awg or larger). The +12v line should go direct to the battery with a fuse as close to the battery as possible. The ground can go to any solid metal point near the amp. You should also run the remote turn on lead from your headunit to the amp, this does not need to be a large wire, 14 or 16 awg should be fine.

Audio
You basically have two options here. One would be to run both the front and rear outputs (4 channels) from your headunit to the amp and then use the amp to power all 4 speakers. To do this you would run two pairs of RCA plugs from the headunit to the amp.

The other option is to run the front outputs to the amp and use 2 channels to power the front speakers. You could then run the headunit's subwoofer output to the amp and bridge the other two channels to drive your subwoofer. In this case you would want to enable a highpass filter in your headunit for the front channels or else turn on the one in the amp. You want to set the crossover frequency so that the bass sounds like it is coming from the front speakers, if you set it too high it will be obvious the bass is coming from the sub. A good rule of thumb is to cross over at 125hz or lower.

One critical thing a lot of people mess up is setting the gain on the amplifier. You want to get as much voltage as possible (without clipping) out of your headunit to maximize the signal to noise ratio. A good starting point is to set the headunit at around 3/4 of maximum volume and then adjust the gain on the amp until it reaches about the loudest volume level you ever listen at. The goal is to set the amp so that your headunit's volume control is almost all the way up.

Anyway, this is just a really brief overview since there is a ton of information on the web about how to install an amplifier in a car. The most important thing is to put your fuse as close to battery as possible, try to get it within 12" or less.

- Matt