Ok, all the stuff is in:

Kenwood KDC-X591 Head Unit
Kenwood KFC-1661S 6.5" 3 Way Speakers
Kenwood KFC-W3011 12" Subwoofer
Kenwood KAC-X40 4 Channel Amp

I want to ensure I'm setting this up correctly.

I should run TWO RCA patch cables to the amp.

Speaker OUT A goes to the front left and right speakers from the amp.

Speaker OUT B (BRIDGED) goes to the subwoofer.

I disregard the subwoofer OUT RCA lines on the head unit.

What filters should I be setting on the channels?

I'm purchasing 8 guage wire for the amp (60AMP fuse), 12 guage for the speakers, and I have some monster audio RCA cables from a stereo I don't use in the house.


Looking for any suggestions or corrections on the setup. Thanks Rick

 

PS - What is a good grounding location for the amp if placed in the rear compartment?

 

Hey Rick. You're on the right track. I would disregard the rear RCA set, and use Front and Sub. Channels 1 & 2 for the front speakers in the kick panels, and channels 3 & 4 bridged for the sub. Use the Sub RCA set for channels 3 & 4.

For channels 1 & 2 you want the High Pass Filter, meaning it filters everything but high frequencies. This also means that for the rear you want Low Pass Filter to filter everything but low frequencies.

Start the frequencies at around 60 hertz for both. This means on the fronts you will get everything above 60 and on the sub you'll get everything below 60.

Set your gains at about half for initial testing, and then tweak the gains and frequencies based on your listening needs and how it sounds to you.

For the sub, 12 gauge is perfect, but it's a little big for the speakers. It's thicker so it's harder to run. You won't need anything heavier than 16 gauge for the speakers.

If the amp is mounted in the back, you'll want to power it and ground it at the battery. Make the ground as short as possible, but it's the best place to route the 12V and ground.

Don't forget to run the Remote wire from the head unit to the amp, so the amp knows when to power up based on whether the head unit is on or off.

Keep us posted with pics, and let me know if there is anything else you need help with.

 

PERFECT! Thanks

 

Thought I would share the Kenwood speaker setup. Really nice and no need to widen the area behind the kick panels. The really nice feature is the decorative bezel can be used as a brace so once installed it is very solid and requires no additional support. Given the depth of the speaker I could actually mount it behind the kickpanel if needed.




Not a great picture but I have the white gauges installed with the Kenwood head unit. All blue LEDs and the picture doesn't show it but I painted the tips of the white needles bright orange. I'm waiting on a custom white gauge overlay for the 165MPH speedo I picked up last week.

 

Zixxer,
Be sure to look at the amp for + and - for a bridged subwoofer. Some amps don't have it, some do. Be sure to look for it. I agree with DB on wire size, but I ran a little thicker than need 'cuz I had the entire interior out and it was easy. I have seperate tweeters and put them just below and behind the headrests with the crossover behind each quarter panel. I also am running a Clarion thin line sub, WOW. Alot of sound comes from that little 2 7/8" thick sub. Good luck and post pics

 

Fantastic work man, that looks great.

 

Looks good, gonna rock. I used Polk Audio DB 6500 6 1/2" seperates with a crossover. The speakers fit without modification either. I hope yours rocks (or countrys) like mine has been. You will love traveling in it even more.......yea, it's possible.

 

The white gages look sharp, that is a slick looking center console! Who did your gage face work?

 

Actually it is a $20.00 kit off eBay from WhiteGauges.net

Not that difficult to install and it can be removed at any time. Time will tell if it's a good kit or not but so far others have said it holds up. Some other vendors out there sale paper based or different materials..these are apparently guranteed against fade, bubbling, etc.

I used a blow dryer to setup the decals just as they mentioned and even came back the next day to heat and rub smooth....couldn't be happier with the results.

 

Thanks and it does have the bridging for a subwoofer. It actually has just about every setup option listed with all the settings you need to adjust based upon your installation including the filter recommendations. I stuck with matching all the parts from Kenwood so if there were any issues the finger pointing game wouldn't start. If my dash would ever get here I could actually start to reassemble things.

 

Ok, I have it all hooked up and tested....can't reasseble the entire interior just yet but I couldn't resist hearing the system.

At first I was really disappointed because I just had the overwhelming bass from the subwoofer...reminded me of little rice burners at the stop lights I can hear a mile away.

Anyways, I remembered to use the front RCAs and SubWoofer RCA instead of the front and rear so that helped a little after I switched it.

The Kenwood headunit manual is worthless as it was just tech data and assumes the owner already has an understanding of all the features and settings. Anyways, after an hour googling the net I knew the filters were not setup correctly so after adjust a few of those and then reducing the volume offset for the sub it was wonderful. I sat in my seatless car smelling the new carpet and enjoying the tunes off my USB drive. It's about 34 degrees in the garage so I didn't stay too long to tweak things but suffice to say it's sweet!!!

I guess the bridged 3/4 channel is basically pushing a lot more watts and I'm not sure I need that much...I'll need to learn a lot more but just the quick take really enlighten me on the potential.

 

Good to hear (no pun intended). Congrats. Sounds like you did a good job.

 

Thanks, I took my time to ensure I got it right and really just followed Durango_Boys guidance. I really had doubts that a two front speaker setup with a subwoofer would do the trick. It's really amazing sound and I completely understand the "stage" is right in front of me. I can feel/hear the singer/band as if they were on the hood of my car.

 

I was so pleased with mine 3 weeks ago when I fired up that new stereo, I got out of the car and got a beer and sat down in a seatless car also. I swear I wanted to turn around and ask the guitar player, "dude, want a beer?". My tweeters are in the quarter panels behind and below the headrests. You can't tell where each individual sound is coming from, it's just there. That Clarion slim line sub just pounds like a big junk yard dog. I even put a Sony 4 ch. amp, and I said that i'd never use Sony again, but it was a slim one too. Congrats again, good to accomplish things on your own.

 

Some interesting notes,, would wonder if DB would agree,, for the front, I wouldn't run any filtering at all,, get as much bass as you can out of them, not gonna be much anyway, but it will help to more evenly distribute the sound. As for the rear sub, either run from the head unit sub output and don't filter at the amp at all, or run from the ch 3/4 outs at the head unit and filter at the amp, if it has those little filter c/o dials. try to avoid double filtering it, ie- useing the sub output, then using the amp filters, as will cause response curve problems big time. I would go fronts to ch 1/2, no filtering, and rears to ch3/4, bridge and filter at the amp, then set the sub volume at the amp to match up with the fronts, and adjust the filter for the rear sub as a last step, untill your happy with it. Just my point of view. C.

 

I'm glad DB is here to help you guys. I remember my first "stereo". It was in my VW in NC, in 1977 (??). Good heavens. It was a new at the time, top of the line, just on the market, Craig (I think) cassette AM/FM stereo. Man, what a kid I was with that stereo.

 

Basically, yes, I agree with what you say. Good advice. I would suggest using the HPF for the front channels, and just setting it to the range the speaker starts at. Same for the rear, but like was mentioned, and the manual should say the same thing, when using Sub Out, set to LPF, and setting it to only get frequencies in it's range.



Thanks. Audio has sure changed huh? I have only been in the game for about ten years, and it's changed a lot in that time. I just make sure I learn with the industry and change with it.

 

Your welcome, I've done 1 or 2 since then. I really had a blast putting in a complete system in a 40' motorhome, talk about a "complete" system. Took a few hours, everything except the components were not visible. That was a challenge. I got to use it a few times for the drag races (not working, just spectating). People on the other side of the track wanted me to crank it a bit so they could hear it........of course I had to then