YaoNYC

hi all,

does the shaker 500 have a separate amp?

or does it power the 4 speakers via head unit?

thanks!

theedge67

There is a seperate amp. I think it is in the driver side kick panel.

krnpimpsta

Yep. What he said, but there are two separate amps (one for each door sub). The other four channels are powered by the head unit.

YaoNYC

thanks edge!

YaoNYC

thanks krnpimpsta.

can you elaborate further on the door subs and separate amps?

i want to change out head unit and put 2 - 6x8" front door and 2 - 6x8" rear deck.

Do i need a new amp? can i reuse the existing amps? use my new head unit for powering?

thanks again!

-yao

theedge67

Best way to do that is just get a new head unit and use it to power the regular speakers, and the seperate amps for the door subs. If you get the correct wiring harnesses for the swap, it will do this all automatically since it is already wired up that way.

krnpimpsta

If you replace your headunit at the same time that you replace your speakers, you will not need another amp. You will, however, need a wiring harness from your new head unit to the factory sub amps.

This is how it looks now:
Shaker500 -> 2 front door sub amps -> 2 front door subs

After upgrade:
New H.U. -> WIRING HARNESS -> 2 front door sub amps -> 2 front door subs

This is what you want: ($20)
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-6qOpWjA...px?I=120705521

The small harness with 2 RCA's connects your new head unit to the plugs behind the console that are wired to the factory sub amps. The big harness connects to a plug that is wired to all the factory speakers.

krnpimpsta

[opinion]Also, I believe we don't actually have 6x8 speakers, but two smaller speakers (4" midrange and tiny tweeter) in the 6x8 space. You already have 8" woofers for your bass, and 6x8's in the rear.. I think you should just upgrade the 4" speaker and tweeter individually, but that's just my opinion.[/opinion]

YaoNYC

thanks Edge.

i'm going to research this...

YaoNYC

hi pimpsta,
thanks for this detail. so, in addition to the full range front door speakers there are separate 8" subs on the doors? that is very interesting. crutchfield doesnt give any info on the front door subs.

so it seems like it'll be a waste to get a new amp and NOT use the shaker 500 provided amps.

does this crutchfield adapter fit all aftermarket HU's? im looking at this 2 din clarion unit.

thanks again!

YaoNYC

i see and thanks again.

perhaps i'll get 5x7 to replace the stock 4" mid & tweeter.

then get after market 6x8 rear..

thanks bro..

krnpimpsta

If you have a Shaker 500, then you have an 8" door sub in each door, by your feet. If you have the standard stereo, then you won't have those door subs. I'm assuming you have the shaker 500.

I mentally divide my shaker 500 into two components:
* One 4 channel amp (built into shaker 500) that powers the 6 midrange/high-freq speakers.
* A pair of small amps to power the door subs for low frequencies.

The sub amps and subs are paired together, and you shouldn't really either unless you're going to replace the door subs AND the door sub amps together.

Your aftermarket head unit, if it's any decent, should be equal to or better than the Shaker 500 as far as the internal 4 channel amp is concerned, so there's no reason to upgrade that if you stay with stock speakers. Depending on what kind of speakers you're upgrading to, you may also need to buy a new 4 channel amp.

What is the reason you're upgrading these speakers? Do you want higher sound quality? More bass? More volume? I can probably give better advice if I know what you're trying to do.

flamin ponyexpress

Why use the shaker 500 amps,these small amps ,which are in the drivers side kick panel are very small amps ,If your changing the head unit,I would up-grade the amps also. If your keeping the shaker 500 head unit,you could up-grade the amps. just make sure to disconect the small amps.lol

krnpimpsta

Yeah, I agree that the amps suck, but our door subs also suck. It will be easy to blow our door subs with any sort of aftermarket amp, because off the top of my head, both amp and sub are rated for something like 50W rms @ 1ohm. The factory amps can already push the door subs to their limits, so my opinion is that they shoudln't be upgraded alone.

Alternatively, if you just upgrade the door subs, a pair of very decent 8" woofers can run you less than $100, but the factory amps will not be able to push them. ..so you'll end up with less sound than you started with until you upgrade the amps as well.

So you really just need to replace both together, in my opinion.

YaoNYC

hi pimp,
first off, your sub looks amazing! i checked out your thread

with this info., here is my thought:

1. take out shaker 500 system all together;

2. new door speakers, new rear speakers - (4) 6x8" all around;

3. new clariion Head Unit to power the new 6x8" or separate amp;

4. take out 8" door subs and put (1) blaupunkt 8" powered sub under passenger seat- Blaupunkt THb 200A;



thanks again!

-yao

krnpimpsta

Thanks.

I have a few questions:
* why do you want 6x8's all around? I think you will get better/louder/everything sound if you maintain the 4" and 0.75" speakers in the front... You won't have any treble with four 6x8's..
* Also, why remove the door subs? You can keep them for mid-bass and have a serious sub for the real thump. Also, I'm not sure if you measured or not, but I have a feeling the blaupunkt may not fit under the passenger seat...

Anyways, I'm out on business until wednesday night and I dunno if I'll have internet access. Lemme know if you need anything and please don't buy anything until everything is 100% planned out! (I made the mistake of rushing and ended up buying an amp wiring kit from best buy for $100, instead of $20 on eBay, because I forgot to order cables and didn't want to wait..)

Mach

I had the normal Shaker 500 setup and recently added a trunk mounted sub. I admit, I upgraded all the small speakers in doors and rear deck to some Kenwoods I had lying around some time ago, and now with the added sub could not be happier. When "tuning" the trunk monunted sub, I simply made it higher than the door subs. Now by the time the door subs are doing much pushing, the trunk sub has filled the vehicle with the bass I was looking for.

While I may get flamed here, I used speaker level inputs into my sub amp from rear deck speakers. The only problem was working with the big power wire to the battery.

I admit I am considering a new HU but only to give me a GPS capability. I am now doing the "pre buy" fence dance as to either a stock unit or an aftermarket.

Good luck!

krnpimpsta

Just kidding..

Have you looked into tapping into your shaker500's sub-out?
http://www.logjamelectronics.com/sounlocbosli.html

I tapped into the inputs of the factory door subs with this LOCB.2, which is already low-pass filtered from the head unit = good. Then connected an RCA from the LOCB.2, to the sub amp in the trunk. The other bonus is that the bass control on your shaker500, which controls your door sub volume, now also controls your trunk sub volume.

No pressure, just throwing that out there.

theedge67

That sounds like a great way to do it. Although the speaker level inputs are sure an easier route... How much of a difference do you think it would make between the two?

Mach

I would think little if any but you need to make sure that your amp has suitable speaker level inputs available. That was one reason for my choice of the Kenwood that was used. It was pretty easy to run the wires from the rear pass deck speaker to the input.