Greetings,

GOAL: Attach each speaker in the car (minus rear fill) to a dedicated channel on a dsp amplifier (Helix V Eight).

QUESTION: Is every speaker in the car running on dedicated wire? Because i read on the forums that the right/left dash tweeters are wired (or crossed over) into the 4" mid-range door speaker wire. Is this correct?

I wish to avoid running new speaker wire throughout the car, so I may have to compromise. Would I be able to have the tweeters on their own amp channels, or will I need to run Dash Tweeter + 4" Door mid-range on a same channel?

 

Yes the dash tweeter and door mid are wired together. The connection point is on the inside of the car near the fuse box on the left, and the same spot on the passenger footwell. Find the large wire harness, look for the correct colored wires, and snip them. Or just disconnect the tweeter at the speaker itself and cut the ends of the wire off (easier method).

It's not too difficult to run wires for two new dash tweeters as there are two firewall gromments to pass the wire through. The one behind the battery is the easiest to access. Or if the tweeter amps are inside the cabin there is enough slack under the carpet to fish speaker wires. Access to the dash wiring is from the side of the dash with the door open (remove the side dash trim piece).

Where are you mounting the amp(s)?

In my 6.1 setup I have two small Class D 4 channel amps in the frunk for 8 channels. One amp drives the front tweet/mid connected pairs (2 channels) and rear speakers (2 channels). The second amp is bridged (4 channels down to 2 channels) and drives the door bass speakers. The subwoofer already has a small amp inside it so a preamp signal is sent directly to it. NOTE - this means the Subwoofer+ Orange wire and Subwoofer- Orange/Brown wire are preamp level, not speaker level like the rest of the wires in the car. I reused all the car speaker wiring but needed to route new preamp signals wires from the head unit to the frunk through the firewall.

In the future I will be splitting the dash/door speakers, upgrading the small built-in sub amp, and perhaps consolidating all the small amps into a larger single amp to get a true 8.1 setup (dash tweet, door mid, door bass, rear, sub).

I also recommend looking at a multi-channel DSP to properly tune the active setup. There is a cheap but capable 8 channel DSP from Dayton Audio that is worth looking at DSP-408. I have my eye on AudioControl's DM-608 or DM-810. The DM-810 has 10 channels and gives me room to split the dash tweeter/door mids and run each sub speaker to its own amp sometime in the future (8.1 or 8.2 setup).

 

Absolutely wonderful answer. Thank you for that.

PS: Have a look at that DSP/amp I picked up called Helix V Eight. It's pricey...but it's German and it's exactly what you are looking for.