Grego123

I'm planning an upgrade of the B&O system on my 2018. My setup has a Zen A2B feeding a Dayton DSP, which in turn goes to a JLAudio 400/4 amp for the doors and a SKAR 500D for a single sub. I could really use some help with a few specific questions.

1. My front door speakers are components. Is it best to mount the crossover in/near the front doors and then wire up to the tweeters in the A pillar, or mount it on the back wall of the cab where the amps are, and run the tweeter wires all the way back up to the front?

2. I've found wiring diagrams for the stock amp in another post, so I can find the correct wires to go to each door, but are those wires good enough or should I run separate? They seem pretty thin.

3. If using the stock wires, what is everybody's best way to tap into those? Does anyone know where I would find a matching jack like the one on the amp so I could just pin out my own and plug it into the harness?

I've ordered everything (but the Zen) from Bruce at HushCarAudio who has been great BTW.

And I've learned a ton about what I want to do from this forum also. What a great resource. Thanks everyone!

Gopherboy128

1- would you still need to use the crossovers if you're running a dSP?
2- Im running an AudioControl D-6.1200 with stock wires.
3- the Zen A2B comes with a harness that taps into the factory output from the stock B&O amp so you shouldn't have to run wires to the speakers in the doors. Slide the black plastic boot back to expose the pins, solder the connections you need and it just plugs in.

Grego123

EDIT: I'm just realizing for #3 that the harness for my Zen has the jack I'm looking for but only using two pins. So I should be able to just run the output from my amp onto the correct pins for the door speakers if I can use the factory wiring.

Grego123

Thanks Gopherboy. As I Posted my edit, I saw your more complete answer. That's great. You're running more power than i will be, so I should be fine.

For the tweeters, I only have a 4 channel amp, so even with the DSP, I do need the crossovers.

Gopherboy128

Ahh, didnt catch that part.

dhmcfadin

Here is what you need to integrate with the factory speaker wiring. Plug and play. Also labeled.

https://catalog.pac-audio.com/catalo...rness/aph-fd02

The factory speaker wiring is fine. Regardless of what you use to integrate, you will still have to run tweeter channels to each a-pillar. The b&o amp does not supply signal to the tweeters, the headunit does and you can't integrate with that. Lastly, mount your crossovers and all equipment on the same amp rack. Makes upgrading easy, especially if you go active in the future. Keeps everything neat and accessible.

ibcop

I have a 2018 KR and I just upgraded the B&O. I have the Zen, Dayton, RD 400/4 and a RD1500/1 - it was an experience, to say the least. I highly recommend you go with the harness Dom posted above - it will make things much easier.

I mounted my crossovers on the amp rack and ran a strand of new wire to each tweeter - I plan on eventually going active and this will make it mucho easier.

On a side note, if you need help with tuning - Dom is the go-to person.

I just need a bigger amp on the doors now....Lol.

Gopherboy128

DAMN. Wish I had that a year ago...

Grego123

Thanks guys. Great advice. I'm closing in on finishing my amp rack. Still waiting for that PAC harness. Shipping is so slow these days.

I installed my door speakers and all the sound deadening which made the stock system sound noticeably better. Thanks to Hush for suggesting I start there so I could enjoy them sooner.

I'm left with my power and ground wire which I've decided to run both back to the battery. I thought I had read something about weirdness when attaching then to the actual battery terminals. For my lights, I went to the terminal on the main fuse block in the engine compartment, but I don't know if that's right because now I'm increasing the load on that short cable from the terminal to the block. Also, I see the negative battery terminal is more than just a piece of lead.

What did you guys do?

Here's my amp rack so far. It fits nice and tight and follows the contour of the covering behind the rear drivers side seat.




Thanks again for all the help so far.

dhmcfadin

Power and ground directly from battery terminals.