qwerty04

I have a 98gs4 with a nakamichi stock amp in my trunk. I was wondering if i can hook up an aftermarket amp without having to go behind the radio. My stock amp keeps cutting out for a split second when the bass is too high.

ChampGS3

iTrader: (6)

You can definitely do that as the factory wiring is good for 20amps of current. But the reason your amp is cutting out is likely due to the limits of excursion of your sub being exceeded and the amps protection circuitry is kicking in. Also the audio signal lines from the head unit are in ground isolated jacketing so the signal is very clean, just convert them to RCA's or get an amp with high level inputs, either will work fine.

I have a PPI PC650 in place of my Nakamichi amp and the sub channel is now sending ~160wrms to the 6ohm Nak Sub. The sub sounds SO Much better, however if I turn the bass/volume up too loud, the same things happens, it cuts out for a second. Keep in mind that the output is much better though.

So in summary, the factory Nak amp is not sending anywhere near enough wattage to the factory Nak sub, its only pushing ~40wrms, so increasing that to closer to 100wrms or more will give much better bass output. Also you will probably want to run an additional 8 ga minimum wire from the battery to supplant an aftermarkt amp that has higher then a 20amp draw/fuse.

I attached the factory Nak wiring diagram to help with wiring it up. Good Luck