Stereo Amplifier Location

[Jonathanm]

There seems to be a lot of conjecture as to where this is located. I have/had an Alpine IVA-W520R head unit - it is almost ready to be sold as it is now out and I'm in the process of installing a new Android 6 head unit.
Anyway I have just noticed that the fwd left channel seems to be out.
It may be the amp but not really sure yet.
Any one really know where it is and if it is accessible?

Thanks,

Jonathan

 

[petergrub]

The amplifier is under the front dash above the passenger foot well. It is the Blaupunkt sliver and black box, or the Rockford silver box next to the VMS. See pictures at this link here for reference.

As far as accessibility goes, you may need to a smaller individual to wriggle into the foot well to see the amplifier from below (the picture of the Rockwell amp was from a complete vehicle, but I was barely small enough to get the picture).

 

[Jonathanm]

Great - thanks for that - its sounds better than having to remove the ECC to get to the amp - as is mentioned elsewhere!

 

[Jonathanm]

Probably I did not mention - mine is a 2.5....- I have just been up there and nothing to see apart from the VMS...and I have the OVMS module stuck to that with Duel Lock....

 

[ML Auto]

The 2.5 is the same. You probably have the base audio without the subwoofer and amp.

 

[Jonathanm]

Yeah I just had a "boys" look - it is there - wow access is very interesting - looks like I have to remove the VMS to get better access...

 

[Jonathanm]

View attachment 225770 View attachment 225771 Wow - really tight in there - I have the seats out so that makes it a bit easier...tell me - how is the amp fixed? It looks like they have some sort of clip that slides up a thread for securing - if that is the case how do you get under them to get them out?

Lastly I have no idea to how to get the plugs off - it seems it will make more room if they come off before removing the unit. I am not pushing too hard as I don't want to break anything...View attachment 225770 View attachment 225770 View attachment 225771

Hopefully the photos will prompt someones mind...

 

[ML Auto]

It is fastened from the top. Open the hood and look past the wiper motor on the right side way up under the dash. When you see the 10mm bolt head that you can barely reach you will have found it. It is interesting that both my 1.5 and my 2.0 use 2 bolts from the inside, while my 2.5 has the one bolt from under the hood, and the other from the inside. Maybe they had a problem with the threaded inserts coming loose and used a bolt and J-nut in the later models. The hole looked mangled after I removed the bolt, like the insert came loose.

It is much easier to remove the plugs once the unit is loose.

 

[Jonathanm]

Thanks for the reply - I started to have a look this afternoon - I could not see the bolt as I had not removed any of the other covering equipment - but lo and behold all channels of the amp have come to life - probably me messing with the plugs.? So nothing more to do than to slowly rebuild everything tomorrow - I have taken a lot of photos so I'll do a new thread on the completed job.