I am building the amprack for my car finally. I am using Black boat carpet from Lowes to carpet it so it matches the interior. Should I trim the carpet under the amplifiers so they aren't insulated by the carpet, and can cool better?
im not positive which is better to do. i'd think trimming would offer better cooling. if you do trim it though, make sure you leave about half an inch of carpet under the amp all aroudn it, so you dont see the wood underneath the amp.
Good thought, but it's not necessary to trim the carpet under the amps. Unless you are mounting the amps upside down with the heat sinks/fins on the carpet, this won't be an issue. Some older amps (phoenix gold ms/mps series) had cosmetic plexiglass covers so you could mount them upside down to display the internals. That type of mounting could be an arguement for (maybe) trimming the carpet.
If you are truly concerned with this, I'd recommend you use some small (1/4 inch) spacers to raise the bottom of the amp off of the carpet slightly. However, if the amps heat sinks are exposed and have free space to ventilate, proceed without worry. These spacers will also allow you to tuck the wiring under the amps and pass them through a hole in your mounting board. Makes for a clean install.
Thanks. One of the amps is a Pioneer Premier and has a cover that goes over the wires. The other two amps dont have covers so I am either going to have to fab something up or live with the exposed wires through the amprack window.