Installing a subwoofer in the RL

[JPK]

Ok, I have an amp and I have a box. I was wanting to buy a 12" sub to put in the box and hook it up with the stock audio system (advanced audio from factory).

What am I gonna need to do this? I thought I had read a thread that said you need a converter of some sort to hook up the amp or sub or something.

I was thinking just to draw the signal from the rear speakers to the amp and then hook it up to the sub. Will this work? Will I need a converter to do this? Help me out guys, I have no idea what I'll need besides wire and rca cables.

[Vita]

it's doable, a friend of mine just did that with a jeep, and it sounds great. i think you need some type of adapter for the deck where the speaker wires go to the adapter, then they come back out with an RCA setup now in the mix. never done it though. check out crutchfield.com and they should have some stuff

[goofyguy]

its a preyy simple deivce that you need. Its a line out converter. They go by many names. it takes the source the positive and negative wires from the speaker you would splice into and makes it a RCA source. I used the rear speakers because they are so damn convient back there.

[John]

Originally Posted by JPK

Ok, I have an amp and I have a box. I was wanting to buy a 12" sub to put in the box and hook it up with the stock audio system (advanced audio from factory).

What am I gonna need to do this? I thought I had read a thread that said you need a converter of some sort to hook up the amp or sub or something.

I was thinking just to draw the signal from the rear speakers to the amp and then hook it up to the sub. Will this work? Will I need a converter to do this? Help me out guys, I have no idea what I'll need besides wire and rca cables.

yes thats what i did . you have to put a converter from the speaker wires to the amp.they sell them at mobile one etc. for about $30.00. the you need a rca cable to go from the convertor to the amp.then run power and ground to the amp with a fuse in the power wire. the battery is in the trunk so this is easy. you will also have to run a remote wire to a power signal source in the dash. Pick something that comes on when the radio is turned on. (although i wired in a switch so i can turn the amp off and on with the radio left on) then run speaker wires from amp to sub encloser, and if everything is hooked up right, you have boom boom. also dont cut youre speaker wires you can buy some snap connectors that you lay both wires in snap closed and they are connected.

[JPK]

Thanks for the help guys.

I was thinking of running the remote wire off the power window fuse with a fuse tap. It's easy to get to and provides power until the doors are opened. Think that'll work?

I'll look for some of those snap connectors too. Will someone like Radio Hack have them?

Also, do I only need to tap one of the rear speakers for the signal with the converter and then go to the amp? I found a thread that had some pics and someone had tapped into both rear speakers. Is that necessary just to run a sub? Maybe they were running an amp to the door and rear speakers as well? I would think that you'd only need one signal source for my application.

[Vita]

Originally Posted by JPK

Thanks for the help guys.

I was thinking of running the remote wire off the power window fuse with a fuse tap. It's easy to get to and provides power until the doors are opened. Think that'll work?

I'll look for some of those snap connectors too. Will someone like Radio Hack have them?

Also, do I only need to tap one of the rear speakers for the signal with the converter and then go to the amp? I found a thread that had some pics and someone had tapped into both rear speakers. Is that necessary just to run a sub? Maybe they were running an amp to the door and rear speakers as well? I would think that you'd only need one signal source for my application.

you can get the connectors at radio shack, as for only using one speaker, i'd go with two as it seems it would be more balanced, but then what do i know about it.

does doing this still let you use the rear speakers? seems like it if you can use the wire tap connectors. just seems ghetto, and that it would take away from the sound of the rear speakers

[John]

yes use both rear speakers to have the best sound even with one sub,and yes this allows the rear speakers to be used still. you can run the rca wires down the trunk tension rod under the felt to the amp so you cant see the wires. it looks better that way.

[daveRL]

Originally Posted by Vita

you can get the connectors at radio shack, as for only using one speaker, i'd go with two as it seems it would be more balanced, but then what do i know about it.

does doing this still let you use the rear speakers? seems like it if you can use the wire tap connectors. just seems ghetto, and that it would take away from the sound of the rear speakers

Bridge the amp and it will be balanced.

Yea, you can still use the rear speakers, you will just be stealing some power.

I was thinking of doing the same thing, except with a 10" sub. I have the amp and sub that I took out of my old SL2.
From what I can remember most amps require a low-level input. The radio puts out a high-level output (to power the speakers without an amp). The advanced audio has an amp, and I don't know if it is high or low level input. I would assume it's high-level, because not all Ion's have the advanced audio which includes the amp. Does the converter power down the signal to a low-level along with converting it to a RCA? I guess you would tap into the speakers befor the amp, am I right?

[John]

ya navy i tapped before the amp, that way the factory amp wouldnt lose power to the factory sub. sounds pretty good that way. and as far as bridging it depends on the watt of the sub you are using and the power of youre amp. if you bridge an 800 watt amp and pump it into a 200 watt sub, it wont sound good and will blow pretty quick. I would recommend a 12 if using one speaker though, depending on quality and power of the sub of course. i used to have 2 10 jl wo's and noe have 1 12 inch eclipse,with the same 800 watt kicker amp. and the 12 hits and sounds alot better than the 2 10s did.

[BoKaThUg1]

Yeah i have 2 12" subs and i only hooked up 1 sub. i only used one of the rear speakers and i still get sound out of it. I soddered my converter wires right to the speaker and then bridged my amp to my sub. Its a 1000 watt amp and a 1000 watt sub so it bangin pretty hard. If you need any help or pics let me know. i got my converter from ebay for 5 bucks jus search for a hi/low impedence adaptor. good luck