V8drummer

iTrader: (5)

Alright here's the background. I have a 92 sc400 with an aftermarket Pioneer deck and ipod adapter which runs into the glove box. This all works great, but I haven't had a running subwoofer since I've owned the car.

The previous owner had a big sub and amp in the trunk of the car, which he took out when I bought it. The only problem is I have no idea what to do with all the wiring. I posted pictures below. The stock amp is also gone, so would this mean my speakers are running from the deck only?

I have a subwoofer that fits in the factory spot, I'm just wondering if I'm better off buying the stock amp, or getting an aftermarket one. I guess I just need some direction of where to go from here. Any advice is appreciated.
thanks!

Here's the wiring in the trunk. There's a red cable, yellow cable, and an rca cable. You can also see the factory amp is gone off to the right.


This runs through the fire wall and was tucked on the side of the battery. I'm assuming this is the same red cable as in the trunk, and was used for the amp?

veleno

iTrader: (3)

Red cable is your amp power cable. It looks to be on the small side so if you decide to use an amp I'd get some 4 gauge wire instead.

The yellow wire looks to be your remote turn on for the amp that was there. If you decide to use another amp, at least you won't have to run that wire (although I would change it since yellow might get confusing, but to save time/effort the yellow will work the same).

The RCA's are from the head unit for the sub, so at least that's done for you as well.

Do you have aftermarket speakers in the front or are they OEM? Either way they're running off of the head unit.

How do you like the sound right now (despite missing the sub output)? If it's fine then just get an amp and a sub. You can always opt for those amplified bazooka tubes that are an "all in one" type of solution.

V8drummer

iTrader: (5)

Thanks for the reply. The sound is decent now, just a little weak from the lack of low end. The speakers are all stock. So the front and rear speakers I take it all run off the deck, and would probably be quite a bit more work to run through the amp as well?

I should also add, I checked out the subwoofer that was left in the stock location. It's an aftermarket one that doesn't have any rca jacks.

V8drummer

iTrader: (5)

bump for audio gurus

tneig002

The subwoofer isn't going to be the component with RCA inputs, it'll be the amplifier.

And right now since your speakers are working without a factory amp being in the car, it means it was previously bypassed and yes, running off the head unit. If you get an aftermarket "subwoofer amp," your front and rear speakers will have nothing to do with it. You can, if you so desire, replace the stock speakers with quality aftermarket units and run those off an aftermarket 4-channel amp (which I would highly recommend). If not, you can keep the setup the way it is and just add an amp/sub combo with no problem.

Whatever you plan on doing amplifier-wise, PLEASE, for the love of all that is holy, upgrade that wiring. That's the type of thing my nightmares are made of.

V8drummer

iTrader: (5)

Thanks, yeah I think to start off I will get an amp to power the subwoofer.

haha those wires are that bad huh? The guy was running a pretty high wattage system too with those if I remember right

Big Mack

iTrader: (1)

An excellent place to start.

Those wires aren't "bad" per se, but what you may consider high wattage may very well have been WLS power (When Lightning Strikes). This means a big number on the outside, and very little going on inside. The wire appears to be 10 ga, perhaps 8 at the largest, which is fine for a moderate system, but I agree with the consensus - upgrade it, do it right, and if you want to build on to it at a later time, you'll be able to with a lot less fuss. To that end - make sure that you upgrade the battery to frame ground cable to the SAME SIZE OR LARGER power wire. Do this with black cable so there is no confusion.

As previously suggested, the yellow is most likely for the turn on to the amp, and can be used since it's probably still connected. If you're interested in running new wires to the speakers, or new speakers all together, you can always use the existing wires to fish the new ones back through the door. Since it is 20 year old wiring, it's definitely not going to be something where you want to use the existing. Those are just for later, though, as you said you'll just rock it the way it is and add a sub/amp combo. Be sure you use a good grounding point for the new amp, hook up the sub to the outputs, and you should be good to go after dialing in the gain setting.

Let us know how it goes, and take pitchers!

Big Mack

V8drummer

iTrader: (5)

What do you think of powered subwoofers like infinity basslink. Less wiring always = good for me lol.

Oh I also found a quality amp cable I had in the garage from the system I used to have in my truck, which was broken into and stolen :/

Big Mack

iTrader: (1)

It's not really less wiring, unless you look at running a speaker wire from an amp to a box as a huge undertaking.

Still have to do the rest, but that's a start.

Big Mack

V8drummer

iTrader: (5)

lol true

I decided to do a little more upgrading to the system. So I'll put it all together once I receive all the parts .

I just bought some alpine sps-400 4" speakers for the doors. I also realized one of my rear speakers is out, so I'm looking for something to replace those. Any recommendations on a 2 channel amp? The sub I have is just 350w so I don't need anything too extravagant.

edit: just picked up a jensen amp on ebay

V8drummer

iTrader: (5)

Just to update the thread I installed the subwoofer and amp today. It kicks decent for a 350w subwoofer, but it doesn't have much sustain. You can feel the bass drum hit, but you can't really feel the bass guitar much.

So I'm thinking maybe it isn't a free air sub?

veleno

iTrader: (3)

Which sub did you get and install? 350w is plenty but really depends on what type of sub you got, how it's mounted (free air, sealed box, ported box), and if the amp is really putting out 350w. If your amp is 2ohm stable you might want to bridge the amp and run it at 2ohm. If you do be sure to play with the gains so you don't blow the sub

V8drummer

iTrader: (5)

It's mounted in the stock position. But I'm thinking maybe it's not a true free air sub.
The previous owner left it in the car, but it was never hooked up.
The brand is Soundstorm Laboratories

I did bridge the amp as well, the wattage is pretty evenly matched with the sub.