Adding Amp & Subwoofer

me_myself · Post by **me_myself** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 12:50 am

My audio system lacks the "bass" effect - need to know if the factory fitted audio system has subwoofer output? If yes, can i plug subwoofers directly to it? If not, can i have a 2 way amp and have two subwoofers at the back?Its a 2003 Vibe - Factory fitted audio system.Any advice in this regard would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Kamikaze · Post by **Kamikaze** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 1:01 am

Welcome to the site!I'm assuming that your Vibe doesn't have the Monsoon system?you should be able to use the high gain on the amp if you don't want to get a different head unit..(using RCA's/Subwoofer output)Some other guys on this site will probably be able to elaborate better...

me_myself · Post by **me_myself** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 1:09 am

Thanks for the reply.What is a Monsoon System?Yep. I dont want to use a different head unit, but just add bass (amp/sub) to the existing hu. Can someone please elaborate more on this?

Kamikaze · Post by **Kamikaze** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 1:13 am

The monsoon is Vibe's "good" stereo where it includes a subwoofer in the side panel in the back. If you do a search in the forums for subwoofer, you'll get a ton of topics that might help.Here's a pic of the factory Sub:

vibe007 · Post by **vibe007** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 1:20 am

you can use the high level of the speakers in the back doors and convert it to a low level with a high to low converter like this one: http://www.usblaster.com/Produ...%2018after you plug the output of the converter directly in the rca input of an amp and youre done.I've done it in my sentra and it worked realy great, and you dont even have to playremove the hu.

drunkenmaxx · Post by **drunkenmaxx** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 1:21 am

Quote, originally posted by Kamikaze Â»The monsoon is Vibe's "good" stereo where it includes a subwoofer in the side panel in the back. If you do a search in the forums for subwoofer, you'll get a ton of topics that might help.his vibe came out before that. if he has the premium, he just has 6 speakers.

Kamikaze · Post by **Kamikaze** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 1:25 am

Quote, originally posted by drunkenmaxx Â»his vibe came out before that. if he has the premium, he just has 6 speakers.Thanks Drunken... no seriously, I don't know much about the older vibes. I'm assuming that the monsoon started in 05?and vibe007: good find. That would be a lot better than using just the high gain in (if amps even have that anymore)

me_myself · Post by **me_myself** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 1:29 am

My Vibe does not have Monsoon System Should try to do something like Vibe007 said.Does these subs do the trick - Roadmaster 6.5" BassBlaster Subwoofer (its available in walmart for 20$) - Can finish the job quickly and cheap Vibe007 - should i fit the Converter (High ⁄ Low level) inside the back door panel?

Sublimewind · Post by **Sublimewind** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 1:40 am

Your Walmart link doesn't link me to anything but the front page??? I just pointed someone to this on another board i frequent... Someone who had asked about the VERY SAME SUB,,, http://cgi.ebay.com/KENWOOD-10...wItemIt's an amplified 10" sub, all in one.. It's cheap, simple, all in one, in one place.. It has remote level control... One run of power,ground and remote and then signal, either RCA/or high (speaker) level... It would do a lot, but could be toned down to suit your needs and it's not garbage..

Kamikaze · Post by **Kamikaze** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 1:44 am

Quote, originally posted by Sublimewind Â»It would do a lot, but could be toned down to suit your needs and it's not garbage.. Good find! that would be perfect for someone that doesn't want to go overboard, and simple, I like how the amp is recessed into the box.

vibe007 · Post by **vibe007** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 1:51 am

hum thats a good deal even if the shipping is 36$. It's alot better than the one at walmart. A 6.5" wont give a realy good bass for music like rap or hip hop, but it could be good for metal. A 10" sounds great for all music, its in the middle, good for big bass and for middle bass.I would go with the suggestion of sublimewind, because you have a even quality and somewhat good performance. You probably wont make the heads of people in the street turn but you'll have a better bass inside you car for sure.It depends on what you want and how much you want to pay.

me_myself · Post by **me_myself** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 1:59 am

Good One. Thanks Sublimewind.All i've got to do is get this sub and the high-low converter, fix the converter to the back speakers and fix the RCA from the converter to this inbuilt amp - i'm done - right?!

Kamikaze · Post by **Kamikaze** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 2:00 am

Power to the amp and ground, and a way to remotely turn the amp on and off... but yeah, that's about it.

me_myself · Post by **me_myself** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 2:02 am

Cant it be always turned ON?

Kamikaze · Post by **Kamikaze** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 2:06 am

you'll drain you battery.

vibe007 · Post by **vibe007** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 2:45 am

with this sub kit you wont need the converter because the amp has an high input capacity, if the seler is right. And for the on off, you can connect to any accesory, the amp only need a 12v signal other than the baterie one to work, so when you turn the key to accesory, your amp power on. This way the baterie wont drain, and beleive me it will drain if you dont do that.

me_myself · Post by **me_myself** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 2:51 am

Sure, Thanks Vibe007.

vibe007 · Post by **vibe007** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 3:20 am

tell us what you gona do, and how it sounds when you finish, and if you need any help, just ask!!!

Sublimewind · Post by **Sublimewind** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 1:47 am

Quote, originally posted by me_myself Â»Good One. Thanks Sublimewind.All i've got to do is get this sub and the high-low converter, fix the converter to the back speakers and fix the RCA from the converter to this inbuilt amp - i'm done - right?!I think with that sub, it already has a LOC (Line output converter, proper term BTW) on it, so you would just have to tap into the rear speaker output wires down below the B pillar (between the front and rear doors) and extend the wires back to the sub.. It may have a signal "sense" of some sort, so it senses the speaker output and turns on, insted of running a seperate wire for 12v turn on... then again, it may not, i didn't look at it that close. If you were to get it and run the remote control wire to the dash somewhere, it wouldn't be hard to tap a wire for a 12v turn on signal and run it BACK though either...

me_myself · Post by **me_myself** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 4:27 am

Thanks for the info.Just happened to stop at Best Buy last night, was lobbying around the car stereo section. The BestBuy guy told me i can get good BASS only if i have a two channel amp and seperate Subwoofers - he tells me the connection to the amp can be taken from the HU !!

vibe007 · Post by **vibe007** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 6:44 am

well I have a 10" 350 watt rms sub with a 500 rms amplifier, and it produce a really deep and good bass. Some guys put two 12" 300 watts rms subs with a 400 or a 500 watts rms, and the sound isn't as good as mine, because the poor amp is satured so the waves of the audio signal is not round, it is kind of square so you loose lots of quality. But it's sure that your vibe is gona vibe more with two subs than one, so peoples(and robbers) head will turn,it always depend on what you're looking for. And for the wiring that goes directly to the HU, I would say that he is right if you have and aftermaket hu with like 2volts pre-amp line-out, so you can connect your rca cable from the hu directly to the amp(no need of a converter in this case). But if you want to keep your original hu, it's not necessary to wire to the hu because you can take the high level signal of the speakers in the back and convert it to low-level to go to your amp or if your amp has a high level input capability, you simply wire from the back speaker to that input in your amp.

me_myself · Post by **me_myself** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 6:55 am

Can you give me the make and model of your sub and amp?Thanks.

Sublimewind · Post by **Sublimewind** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 6:58 am

Quote, originally posted by me_myself Â»Thanks for the info.Just happened to stop at Best Buy last night, was lobbying around the car stereo section. The BestBuy guy told me i can get good BASS only if i have a two channel amp and seperate Subwoofers - he tells me the connection to the amp can be taken from the HU !! This is true, but the BB guys are a WELTH of MIS-INFORMATION as well, beware.. you WERE talking to a salesman..1. Most any 2ch amps can be wired for 1ch opperation...true2. You can't have bass with just a sub, you have to have a box...the box is almost MORE important than the sub itself.. (you CAN have bass, but, i wouldn't call it that and it would last for long without a box)3. The connections CAN be taken right from the HU, but HOW, depends on if you are talking about a STOCK HU or an aftermarket HU... A. If we are talking about a stock HU, then regurdless of what happens a LOC (line output converter, converts from hi-level or speaker level to low-level or RCA level) WILL be used... Sometimes they are right in the amp, sometimes they have to be installed seperate, it depends on the amp...B. If we are talking about a aftermarket HU, then they usually have some sort of RCA output that can be run to an amp... The option i outlined for you was just but ONE of about 10,000 different possibilities for getting bass in your car... Mind you it was prolly the cheapest, easiest and most compact (for what you would get) out of all the possibilities. It most likely has both RCA and speaker level inputs (which is what i was refering to when i mentioned the B-pillars being a good place to pick up the rear speakers if the speaker level got used)Sure you can go smaller, like an Infinity BassLink or a Kenwood Wooks and many people really like them, i don't particulary myself, because they are injection molded plastic, not a real wood box like that MTX i pointed out... Any of this is for you to deside apon of course, i personaly wouldn't go to a BB install shop, to save my life, but, i am an X-installer, so that changes things for ME... What say you?

vibe007 · Post by **vibe007** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 7:05 am

the sub is : Pioneer (TS-W257D4)the amp is: legacy predator that look like the Model #LA2228 but with 500 watts rms, it's a 2 years old amp and still run great but legacy don't make the 500 watts rms anymore, they make a 335 watts rms or 200 depending on the impedance of your sub.Legacy is not a really high quality brand as kenwood or pioneer but it's a lot cheaper, and when I compare it with the 400$ amp of my friend, there is not a really big difference.

vibe007 · Post by **vibe007** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 7:16 am

I didn't mention the box because I thought that everyboby knows that subs doesn't stands with a sky hook But you're right, the design of the box is really important to because speakers don't have the same specs, some get their max power with 1.25cubic feet(in my case), oders need a bigger box. Also, there could be a patern in your box to get the frequency you want. You also have the choice of a ported or unported box, depending on if you want a bandpass or simply cut at a frequency(cut hight frequencies and keep all low frequencies in exemple) There is a word for that but I don't know how to say it in english(sorry).

Sublimewind · Post by **Sublimewind** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 7:17 am

i was wondering why it was difficult to read your post... I understand now... I wasn't trying to be mean here, just didn't realize your native language was French

vibe007 · Post by **vibe007** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 7:33 am

haha no problem I'm trying my best!!!!!

me_myself · Post by **me_myself** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 12:42 am

Guys, I've gone ahead and ordered the (KENWOOD 10" POWERED 200W SUBWOOFER KSC-WD250 KSCWD250B) which Sublimewind recommended. I am a newbie in terms of installing car stuff - can i install this myself or should i take it to some install place like "Audio Express", etc ?!? Is there a step-by-step on how to take wire from the B-pillar, how to bring it to the back, how to connect the power cables, etc?! with pictures if possible ?!?Thanks a lot for the help.

Sublimewind · Post by **Sublimewind** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 2:29 am

Quote, originally posted by me_myself Â»Guys, I've gone ahead and ordered the (KENWOOD 10" POWERED 200W SUBWOOFER KSC-WD250 KSCWD250B) which Sublimewind recommended. I am a newbie in terms of installing car stuff - can i install this myself or should i take it to some install place like "Audio Express", etc ?!? Is there a step-by-step on how to take wire from the B-pillar, how to bring it to the back, how to connect the power cables, etc?! with pictures if possible ?!?Thanks a lot for the help.It sounds like this "should" be a jerb for the professionals... Start making phone calls right now, asking if they will install it for you, seeing as how you didn't make the purchase at whichever place you choose... Now, there WILL be more cost involved other than the install itself, understand... you'll need power and ground wire, a fuseholder under the hood, they'll have to take different things apart... so, you can let them know that you would still have to get these things from them... I've found there aren't many places that really like installing things you didn't buy there... BUT, that's why you call first... Make the calls, talk to them and pick the one that is most willing to talk to you and do the install... If you can, pick a smaller shop, they gotta make money to... If you want to tackle this on your own, you "can" there is loads of info here for you to look through but, it sounds like you might not be up to the task...

Sublimewind · Post by **Sublimewind** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 1:47 am

I was wondering about any up-dates??? Did you get it yet?? How does it look in person?? Does it feel as solid as it looked?? Got it installed yet?? Updates... updates...!!!

me_myself · Post by **me_myself** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 1:49 am

Yep. Got it yesterday. Looks OK. Called several installation guys - all charge 50+ $$$ Fishing for the cheapest !!

vibe007 · Post by **vibe007** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 3:34 am

I would do it free for you, but I'm in Canada, so maybe you don't want to come that far lol.But maybe there's somebody here that live closer from you and would help for for the same price as me!!! Good luck!!!P.S. did you buy your power cables and a capacitor (it's better for you alternator and baterie to ave one)?

me_myself · Post by **me_myself** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 3:39 am

Should i get the power cables & capacitor?!I has a few cables with it. But i didn't check for the power cable !!!

vibe007 · Post by **vibe007** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 3:51 am

the power cable (for the 12 volts and the ground) is big, you'll need a gauge 8, and the capacitor, 1 farad should be ok with your amp.

vibe007 · Post by **vibe007** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 3:54 am

this is an example of a kit to install an amp. You have the ground wire, the 12 volts for the batterie wire, the cable to onoff your amp, and a rca cable.http://cgi.ebay.ca/PHOENIX-GOL...wItem

me_myself · Post by **me_myself** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 3:57 am

Apart from these cables, should i also buy a power cable ?!

Sublimewind · Post by **Sublimewind** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 5:09 am

Quote, originally posted by vibe007 Â»the power cable (for the 12 volts and the ground) is big, you'll need a gauge 8, and the capacitor, 1 farad should be ok with your amp.A cap is generaly NOT needed if the charging system is up to the task... Many times capacitors are used as "band aids" for other problems in the system..Personaly, I wouldn't spend the money on it right now, it can always be added later... With that small of an amp, a cap would be like sending the money to me, except you would get a "thank you" from me...lol

Kamikaze · Post by **Kamikaze** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 5:10 am

Quote, originally posted by Sublimewind Â»A cap is generaly NOT needed if the charging system is up to the task... Many times capacitors are used as "band aids" for other problems in the system..Personaly, I wouldn't spend the money on it right now, it can always be added later... With that small of an amp, a cap would be like sending the money to me, except you would get a "thank you" from me...lolthat is exactly what I thought.

Sublimewind · Post by **Sublimewind** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 5:13 am

Quote, originally posted by me_myself Â»Apart from these cables, should i also buy a power cable ?!What vibe007 linked to you IS everything you would need for this install (power, ground,remote turn on wire, RCA cables, fuse holder (VERY important) and speaker wire, even terminals and wire ties) and depending on how the shop did it, you might get some of it back...

yotatrix · Post by **yotatrix** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 8:37 am

walmart also sells cheap amp wire kits and I've used one for over a year before upgrading to 4 gauge.

Adding Amp & Subwoofer

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