how to wire sub and amp

[adammichael]

how do i fit a sub and amp to my stereo.
i have a bronze wire with 2 jack plugs on each end, thick red wire, thin blue wire, thick black wire.
this is what ive been given, i do not have a clue

 

[Burfy]

oo goodie haha... Are you seriously considering wiring this yourself when you don't know the difference between a power/lead on/ground wire? :grinning: We'll help you out m8!

1. Thick red wire = Power cable, usually runs from the battery to the trunk and has a fuse inline somewhere (preferably closer to the battery).. Getting it to your trunk is your choice, generally speaking you SHOULD run it through your firewall and underneath your carpeting.

2. Thin blue wire = Lead Turn on, this is the wire that will signal the amp to turn on. It takes 12V and there are several places this could go to. Your deck may have a wire dedicated to it, if not then you can attach it to the red wire going in to your deck!

3. Thick black wire = Grounding wire (or Earth wire). This is a very vital part of your system, without it current won't flow through your electronics! This wire plugs into the ground spot on your AMP. The trickiest part with the ground is finding a suitable place to mount it. It has to go on bare metal for best performance. I personally sanded away a bit of paint in my trunk and used a large self-tapper to hold it on.

4. Bronze wire with 2 jack plugs = RCA, this is the wire that will send the signal to the amp for the noise. It's pretty straight forward, and again, run it under the carpeting.

IMO, Run the power cable and the thin blue wire down the side where your battery sits, and the rca down the opposite. It's your choice though.

A few cautions, hopefully there's a fuse inline with your power cable, when running the power cable through make sure to take it out (words of experience ok?)
--Another thing to watch out for when working on the battery, if you're working with the power, DON'T ground yourself (aka touch bare metal) you'll be in for a not-so-nice shock (fortunately no words of experience there.......yet lol)
--When you're wiring the subs to the amp, make sure you match +ve to +ve and -ve to -ve !
--Turn down all of the enhancements on the amp before you hook it up (bass boost, etc.)

Please ask questions if you're unsure of anything, and if anyone else would like to give their comments please do!

 

[Retepetsir]

1. The fuse should be no further than 12" from the battery, i.e. as close as possible. Use a grommit when running the cable through the bulkhead, you dont want metal rubbing on the wire!

2. You want to use the remote turn-on connector/power antenna connector for this blue lead, you should have at least one of those available. Dont connect it to the red wire, otherwise the amp will be on all the time!

3. Use a big mounting point, one of the seat mounting bolts is good, undo one of them, sand the metal down to bare metal and sandwich the connector between the bolt and the bare metal.

4. RCA, headunit to amp, shouldnt be too tricky.

Before to start any work, disconnect the negative battery terminal, as then everything will be safe from shorts, etc. Only connect it back up once every cable is secured.

Don't worry about grounding yourself! Your body wont conduct the battery power, there's too much resistance in the skin. You can touch the + and - connectors and not electrocute yourself . Just DONT drop a screwdriver/spanner accross the terminals!!!

You dont want any bass boost, etc on. And turn the amp gains down to minimum.

 

[Burfy]

You want to use the remote turn-on connector/power antenna connector for this blue lead, you should have at least one of those available. Dont connect it to the red wire, otherwise the amp will be on all the time!

Not true m8, the red isn't constant power, orange is I thought so at first but I conducted some tests and you can actually use the red power as a remote turn-on! That's of course if you don't have a remote turn-on cable from your headunit... If you have one, just ignore all this haha..

 

[adammichael]

cheers ppl

 

[mean micra]

Not true m8, the red isn't constant power, orange is I thought so at first but I conducted some tests and you can actually use the red power as a remote turn-on! That's of course if you don't have a remote turn-on cable from your headunit... If you have one, just ignore all this haha..

BURFY, you misunderstood pete's post, he was refering to the RED power cable of the amp kit not the red ign wire of the k10...

 

[richmicratwista]

Not true m8, the red isn't constant power, orange is I thought so at first but I conducted some tests and you can actually use the red power as a remote turn-on! That's of course if you don't have a remote turn-on cable from your headunit... If you have one, just ignore all this haha..

dont argue with pete he is the master of sound

 

[Burfy]

Sorry, there must've been a misunderstanding... There's two power lines going into the head unit... Red and Orange. Orange is constant, and Red is only used when the unit is turned on. I don't mean hook it to the power cable coming from the battery to the amp. Please correct me if I'm wrong Pete, but I'm just speaking from personal experience.. It's how I got my system set-up right now, and there's ZERO power going to the amp when the headunit turns off. I don't mean to sound like a stuck up jerk or anything if that's how I'm coming across. I was speaking of the power going to the headunit, not the amp...

Your deck may have a wire dedicated to it, if not then you can attach it to the red wire going in to your deck!

 

[mean micra]

I don't mean to sound like a stuck up jerk or anything

nah mate, you not sound like a jerk... we are a friendly bunch... and we spread love all around...

Hifive mate, all advice and opinions are considered on here...

 

[adammichael]

ok ive got the red wire running from the amp to the positive on the battery and the black wire on a screw to the amp but yet im still not getting any power to the amp, and im not so sure what to do with the blue wire

 

[mean micra]

adam if you want me to have a look i can... i'm only next town down...

but to keep it simple...

red cable is correct (to +)
Black cable needs grounding mate...

these two provide power but the thin blue wire is like an on switch...

this connects to the remote out that should be protruding from the back of your headunit...

try that mate, if not get in touch...

 

[Burfy]

The remote on from the back of the head unit is usually a blue wire (it probably varies from the manufacturers) but as a last resort, try using the thin red wire going into your head unit and see if it comes to life... Double check all your fuses are in snug and are not blown!!

And thanks mean micra, but I don't like stirring stuff up.. It's really not who I am

 

[adammichael]

ok ive got the blue wire going into the head unit, now where does the other end go.
and finally where does both ends of the lead with the jack plugs go, also what wire upto the sub
thanks

 

[odienoo]

The blue wire needs to be connected to the remote/ignition input on your amp and as previously mentioned will turn your amp on when your stereo switches on. This should then give the amp life.

Now to get sound to it:
The lead with jacks on either end (RCA lead) needs to be connected to the audio output on the back of your stereo (you should have this if it's an aftermarket stereo) they are normally red and white, but are occasionally red and black. The ends of these cables should also have one red and one white or black at either end. These are used to transmit the sound from the headunit to the amp. Plug them into the stereo and then the amp.

Now get the sound to the sub:
FIRST THING MAKE SURE EVERYTHING ON THE AMP IS TURNED DOWN TO MINIMUM.
You need some thick speaker cable and attach the positive output terminal of the amp to the positive teminal on the sub, and the negative to negative. (If you do this the wrong way around the sub will move in when it should move out and vice versa, potentially damaging the sub and definately giving crap sound.)
If the amp has more than one output then you need to 'bridge' two outputs, ie: use the positive of one and the negative of the other. If this is the case the ones to use are normally bold or highlighted in some way. If this is the case you probably need to post back up for some more advice for setting it up.

Et voila, you should now have a system with some bass. Take the car somewhere that you won't annoy too many people Select a track that is about as bassy as you can, keep the amp on the lowest possible setting, turn your headunit up until your other speakers start to distort, ie lose sound quality, go crackly. Turn it back down a little, then turn the gain up on the amp until the sub starts to distort, then back down a bit. (Preferably not much more than half way is best to avoid long term damage)

Now remember the volume that the stereo is on and this is the maximum that you want to turn your stereo up to so that you don't damage your normal speakers or sub.

Hope this is of some use, and I'm sure there may be some areas I've missed, but good luck with it, we all have to start somewhere with these things.(Y)

Chris.