Help: Subwoofer Installation

[Sam1990]

Re: Help: Subwoofer Installation

Ya I was thinking it was just a wire coming from the stereo, but on the back of my stereo it has a diagram and it says "REMOTE" which points to a jack input.

http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/Search.do?c=1&searchType=user&keyword=CDX-GT520&searchSection=All&go.x=0&go.y=0

[Warhawk]

Re: Help: Subwoofer Installation

thats really odd, mine was just a little grey wire hanging down from my deck with a little crimper thing on it. I'll try to take pictures too so maybe you can see if you have the same thing. If you have to use the jack just buy a small 3.5mm cable and cut that thing up with some scissors and sauter it to your remote wire that runs to the amp. Also, what are you using for the ground? The Ground is very very important.

As far as the other stuff goes i'm shooting into the dark here

Low Boost (Im guessing Bass Boost on mine) : Don't use it unless your bass is really weak, I just turn the bass up on my headunit when I want it to thump.

Level (I'm guessing gain) : This is kind of like a volume control on your amplifier but it also determines how much power is being fed to your sub. If you turn the gain up too high your amplifier will start "clipping" and your sub will distort and fizzle out in a ball of smoke. Ask me in your next post if you want to learn how to set this, I'll probably just make a video of it cuz it can get kind of in depth.

Filter (aka low pass filter): This is the filter that sets what notes you want coming through your subwoofer. You want to set it at around 80 Hz. This basically means any notes between 0 - 80Hz will be sent to your subwoofer, which are the deep bass notes. If it wasn't for this your headunit might try to send high treble notes to your subwoofer and after a while of that you might get the smoky fizzle effect again.

Anyway hope this helps. I'll make a writeup of how to set your gain if you wish.

[Sam1990]

Re: Help: Subwoofer Installation

If you have some spare time on your hands and don't mind making a video or making a writeup, I would greatly appreciate it.

[Warhawk]

Re: Help: Subwoofer Installation

No problem, i have graduation tomorrow though so I'll probably do it sometime around Wednesday - Friday.

[Minicoop503]

Re: Help: Subwoofer Installation

The remote jack might be a jack for some kind of remote for the stereo maybe?

All the remote wire is is a 12 volt signal that goes to the amp to tell it to turn on. I hooked up a sub in my brothers 98 integra, and it was easy since that had a power antenna that went up when the radio turned on, so we just tapped into that since it was a 12 volt signal.

I hooked up another head unit in my brothers new 1991 crx, and the wiring harness from the head unit had a wire that was used for the 12 volt signal. So, it could be in the wiring harness also.

I'm not sure about that low pass crossover, I've never used one, but after looking at it I could see how it could help.

Other than that, do like other people said : run wires on opposite sides of the car, make sure you have a good ground, and turn on the high pass filter on your head unit.

[Sam1990]

Re: Help: Subwoofer Installation

I had it installed professionally, but it still doesn't work, for reasons I don't know. So, I need your help on resolving this.

My Car:
- the power, ground, and remote are all connected
- the amp turns on
- the stereo turns on
- the subwoofer doesn't work

My Friends Car:
- the power, ground, and remote are all connected
- the amp turns on
- the stereo turns on
- the subwoofer works

So the amp turns on in my car, but for some reason the subwoofer doesn't work. We tried both the amp and subwoofer in my friends car and it works.

What I think might be the problem at the moment:
- my speaker wires suck
- the RCA cables are plugged into the wrong place on the stereo

Are the RCA cables supposed to be plugged into the AUDIO IN on the amp and BUS AUDIO IN on the stereo or to something else on the stereo? I forgot what else I had... but I had like 3 combinations. I think they were AUDIO IN, AUDIO OUT, BUS AUDIO IN, SUB OUT.

Are there any other possibilities that would cause the subwoofer to not work? Actually, the subwoofer works because when I turn my car off it makes one thump. Other than that though, it doesn't pound with the music.

[Minicoop503]

Re: Help: Subwoofer Installation

They should be plugged into the SUB OUT.

[Warhawk]

Re: Help: Subwoofer Installation

Make sure they are plugged into sub out on your head unit. Also make sure your headunit has the subwoofer output turned on. Mine turns completely on and off so check for that too. If you have it going to the AUDIO IN part on your amplifier then thats correct. The AUDIO OUT on your amp is if you needed to hook up another subwoofer amplifier because its so much easier to run RCA's from one amp to the other instead of running a whole new set from the headunit. Did they set the gain and everything properly for you? Here is just my settings, but every setup is different so this is just an example.

[Sam1990]

Re: Help: Subwoofer Installation

No they didn't set anything. The guy that did it is so stupid he plugged the RCA cables into the BUS AUDIO IN on the stereo and told me my amp doesn't work. I had to switch it myself, and I went back there today and told them off. Probably will get a refund back.

I'll set my gain to around where yours is.

Thanks for the help.

[Sam1990]

Re: Help: Subwoofer Installation

Can someone tell me though what the following mean:

Offset
Over Current
Thermal

Also, my subwoofer is really loud and I can barely hear the actual music. Is there any way to fix this problem besides lowering the DB on the subwoofer?

[Warhawk]

Re: Help: Subwoofer Installation

As far as the subwoofer being loud, either adjust your output level on your head unit or turn down the gain a little. To Set the gain properly on your amp follow these steps. Do this in a park or empty parking lot somewhere or else you'll end up with some angry neighbors.

1) Turn gain on the amplifier all the way down to 0
2) Turn the subwoofer output level on your headunit all the way up
3) Turn on a song with heavy bass like a rap song or something
4) Turn the volume up on your headunit until your speakers are pretty much playing as loud as they can without distortion or sounding funny
5)Go back to your amplifier and start turning the gain up until the bass pretty much reaches the same volume as your speakers.

Now when you adjust the volume on your headunit the bass should stay proportional to the treble coming out of your speakers. My Subwoofer volume on my headunit goes from 0 - 8. When I set my gain I had it set to 8 and when I'm just listening casually I usually have it set to 5 when I'm not in the mood for so much thump. I'm not sure how your headunit is but you should have a subwoofer volume adjustment.

Also Over Current is a protection feature on your amp to prevent too much power from running through it. Also Thermal protection will shut your amp down if it gets too hot. As long as you have some room for your amp to breathe it will be fine. Mine barely even gets warm to the touch. I'm not sure what offset it though.