I bought two 8" subs, amp built into box and I need some suggestions on hooking them up.

they are pretty big so they are going in the trunk most likely (She has a 01 mirage) and since they are powered I need a line level signal, so I bought a line output converter, on the subs the wiring they have is

12V+
12V-
Right audio signal
Left audio signal
audio signal ground
remote power

That's how the instructions explain it. So here's what I'm confused on.

Why does one sub need both the right and left signal? It will work OK giving it the pos left and right, and just using one of their neg signals for the signal ground?
remote power? does that go into the radios ignition power? Because the radio gets a 12V source, then in the wiring harness it has a ignition power (I guess so you cant turn it on without the car being on) is that what the point of the remote power is for? so the subs dont always stay on? So what I'm thinking of doing is just coming directly off the speakers that are in the back dash since they are exposed to the trunk, and going into my line output converter into the subs.

So basically. I need to know why the sub has 3 signal wires, and what exactly the remote power is for.

thanks

I have a similar all-in-one sub myself. Guy in the shop told me it was **** and wanted to sell me something more expensive, but it works well. A cheap way of extending the bass. I don't want/need something that will shake my car to bits and let off car alarms.

Anyway:

12V+ Wire this, (with a fuse if none on the sub, say 15A) to a good solid supply of 12V. I've run a lead directly from the battery, but i'm running other things too. You could take it from somewhere around the fuse box too. Have a look. Mine had chunky 20A fuses sitting there doing nothing that were for things i didn't have, like a sunroof. You could take 12V from that wiring.

12V- Connect to ground, ya know, decent metal bit of the car, not where paint is.

remote power goes to the accesory wire that comes from the car's head unit, meant to turn on an external amp or to power the electric antenna. Check the head units manual. If it's a stock head unit, maybe is the wire for the power antenna if there is one, failing that, hook it up to the cigarett lighter. This way, the sub is turned on when the ignition is on or in ACC mode, but not when the car is parked. Don't want to flatten the battery!


Right audio signal
Left audio signal
audio signal ground

Are these wires, or on RCA plugs? Some of these amps are meant for speaker level signals, others line level. If it's speaker level, which it sounds like, just hook it up to the wires from the rear parcel shelf speakers. Use a multimeter on the parcel shelf speakers to check which wire on each is ground for sure. If you have continuity between - on both speakers, then you just hook up the audio signal ground to ground on one. With the signal leads, hook them to the other wire on each speaker. Does your sub amp have a siwtch for mono/stereo? If so, you could use mono. No, subs do not have to be stereo, there is no point, but it is good if it takes the bass from both channels, though not essential. You could just run it from one side. The other advantage of running it from one side only, and setting the sub to mono, is that you can control the relitive sub level by fading or panning to or away from that speaker via the head unit. But the best option is a head unit with direct sub drive and cross over for the factory speakers. If you had that, then you can make the factory speakers roll off below 80hz, and the sub come in at around 125hz. this means you can drive the factoyr speakers harder as they aren't trying to produce bass, and the sub will take care of that.

Have fun!

Rowan

Hey thanks for the answers, tha thelps out a lot. Few more questions.

The subs are powered with the amps built right in, they take line level, so I bought a line output converter. It's 3 bare wires for the signal; left, right, and signal ground. So running it through the converter, would hooking the left wire to the left pos speaker wire, and the right signal wire, to the right pos signal wire, and signal ground to one of the neg wires work? (I'll be coming off of the shelf speakers in the trunk). I'd just be doing that for both of them. And then running power to the trunk, do you think 16 ga wire for 200 watts would work OK? (250 max). I think that's about 16 amps, not sure about the amps per gauge specs.

16 gauge wire is ok if you want to light it on fire. 8 gauge is the smallest I would go to allow more current to the amp.

As far as the line output convertor, if you have RCA jacks on the amp you need one. If not, you can tap off of the back speakers. The two channels are if you have a two channel amp and want to either bridge the two channels or run power to interior speakers. I used a line output converter on a customer's 2004 Mini Cooper S and tapped off of only the left rear speaker and it worked fine. All the signal ground is used for is to ground the actual unit so it doesn't have any interfernence. You should be able to attach the positive and negatives of the one channel and not have to worry about it. Just attach both of the positve wires of the converter to the positive lead on the speaker and the negatives on the converter to the negative to the speaker. That's all!