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Subs using factory radio

Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2005 6:15 am
by TurboSubie
is it possiblye to use the factory cd player and install subs? I found a thread saying what to tap the remote wire into..what about the RCA's? how would you go about hooking these up?

Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2005 3:01 pm
by vrg3
You need an amplifier.

Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2005 5:51 am
by TurboSubie
I already have an amplifier, I recently replaced my aftermarket cd player with my stock one, now i have no ports for the RCA wires that send sound signals to the amp.

Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2005 6:33 am
by Splinter
There's a couple options.

You can either splice the rear speaker wires and lead them into the speaker level inputs on your amp (not the greatest sound quality)

Or, and this is trickier and riskier, assuming you have the seperate CD deck that was installed under the cassette/fm radio deck, there is a cable that goes from the CD deck to the back of the radio. I dont have mine on hand anymore, but I believe the cable is of a fairly standard type. You should be able to buy a cable that fits, and splice that, and run sheilded signal cables to the trunk.

Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2005 2:47 pm
by vrg3
Ah, okay. Yeah, Splinter's got it. You can splice into the line-level signals from the CD player if you only need the CD to work with the sub. They're standard 13-pin DIN connectors, I believe, and the pinouts you need are here:

http://www.graphics.cornell.edu/~v/bcstereo/

Or if your amp has speaker-level inputs, just use those, like Splinter said again.

If your amp doesn't have speaker-level inputs you'll need a line level converter. Typically these are little boxes the size of a pack of cigarettes with speaker wires on one side and RCAs on the other.

Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 5:46 am
by TurboSubie
Thanks...yeah I guess I need one of those black cigarette box thingys...thanks for the help

Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 5:50 am
by vrg3
No problem.

I bought one from Radio Shack a while back.

Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2005 6:49 am
by magicmike
the only problem with this technique is that you lose the 2 channels that you want to use for subs. so you cant use the back speakers after. Back speakers are useless anyway IMO.