installing a subwoofer???

progress

My 91 rt4wd is lacking in the stereo department. I've got the original radio and the 2 front door speakers. I was at Big Lots the other day and happened upon a Roadmaster 6.5" subwoofer tube thingy for $10. How do I go about installing it? Do I need an amp or can I just hook it up to my current radio? Thanks!

949

nice. it should have pretty good sound for the price.
found this one here. 15 bucks
http://www.goodwilltoo.com/browse.cfm/4,1097.html





well your gonna need a few basic parts to get this to at least sound decent.
even tho its small you will need an amp.
it says 200 watts peak but i dont know the rms.
if you get the rms number which i will assume it should be below 100watts continues or something like that.
get an amp that is about 100 rms continues watts or if you plan on upgrading in the future get something way more and you can always turn down the power on the amp.

- amp
- wiring. for power, ground, remote, RCA cables
- connectors
- inline fuse for power wire

that should be it for the most basical part of it.
stores around you like circuit city or best buy should have a basic kit all prepackaged for installs like this. it should have everything you need so you dont have to worry about missing any part. they run pretty cheap on the price too.
the kit has a few level so prices can go higher.
each kit will contour to different needs of the installation.
for example one kit will contain more wires and cables. those are for people who plan on installing more then one amp.
another will be for someone who wants to run a very high wattage amp so the wires will be much more thicker in gauge.
and it goes on from there.
so that should get you started on the right direction

good luck on the install. its pretty fun when you get it down.

Haydz

I could fart better than that cannon.

astuto

i have amp and subs install on my wagon. the best part that there is so much space for this in the wagon so its awesome. but the onlything it pissin me off is that it makes a weird sound when the car is on. like an static sound or something and when i press the gas the sound gets louder. when the car is off and the key is just half twist i would say, just in order to make the radio work there is no sound. does anyone knows why is this happening. i even separate the cables, the power cable on the left side of the wagon and the amp audio cables on right side of the wagon but still doin that sound...

shenrie

Did you run the outputs and power together? Might be getting interference from the power lines. You can also add/check your grounds to try and get rid of the "whine" noise.

astuto

they were and then i separate them. now the output is one side and the power line is in the other side of the wagon and still making that sound. and yeah i cheked my ground and its fine i dunno why is this happening... it piss me off when im driving w/ someone else and the volume is low because we can hear it and ususally they say what the fuck is that and im like uhhh i dunno lol ...

ragenasian

You could have a ground loop problem.

What kind of amp do you have? If it is a cheap amp that can be a source of your problem. Swap amps if you can and see if it changes.

You could try and ground the rca outputs on your radio. Strip some copper wire wrap it around your rca ouputs and ground it to the chassis of the radio.



Make sure your RCA cables are shielded.

Make sure your AMP is grounded to good solid metal and the ground point is free of any rust or paint.

progress

Haydz, I'm sure we can all fart louder than the cannon I bought! But hey, what can you expect for $10?

As much as Id like to go all out and hook this wagon up with nice sound, it ain't gonna happen.

On that note, anyone have any good recommendations for a good quality, yet inexpensive upgrade from stock? Head unit? Amp? Rear speakers? Nothing crazy but definitely better than stock. I think I may have some 6" speakers I pulled from the rear of a wrecked CRX I bought for parts a few years ago that I can use. They might even be Sony Xplod ones if my memory is correct.

Thanks!

ragenasian

Just stick with name brand. You usually can't go wrong with name brand stuff. Sony isn't very expensive. I just recently installed and built a whole Fusion setup and it wasn't bad either. Actually sounded pretty good and I got all the speakers and amps (600 watt mono block, 500 watt 5 channel, tweeters, crossovers, 6.5 mids, and 5x7's that were all Fusion for less than 400 bucks)



All those companies like pioneer, kenwood, sony, jvc have cheaper lines of stuff that are decent and won't break the bank.

astuto

ragenasian wrote:

You could have a ground loop problem.

What kind of amp do you have? If it is a cheap amp that can be a source of your problem. Swap amps if you can and see if it changes.

You could try and ground the rca outputs on your radio. Strip some copper wire wrap it around your rca ouputs and ground it to the chassis of the radio.



Make sure your RCA cables are shielded.

Make sure your AMP is grounded to good solid metal and the ground point is free of any rust or paint.

i have pyramid amp and visonik subs... i might ask someone that has an amp and see if it does the same sound. i will try to do what you told me. and yeah the ground is a non rusty place. thanks