Subwoofer With factory radio

[ajuj12]

Hey Guys,

Well i always wanted to get a sub woofer in my car without changing the standard radio if possible. On of my friends says that he can connet the subwoofer via the woofer connection at the back of my honda. What are your thoughts on this matter? Would it give good results? or is it not really not worth doing?

Thanks!

 

[nick 9-5]

If there was a woofer connector, which I doubt, you'd need an amp to power the sub.

 

[ajuj12]

well my back speakers are woofers and the sub comes with the amp and everything build into the enclosure. so would that be ok?

If there was a woofer connector, which I doubt, you'd need an amp to power the sub.

 

[93 accord]

the sub needs a power cable running to the battery and the ground. it then needs wires running to the AUX output at back of headunit so the sub has something to play.

the rear speakers are nothing to do with teh sub wiring wise, however on aftermarket headunits, you can make the sub play what comes out the rear speakers through settings, but thats after its wired in.

If the factory radio has AUX output happy days raz it in there it looks like this:

the 2 slots red and white.


Read this ignore the middle section, thats for the normal speakers, also ignore the power capacitor, the rest should make sense.

 

[ajuj12]

This is the the issue mine is a factory radio and it doesnt come with any aux outputs, so i think the only way to install the sub is to tap into the speakers at the back or as you said make it play whats coming out of the woofers. Yeah the wiring would be done as in batter and ground, however i wasnt sure if tapping into the rear speakers should work or not.

 

[Dave04]

This is the the issue mine is a factory radio and it doesnt come with any aux outputs, so i think the only way to install the sub is to tap into the speakers at the back or as you said make it play whats coming out of the woofers. Yeah the wiring would be done as in batter and ground, however i wasnt sure if tapping into the rear speakers should work or not.

I did this and it sounds amazing, I just disconected the speakers in the parcel shelf and converted them to RCA leads and used th epower to the cig lighter as a remote.

 

[Salim]

Try a search mate has been discussed before. you can use the output from shelf speakers with line out converter. I would still recommend a loc even if your amp has high level inputs as the signal from the 6x9's is higher than most amps can handle. Then all you need is to run a power cable from the battery, earth the amp and sort out a remote. There is a remote wire on the stock amp under the ashtray (have to remove trim) you can use that makes it turn on with stereo/nav.

 

[lilcow418]

do what i done and get a sub with a built in amp makes it easier for wiring and has its own power supply

 

[Accord-EX]

do what i done and get a sub with a built in amp makes it easier for wiring and has its own power supply

Ryan can you give me more info on this setup - this is what I am looking to do

I have the standard premium audio system which comes in the EX
I'd lilke to add a sub which has a built in amp

 

[Dave04]

Its really easy you need an active sub enclosure, halfords do some, http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/SearchCmd?catalogId=10151&storeId=10001&categoryId=165748&langId=-1&action=listrefine&constraints=teq%7C%7CType%7C%7CActive+Enclosure%7C%7Csor%7C%7CPrice%7C%7C1 then all you gotta do is run the power to the battery, the remote to something like the supply to the cig lighter, then I used a speaker wire to RCA converter from halfords (cost only about £2) to convert the wires for the parcel shelf speakers to RCA and plugged them in and then job done

 

[Accord-EX]

Its really easy you need an active sub enclosure, halfords do some, http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/SearchCmd?catalogId=10151&storeId=10001&categoryId=165748&langId=-1&action=listrefine&constraints=teq%7C%7CType%7C%7CActive+Enclosure%7C%7Csor%7C%7CPrice%7C%7C1 then all you gotta do is run the power to the battery, the remote to something like the supply to the cig lighter, then I used a speaker wire to RCA converter from halfords (cost only about £2) to convert the wires for the parcel shelf speakers to RCA and plugged them in and then job done

What do you need a remote wire going to the cig lighter for- is this so the amp only powers on when the ignition key is turned on?

With the speaker wire to RCA converter on the rear parcel speakers- will they still work or will this eliminate them? I'm not well up in speaker wiring/setup..

 

[shab_the_man]

Hello

I did this on my friends car this week, what we did was get RCA converters and use the shelf speaker feed and then send that to the amp. He has upgraded his rear shelf speakers so we just amped the rear speakers on the shelf.

The problem I was getting was when the amp was on tweeter and bass I was getting a load of interferance but when turned to just bass it was fine. I grounded the cables really well but still getting a load of interfereance, anyone know why this may be happening??

The wiring itself was all seperate so no power cable running alongside RCA leads.

As it stands he has his four speakers running from the standard system and the rear shelf speakers are now amped. The bass is amazing but there is only bass coming through them as I have to switch to this mode to eliminate the interferance noise.

My amp switch was coming from the cigarrete lighter feed also

 

[Dave04]

What do you need a remote wire going to the cig lighter for- is this so the amp only powers on when the ignition key is turned on?

With the speaker wire to RCA converter on the rear parcel speakers- will they still work or will this eliminate them? I'm not well up in speaker wiring/setup..

Yeh, the remote to the cig lighter is so that the amp turns on and off with the car otherwise you'll end up with a flat battery, with the converter you could keep the parcel shelf speakers but as they are bass only you really dont need them as a sub would be enough on its own.

 

[Dave04]

Hello

I did this on my friends car this week, what we did was get RCA converters and use the shelf speaker feed and then send that to the amp. He has upgraded his rear shelf speakers so we just amped the rear speakers on the shelf.

The problem I was getting was when the amp was on tweeter and bass I was getting a load of interferance but when turned to just bass it was fine. I grounded the cables really well but still getting a load of interfereance, anyone know why this may be happening??

The wiring itself was all seperate so no power cable running alongside RCA leads.

As it stands he has his four speakers running from the standard system and the rear shelf speakers are now amped. The bass is amazing but there is only bass coming through them as I have to switch to this mode to eliminate the interferance noise.

My amp switch was coming from the cigarrete lighter feed also

I think the supply to the rear shelf from the cars amp system could be bass only, so the only speakers you will be able to run in the parcel shelf will only be bass as aposed to something like 3way 6x9s where you get the whole range of sound so therefore may only work on the bass setting without interferance. dunno if any of that made sence lol

 

[Accord-EX]

Hello

I did this on my friends car this week, what we did was get RCA converters and use the shelf speaker feed and then send that to the amp. He has upgraded his rear shelf speakers so we just amped the rear speakers on the shelf.

The problem I was getting was when the amp was on tweeter and bass I was getting a load of interferance but when turned to just bass it was fine. I grounded the cables really well but still getting a load of interfereance, anyone know why this may be happening??

The wiring itself was all seperate so no power cable running alongside RCA leads.

As it stands he has his four speakers running from the standard system and the rear shelf speakers are now amped. The bass is amazing but there is only bass coming through them as I have to switch to this mode to eliminate the interferance noise.

My amp switch was coming from the cigarrete lighter feed also

This might actually be a better setup than just a sub in the boot as im looking for more full range power as apposed to just bass. I'd be interesting in finding out if you get this working properly. I'd like to replace the standard rear shelf speakers with say 2x 3way 300watt RMS 6x9 speakers powered by a 1000w amp. I think this would make a serious difference! I like my music..

 

[shab_the_man]

This might actually be a better setup than just a sub in the boot as im looking for more full range power as apposed to just bass. I'd be interesting in finding out if you get this working properly. I'd like to replace the standard rear shelf speakers with say 2x 3way 300watt RMS 6x9 speakers powered by a 1000w amp. I think this would make a serious difference! I like my music..

Hello

Basically what we did to begin with was replace the rear shelf speakers with some powerful 6x9's. As his car is an SE he didnt have any rear door speakers installed so I did an install for his there with some Alpine 2 way.
Now I have taken the feed coming from the rear speakers and sent that to the door speakers in the rear. I have also now taken the rear feed and used RCA connectors to send to an amp which I have connected to the rear shelf speakers. When the amp is set to High pass it porduces a load of interferance like it has bad earth and this is more apparant when switching the engine on. I made sure the earth connections were grounded down to metal and that all leads were not togeother. However when setting the amp to low pass (bass only) all is fine but now the rear shelf speakers act as a subwoofer with no tweet. In my opinion is sounds good with some really good bass coming through. The amp gain is turned right down as its way too powerfull. By doing this i'm not over working the head unit or the amp.

Hope that makes sense?

 

[shab_the_man]

I think the supply to the rear shelf from the cars amp system could be bass only, so the only speakers you will be able to run in the parcel shelf will only be bass as aposed to something like 3way 6x9s where you get the whole range of sound so therefore may only work on the bass setting without interferance. dunno if any of that made sence lol

Makes a little sense, can anyone else build on this?

 

[crespo]

Makes a little sense, can anyone else build on this?

If the car is an EX (executive) the feed for the 6x9s is Bass only as the amp on the ex has its own built in crossover, on the lower end models they are full range as the speakers are not powered by a separate amp, Bass Mid and Tweeters.

If the car is not an EX and you are getting interference i would look at where you have grounded the amp as the RCA's that you have tapped in to the parcel shelf cables are only taking a signal and shouldn't experience interference. Also make sure your polarity is correct. I.e Positive and negative are the right way round.


I have JBL GTO 6x9s on my rear shelf and they receive bass only from my EX amp.

 

[shab_the_man]

If the car is an EX (executive) the feed for the 6x9s is Bass only as the amp on the ex has its own built in crossover, on the lower end models they are full range as the speakers are not powered by a separate amp, Bass Mid and Tweeters.

If the car is not an EX and you are getting interference i would look at where you have grounded the amp as the RCA's that you have tapped in to the parcel shelf cables are only taking a signal and shouldn't experience interference. Also make sure your polarity is correct. I.e Positive and negative are the right way round.


I have JBL GTO 6x9s on my rear shelf and they receive bass only from my EX amp.

Could well be polarity. I will check this out. Its a non ex so no amp. Thanks for the help

 

[Accord-EX]

My car is the EX so the power going to the rear 6x9s would be bass only.. Is there any other way to send full range power to them? Im not sure what outputs are on the back of the premium audio system. Is it just a matter of taking the signal from one of the front speakers instead?

 

[crespo]

you don't really want the rear speakers to be full range as it upsets the stereo sound. in high end audio and competition set ups you only have tweeters up front. you have mid range in the rear doors and sub bass on the parcel shelf.

the accord actually has a good set up in audio terms.

 

[Accord-EX]

you don't really want the rear speakers to be full range as it upsets the stereo sound. in high end audio and competition set ups you only have tweeters up front. you have mid range in the rear doors and sub bass on the parcel shelf.

the accord actually has a good set up in audio terms.

What would you recommend as an upgrade to get more power using the existing EX setup? I would have thought a pair of amped rear 6x9s would be good.
I find the sound is excellent until you go louder than about 14 or 15 and then it becomes very narrow mid range only

 

[Salim]

^^ The stock HU cuts back after 12/13 to save the paper speakers.
EX rear shelf has ONLY bass so if you tap into that then you can only have bass unless you bypass the amp and take the signal from the hu but that means you'll have to split the signal again and send it into your rear door speakers (if you want it) as that and the shelf run off 1 rear output but is split by the stock amp.


@Shabz when you took the rear output and connected the RCA's did you use a Line-Out-Converter or just wire up some RCA's because the signal is high output and can't be fed straight into amp via a rca you have to convert it.

 

[crespo]

What would you recommend as an upgrade to get more power using the existing EX setup? I would have thought a pair of amped rear 6x9s would be good.
I find the sound is excellent until you go louder than about 14 or 15 and then it becomes very narrow mid range only

To be honest just changing the 6x9's will give an instant improvement. I swapped mine for JBL GTO's and it made a nice difference. I went for JBL because they are known for producing quite Bassy speakers but the highs are not as clear as Alpine's etc but this does not matter on the Accord because of the amp filtering any high frequencies anyway.

If you turn up the volume in my car you can really feel the bass on your back if you sit in the back. The Pioneer 6x9's that are standard are only 40watt and the speakers i fitted are 225watt. Obviously it will only go as loud as the amp will let it but it does make a difference. If you want to rattle your windows i would advise you to go down the sub route.

If you are after a cheap active sub i would recommend this Ebay seller, He is very good and cheap. bookmark him as he gets a lot of car audio so if he has nothing you like chances are he will in a week or so.

http://shop.ebay.co.uk/arc-audiorepaircentre/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=25

 

[lilcow418]

Ryan can you give me more info on this setup - this is what I am looking to do

I have the standard premium audio system which comes in the EX
I'd lilke to add a sub which has a built in amp

Hello mate sorry for the really really late reply yh u can buy subs with built in amps on the back of the box there called active bass box's

 

[Stratos]

Sorry, New to the forum hence the re-opening of an old thread.
I have a 2007 i-CTDi Tourer with a very quiet sub in the boot.
I have somewhere a sub box which I used to great effect with an Eagle amp about twenty years ago on a Cavalier GSi with a naff sound system.
The Accord is much better with its premium sound system however the bass is lacking even though the sub is working but only just.
Question: Can I just connect my spare sub / box direct to the existing supply that feeds my o/e sub??

 

[nick 9-5]

You can but isn't the factory sub an 8" sub? Very doubtful that the amp that powers it would be good enough to drive a larger speaker and it will just distort.

 

[Steve199579]

Am I missing something here? The feed to the rear parcel shelf speakers is low frequency only as standard, and you are connecting an amp to that feed and asking for high frequencies? That would never sound right as there are no high frequencies to transmit??? Does this make sense

 

[Stratos]

Just a thought that's all, there is no parcel shelf on a tourer.
My sub has two 6x9's facing each other - I've just split it to see.
Buy a petrol?? - nah! The i-CTDi engine is a beaut!!! - it's the red that's the issue
I will try the sub as it's nice outside and see if it makes a difference. Cannot be any quieter than what I have.

 

[Stratos]

Ok, just dug out my old (portable) sub and it still works after all these years however, it's only slightly better due to its design meaning there is hardly any power/signal from the head unit / amp. I do have an amp also lying around somewhere but do not know how it differs to what's already fitted. The wires into the sub on the tourer are never going to supply much anyway. Where can the factory fitted amp be found??