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Adding 1 sub, but keeping existing stereo, Not pulling head
I'll preface, that I know NOTHING about car audio and have no experience with it either. Any help would be appreciative.
-I want to leave the existing radio in it and not mess with it at this time.
-I'm not willing to pull out head unit for a bunch of reasons, but main reason is I'm pretty sure I'll mess something up.
-I'm just looking at a slight upgrade in sound, nothing major, just want to add this one 10" speaker/sub to add a little bit of bass and more sound.
After some basic internet research, decided to get a pretty cheap Walmart Dual (brand) 10" speaker/sub and with the suggestion of someone, adding a kicker (brand) line/output converter and need a little help putting it all together.
After as much searching and googling (dangerous I know), my drawing here is the best I can come up with and could use a little help to wrap up or at least feel comfortable.
In my sketch, the two red power wires from the new sub, I will wire directly to the battery with a fuse. My question is, do I need to hook up the two blue remote wires to the same one coming from the kicker blue that is goin to the manual toggle/switch?
Your kicker loc has smart turn on.. meaning you don't need that toggle. The loc will turn on when it senses signal on the input side. It will then send 12v turn on output from the blue wire. Use that blue wire to turn your powered sub ON. Ground wires should be as short as possible.
However, looking at the pinouts, I don't see any 12V input to be able to provide a 12v output. Seems odd.
Hey Kenneth, I did a little research on the gear you've got. You shouldn't need to use the Line Output Converter (but you might still want to - keep reading). The dual sub you chose accepts speaker level input - you just lop off the RCA connectors on the harness and splice it in with your rear speakers. Below is an excerpt from the manual.
Now, the LOC that you chose has a special feature. When it receives speaker level inputs, it provides a remote turn on signal. That would mean that when your radio is on, the sub will automatically turn on. It looks like in your original diagram you were planning to install a switch from the cigarette lighter to manually turn the amp on and off.
So your decision is basically do you want the sub to turn on automatically, or do you want a switch to turn it on and off. (or you can tap the remote into any circuit that goes live when the key/radio is on)
So here's a rough diagram of what you would do if you are using the LOC. If you aren't, then you just wire the speaker signal wires straight into the inputs on the sub and put your switch on the remote line from the cig lighter.
You may or may not want to run the ground wire all the way back to the battery. depends on how easily accessible a good ground is at your mounting area.
Hey Kenneth, I did a little research on the gear you've got. You shouldn't need to use the Line Output Converter (but you might still want to - keep reading). The dual sub you chose accepts speaker level input - you just lop off the RCA connectors on the harness and splice it in with your rear speakers. Below is an excerpt from the manual.
Now, the LOC that you chose has a special feature. When it receives speaker level inputs, it provides a remote turn on signal. That would mean that when your radio is on, the sub will automatically turn on. It looks like in your original diagram you were planning to install a switch from the cigarette lighter to manually turn the amp on and off.
So your decision is basically do you want the sub to turn on automatically, or do you want a switch to turn it on and off. (or you can tap the remote into any circuit that goes live when the key/radio is on)
So here's a rough diagram of what you would do if you are using the LOC. If you aren't, then you just wire the speaker signal wires straight into the inputs on the sub and put your switch on the remote line from the cig lighter.
WOW, huge help. I like simplicity, so the diagram makes it 1000x's easier for me to understand. I think, since I have the LOC, might as well hook it up exactly as you have shown in your diagram. Because the existing radio is just a radio, I have one of those bluetooth transmitters that is just sitting there waiting for me to turn on when I start the car; I figured, I'd just have the extra speaker hooked up just the same so it wouldn't really be any extra steps and I can listed to my music on my phone and/or be able to use my car for hands free talking as well, which I have and it works great.
In this picture here, the top plug that is in the cigarette lighter has a toggle button on it that I turn on when I get in the car. The bottom circle is where I was going to hook the trigger and leave it plugged in there permanently so both the bluetooth transmitter and trigger would come on at the same time every time I hit the toggle when I get in and take off. That was my plan anyways, but now you're saying I don't need that. I can just go directly to the battery in your diagram above and there won't be a constant draw to kill the battery AND the speaker draws power when the music starts coming from the speakers?
The compartments where the battery was originally installed is where the current 6x9 speakers are. Underneath is all metal and access to the frame and a great place to put the ground and I plan on just laying the speaker in the back where my cleaning stuff is in this picture and it should be just fine.
I think you're good here! I personally would go that route in your situation. Your 6x9s are easy to access so I'd make sure to pull signal from both the left and right speaker for the LOC. Connect the blue wires together from the LOC to the Sub. Find a good ground and run your LOC and sub grounds there. Then just run the red 12v to the battery terminal. then of course short RCA cables from the LOC to the Sub. Super easy to hook up and should add some nice thump to your system.
I think you're good here! I personally would go that route in your situation. Your 6x9s are easy to access so I'd make sure to pull signal from both the left and right speaker for the LOC. Connect the blue wires together from the LOC to the Sub. Find a good ground and run your LOC and sub grounds there. Then just run the red 12v to the battery terminal. then of course short RCA cables from the LOC to the Sub. Super easy to hook up and should add some nice thump to your system.
I THINK SO!!! I'm pretty psyched....THANKS AGAIN for all your help! Can't wait to get this set up! I bought a nice connector kit to heat sync the wires. Plus I ordered the in line fuse from Amazon.
Adding 1 sub, but keeping existing stereo, Not pulling head
