Help hooking up 12" sub

[NateB133]

So I remember running into a kid who had two 12's hooked up to his stock amp in his 2cnd gen explorer, and things were working great.

I just got a good deal on a 12" sub and want to hook it up in my 3rd gen. explorer, just for a little extra kick. No after market amp, I just have the sub, box, and wiring. Anyone know the best way to get this thing hooked up so that things run smoothly?

I already have the plate off in the back where the stock amp is, just no clue how someone was able to hook up to one of these, or how to do it properly.

Thanks!

 

[stuartr]

Properlly hooking it up would be to run RCA cables, a heavy guage power wire size depending on wattage and a remote turn on wire to a aftermarket amp. But I guess you could find the wires pos+ and neg- that run to the factory sub speaker and disconnect them from them and extend them to run it to the + & - of the sub you have. You really wouldn't need any wiring other than a couple pcs of wire to make extensions over to the sub you bought. I am not sure how the factory sub is wired up. But I suspect this would work out. But not sure if the factory amp will have enough power to drive a 12. The reason the factory one does well is it is probably set up like a bass cannon or bass tube. A enclosure that is designed to echo bass out and make lots of thump for little space. They will give a good deep sound but not a true sub thump that will shake the neighbor's house. I hope it works out for you and please let us know how it works. Would be neat if it works out good. Oh ya, anyone know what the wattage of the factory amp is and the manufacture?

STU

 

[CALDWELL]

check the audio thread fella...

best bet...

 

[dirtdigger19]

JL Audio all the way baby

 

[MutinyEatsChips]

JL Audio all the way baby

agreed..

 

[Mr. Wiggles]

JL is a great brand but way overpriced... you're gonna have to get an amp and some rca/power wires if you want that sub to be effective...

 

[dirtdigger19]

Yeah its a little pricy but is gonna hit way harder and way cleaner than any other company.

 

[Mr. Wiggles]

Yeah its a little pricy but is gonna hit way harder and way cleaner than any other company.

cleaner than most but there are other, cheaper SQL options around, but certainly not harder!

 

[Balla7733]

I personally have 2 Memphis 12" subs and I have competed with some of my friends systems and I have been louder than JLs, Rockfords, and Kickers. To me, those are all good brands but when theres a cheaper option that is louder and performs better I would rather choose Memphis all day.

 

[Axial32]

I found the easiest way to wire all mine in was with a aftermarket amp. I have two 12" RF P3 and a sony amp...
The quality of the sound is because of the box... you may have great subs... but a crappy box will make them sound horrible...
I'm currently building a custom fiberglass enclosure to make a nice tight fit behind the seats.

 

[jrfarve]

memphis mojo 15 all day lol

 

[Limited02]

Now, if you want a ghetto way of wiring up the amp you can take 1 RCA cable and tie it into an existing speaker wire. Hook it to the amp, wire up the amp with the proper guage wiring and enjoy the newfound bass.

This way also works for those with TV's that have no RCA audio output(or any audio output for seperate speakers). If I need to draw a picture of said professional rigging, I can

 

[Limited02]

JL Audio W7 13.5" all day lol

Fixed it for you

 

[jrowe6]

i have a 2nd gen so idk exactly what you're dealing with, but i do know quite a bit about stereos. this should be very simple.
all you need to do is find the wires that were going to the factory sub, dont worry about any other wires, just the 2 speaker wires from the amp to the sub. cut those wires from the sub, or disconnect them, splice in a length of new speaker wire and run it to your sub. thats all it should take, if its going to work it will work if not then not. it should not be complicated. also, you wont hurt anything by doing this.

yes it is true you will not get the maximum output from your new sub, but you will get more bass and deeper bass than you had with the original factory sub.

if you do not have a box and plan to build one i would suggest a large sealed box, alot of people like ported boxes, i personally prefer sealed because they hit lower and produce more accurate bass. a properly tuned ported box will be a bit louder tho, so keep that in mind if you have to build a box. either way, sealed or ported, a small box will suffocate an under powered sub.

 

[jrowe6]

Now, if you want a ghetto way of wiring up the amp you can take 1 RCA cable and tie it into an existing speaker wire. Hook it to the amp, wire up the amp with the proper guage wiring and enjoy the newfound bass.

almost every amp you can buy these days has speaker level inputs that are specifically designed to use the signal from a speaker wire. there are also converters that are a little box with 2 rca's coming out on one side and 2 sets of speaker wire on the other made specifically to hook up a new amp to an old factory system.

 

[NateB133]

i have a 2nd gen so idk exactly what you're dealing with, but i do know quite a bit about stereos. this should be very simple.
all you need to do is find the wires that were going to the factory sub, dont worry about any other wires, just the 2 speaker wires from the amp to the sub. cut those wires from the sub, or disconnect them, splice in a length of new speaker wire and run it to your sub. thats all it should take, if its going to work it will work if not then not. it should not be complicated. also, you wont hurt anything by doing this.

yes it is true you will not get the maximum output from your new sub, but you will get more bass and deeper bass than you had with the original factory sub.

if you do not have a box and plan to build one i would suggest a large sealed box, alot of people like ported boxes, i personally prefer sealed because they hit lower and produce more accurate bass. a properly tuned ported box will be a bit louder tho, so keep that in mind if you have to build a box. either way, sealed or ported, a small box will suffocate an under powered sub.

Awesome. I'll look into this and I have a large sealed box by the way.

Thanks for the good feed back!

 

[ajthefishermen]

Alpine Type-R's have to be the best i give them anything and everything and they keep on going

 

[Tstarzi]

I'm Running 2 12inch kicks on a 2400 watt amp! Just get a aftermarket amp. It will thump

 

[zoso1030]

Alpine Type-R's have to be the best i give them anything and everything and they keep on going

I couldn't agree more