Hooking up amp to stock system

[AgentStarks]

I just bought a '99 Eddie Bauer and I want to hook my subs and amp into it from my old car. It's got premium sound in it already but what's the best way to add in my subs? Does the deck have any RCA pre-outs or should I just rob the line from the exsisting built-in sub?

 

[Alec]

I tapped into the stock speaker lines to the rear speakers. I did it under the passenger kickpanel, ran both rear signals to my amp, then to the subs. You could instead tap into the stock sub lines.

 

[aldive]

You will have much better sound by going with an aftermarket HU and amp.

Good luck.....

 

[AgentStarks]

Originally posted by aldive
You will have much better sound by going with an aftermarket HU and amp.

Good luck.....

I'm gonna get an Alpine mp3 deck eventually, but I wanted to hook in my subs until I can afford that....

 

[Kevex]

I don't have the premium sound system but what I did was buy a line output converter to convert the speaker wires coming from the radio to rca's so I could hook up my amp and thats only if you don't have high level inputs on your amp. I am not sure but I think with the premium sound you have a factory amp that you have to bypass but I can't tell you for sure maybe someone else could

 

[M.Scott]

I did the same as Kevex, with a four channel line converter and additionally used two factory harnesses before and after the converter so I did not have cut anything. From the line converter's 2 pair of RCAs I split one pair to feed a sub amp. I also ran the new speaker wires from the amps back to the stock radio location and connected up to the stock speaker wiring. Worked well but now I saved the $ for a new head unit and have all my wiring in a box ready for someone else to use. I also have 1998 premium sound with no stock sub. Not completley sure it will work in your system but let me know if you are interested.

 

[JWSteigerwalt]

98 XLT Factory HU subamp instaliation

M. Scott and Kevex,
I am very intersted in hearing more about what you did to install an amp whail using the Factory HU, I have a '98 XLT with the factory HU and want some more bass with out sheling out alot of dough. I would appreciate any replyies or emails about how to use the Factory HU and matain as much Bass quality as possible,

 

[Kevex]

JW
pick up an amp install kit and run the power and ground as you normally would, go pick up a line output converter(I seen them at WalMart, Kmart etc. ) It should come with instructions but basically you take the speaker wires from the radio, wire the converter up to them and then you can use rca's .You don't need the line output converter if you amp accepts high level inputs because thats where you can put your speaker wires into. The only other thing that you would need is a power wire that goes on when you turn your key on for the remote wire to the amp. I have a switch on the remote wire to turn the amp on and off when I want but you still want to use a key on hot wire for the remote wire so when you take your key out you will not be keeping the amp on and draining your battery.
I chose to keep my stock unit for now because it has the cassette and cd player and i don't want to spend so much for a radio right now and it does fine for me.

 

[M.Scott]

OK so you got the amp and subs already. I'll assume the subs are in a box. Otherwise its cheaper to build one yourself. Ported is more efficient. Get a 4ga amp wire kit from Walmart for $25. To get the signal you can splice into the speaker wires at the dash behind the head unit or at the doors. My preference is to use the front speakers (as you most likely fade to the front more) behind the HU. This splice should go to your speaker level inputs on your amp. This splicing is cheaper than buying line output converters and RCAs to bring the signal to your amp. Its your choice. I chose LOC and RCAs to avoid noise.

But keep in mind one thing when dealing with the factory HU. It is designed to roll off the base the louder it gets. So my problem was I'm listening to morning show radio and the base was good. Then turn up the volume on a good CD and the base drops off 3/4 the way up. So to compensate I turned up the bass at the stock radio but then the door speakers distorted with the added "loudness". You can then adjust your amp gain appropriately for music but you then end up having to turn down the bass when listening to radio. Anyway my solution that worked pretty well was to have a remote gain control for the amp that I could adjust from next to my seat. That bumped up the bass only in frequencies I set for the crossover and did not effect the door speakers. My amp came with this feature. Yours probably does not but you could use something like this>>Dead Link Removed I never used it but I would have if my amp had no gain control.

I only recently took out the stock HU. Despite what others say it sounds damn good with amps and new speakers & sub. mike

 

[JWSteigerwalt]

pins galore

on the back of my factory HU, there are like 40 pins, only about 15 are used between the power, speakers and rear controll unit, has anyone ever found any of the extra pins to work as an RCA (or mabey a factory Sub) output?

I did find the headphone output could work as an RCA output, it's level is not effected by changes to the speakers. Th probem is that the rear speakers turn off when the headphone jack is turned on.