hooking up subs and an amp to factory cd/casset player

[Moonlightcampin]

I just joined the site because I am a little in the grey about how i go about hooking up 2 10 inch punch subs and an amp to my factory cd/casset player. the model # on back is F87F-18C868-AE and it is in my 1998 Ford Explorer xlt. Im hoping that someone on the site has been through this problem and can help. Im not sure if there is a factory amp or not in my car. I know that there are 2 or so boxes with wiring comming out in the back storage box where the jack is located. If I do have a factory amp how do I go about making my subs work with it or is that even possible? do i need to hook up after a aftermarket amp and if so where is the REM wire located for that in the factory harness and what is the color sceam. Suggestions on what to do would be greatly appriciated being as I am spending way to much time trying to figure it out with my limited knowledge on working with aftermarket cd players and not a factory one like the explorers have but i would like to keep it in there because it is pretty nice for a factory cd player and a aftermarket would clash with the dash i think. thanks guys

 

[billyboy5151]

i hooked up two 12's with an aftermarket amp to my oem deck. first of all i dont think its possible to hook up subs to the factory amp if you do have one. even if you did it wouldnt sound that good because the amp is powerful enough at rms to puch those subs so you would have to max out the amp to push the subs.
i recomend just buying a decent amp and wiring kit for those subs. youre also going to need to buy a RCA adapter for the oem deck at any car audio place or best buy/circuit city for around $20. after that you can find a wiring diagram for oem stereo systems online, pull up the diagram for your car, and you can do it. as long as you know how to spice wires and connect wires you should be able to do it. your gonna need to run your amp kit wires(power, ground, RCA, and remote turn on wire). the remote turn on wire connects to the remote turn on wire for the deck(you will know what wire when you get the diagram). to power wire connects to the battery, ground is grounded to the frame somewhere, and the RCA wires will connect tot he RCA adapter you need to buy.
After that you need to connect the RCA adapter to the right wires in your decks wiring harness(left+. left-, right+, right-). That is all you need to do to hook up the amp to the deck. wiring the amp to the subs depends on how many ohms you want to operate on.

if you dont know how to do this stuff then i just recomend you take it to a privately owned car audio shop because they will know what they are doing and will be cheapest.

 

[Moonlightcampin]

alright thanks man

 

[Haziness8]

hey, guys. just jumping in here because i am doing the exact same thing. My buddy gave me 2 of his 10's and all i need is a amp. they are 250 wat amps so should i get at least a 500 wat amp? as u can see i am just barely putting my foot in the audio world now. im looking at stuff on ebay and prices arent bad. thing is their seems to be different types (2-channel, multy, and mono channel) what does this mean? thanks alot

 

[Haziness8]

bump

 

[RV Wrench]

I am trying to do the same thing. I have a box with 10's powered by a Nakamichi amp. I would like to connect this to my system without loosing any of the factory speakers. I have a '99 Mountaineer with the AM/FM CD Tape deck and 6-disk changer in the center armrest console. It also has the 8" sub in the back. Are there outputs on the stock stereo I can tap into for the sub without disconnecting any of the stock speakers?

 

[davesexplorer]

CLICKY CLICKY

 

[RV Wrench]

CLICKY CLICKY

I may be a newbie to this forum, but not to forums in general. I DID a search. That is how I came up with this thread, which seems to be the most informative one I can find with the (mostly useless) search function.

Now do you have something usefull to add, or are you just a jerk who has been in the forums sooooo long you believe you are "above" helping others???

 

[MountaineerGreen]

I am trying to do the same thing. I have a box with 10's powered by a Nakamichi amp. I would like to connect this to my system without loosing any of the factory speakers. I have a '99 Mountaineer with the AM/FM CD Tape deck and 6-disk changer in the center armrest console. It also has the 8" sub in the back. Are there outputs on the stock stereo I can tap into for the sub without disconnecting any of the stock speakers?

You need an RCA line out converter and you can connect it to your rear speaker output. However, your factory radio will cut bass at higher volumes, so your subs wont have any signal to use.

 

[RV Wrench]

You need an RCA line out converter and you can connect it to your rear speaker output. However, your factory radio will cut bass at higher volumes, so your subs wont have any signal to use.

I did understand that. But that means I would be disconnecting the rear speakers, correct?

So, there are NO other outputs on the factory system that will NOT limit the bass output?

 

[MountaineerGreen]

No you would not have to disconnect the rear speakers, just tap into them. The line out converter will still allow you to use the speakers.

Since you have the factory sub, you can potentially connect to that output, but you will probably need a wiring diagram and a good understanding of how it works. I haven't had any experience with those setups so I can't offer much help.

If it were me, I would pull the factory head unit, put in a nice aftermarket with sub controls and be done with it. I believe you can still run your factory amp and sub and with some interface modulators your disk changer.