Hey everyone I was wondering how to put a subwoofer into my excursion. I know that's a very big question but I just don't even know where to start. I have a stock audio system and have changed nothing in the car. Do I need to buy any accessories or anything extra for it to work? The subwoofer I have is already mounted into a box but I don't have any wires for it. It is a Sony Xplod 12". My friend gave it to me. If anyone could help me out with putting it into my excursion that would be great!

Here is what it looks like

 

What you need is an amp and a High/Low converter. Basically what a High/Low converter does is take a speaker signal and converter it to RCA. In addition you will need an Amp Kit.

Amp Kit


High/Low converter
.

How specific do you want the answer to be? I've installed my last four aftermarket stereos.

 

Thanks a lot! And I'm gonna need it to be pretty specific, I don't know much about audio. So after I buy those things what would my next step be?

 

What you'll need:
1 Amp
2 High\Low converter
3 Amp Kit
4 Speaker Wire

You can do this a variety of ways. I would take the factory deck out and tap on there. Can you post a pic of your deck?

The amp kit connects everything together. The rule of thumb is as big as the hole on the amp is for the wire, that's how big you want. the bigger the better, less resistance. Too small of a wire will burn our your amp and be potentially dangerous. I'd buy the amp first. Be careful about what you buy. A ton of inexpensive amps are in reality cheap.

Remember: VA=W Volts multiplied by Amps equals Watts

Your rig likely runs at ~14.4 volts.

If the amp has a 15 amp fuse in it then 14.4vx15a=216W
If it has 4 40 amp fuses like my last one then 14.4vx160a=2304W

That is the maximum wattage before it bursts into flames! so if an amo says its 2400w and it has only one 40 amp fuse, you know they're lying.

You could also do a Capacitor inline easily I would do a 2 farad (~2000w). You basically just plug it in in-line to the power wire before your amp, but be careful! they are just like a battery but expel their energy in an instant rather than over time.

So it would go:

Battery-->fuse-->cap-->amp


The amp kit should consist of:

Large Red power wire (as long as your rig if you can. you can always cut it) Connects with a large fuse from your battery to your amp.

Slightly smaller black Ground wire (Doesnt matter how long, you'll just ground to the chassis anyways)

RCA cable Left and right channel. (needs to reach from your high/low converter to your amp and connects the two)

Blue Remote wire. pigtail from your deck's red ACC wire. that way when your deck turns on so will your amp.

The High/Low should pigtail to the matching color wires that plug into the back of your deck.

Hope this helps. if you need more just ask.

 

I doubt you would need a cap for a setup on that speaker. What engine are you running. If it is diesel you have enough battery power.

 

Funny, I grew up in Deer Park. Deer Park Wa.


I do agree with cameeks that you wouldn't 'need' a capacitor.
I'd go with a cap no matter what if I could afford it, especially with the distance you're dealing with. The cap is going to help with the POP of the bass sounding better as well as not dimming all your lights due to the voltage drop when you turn it up loud.

In my old rig I noticed a bit more starting power from the cap.

 

I'm running 1000 watts to my subs and 500 watts to my doors and I got no cap. No dimming or anything even before my LED swap. (diesel engine)
A cap does help put less stress on alternators though.

 

I suppose it depends on the rig for wether or not it will effect your lighting. As for the sound, there's no comparison. I had an 86' Olds Cutlass that only had 200w in the subs. The 1farad cap went out so I took it out and put a new one o
In. Couldn't believe the sound difference it made. When I didn't have one in it sounded weak.

 

I've never actually used a cap. I will I'm the near future be adding a battery in the rear end so I will see what that does.

If you were looking to upgrade your stereo deck it would be useful but like stated isn't necessary. Aftermarket decks do have better sound clarity for subs and door speakers (and look better!)

If you have stock batteries you will need to find a way to connect your power wire to them. I always replace my batteries with marine batteries because they include the accessory posts and I like my electrical mods. You will need to fit the power wire through the firewall either by making a hole and using a grommet or cramming through a factory hole. Run the wire down the floor panel all the way to the rear behind the rear panels.
I chose to use the bolts that hold the spare tire bottom plate as my ground source making sure to sand down to metal for good contact. I also have both power and ground coming out from behind the panel just underneath the spare tire. I did carve a half circle in the plastic piece so it doesn't chafe the wires
If you use an aftermarket deck you will need to run RCA cables preferably down the other side than the power wire and to your amp, and they will have a remote wire you can hook up from the deck to the amplifier.
If your using stock deck, like stated above you need a line out converter to turn speaker wire to RCA wire. When I did my temporary set up on stock deck I used the rear most 2 speakers and disconnected them. You will also need to attach a wire to the red switched wire attached to the rear of the deck. That will be used as the remote "turn on" signal wire.
Once you have power ground remote and RCA you will be ready to wire the amp into place.
Do your research and match the amp properly to your subwoofer. I recommend asking an audio shop because you will need to match the ohm rating and optimal rms power handling as close as possible to your sub for best results.

It will take a while to run the wires hidden but is very nice! After that just connect them all to the amp, mount the amp to the sub box or elsewhere as desired, then connect some speaker wire from amp to sub.

I highly recommend using power wire that's slightly larger than necessary just for safety. Also allows for upgrades!

Good luck!

 

Also on the back on the stereo there is a red (switched 12V) and yellow (constant 12V)
The way vehicles are wired from factory is that the key needs to be turned on for the stereo to work. I don't like this, I want to turn it on or off myself at any given time.
If you want to do that all you need to do is cut both wires and connect the red wire coming from the deck with both yellow wires. Make sure to completely cover the loose red wire so it doesn't arc out. Now this red wire is a free switched wire that can give power only when the key is on

 

Thanks for all the replys everyone! When I get everything I need and start to do this I will let you know if I have any problems. Thanks again!