I jsut receieved a 12inch 700 peak watt kenwood sub and box from my cousin. What do i need to do to get it working in my truck? I know i need an amp.. but thats about it. How do I hook it up? I'm keeping my stock head unit. I also want to be able to upgrade the other speakers eventually.


thanks,

paul

 

It's a piece of cake. You don't have to drill any holes in firewall or anything. I came over the right fender to a knock out into the passenger floor. Open the Passenger door to see the rubber knock out. I cut a small hole in rubber seal and fed my cables thru into the cab. Pull plastic kick panel out. It snaps, no screws. Then you can pull your power cables anywhere you want in the cab. Stay away from other electrical and the Transmission. You can get noise from these. Changing out the door speakers is also really easy. The head unit I would recommend replacing for the sake of qaulity, but obviously that's your call. You can pick up an amp kit at Wal-mart cheap, just make sure it can handle the wattage. Remember, bigger is better. I run 8 gage wire for my amp.

 

Ok, thanks for the info. Any head units that you'd recommend?

 

I have a Clarion DEH555MP and am really satisfied. I have an amp as well, though to my speakers (got rid of the sub).

 

I am a fan of Panasonic. I have had 3 cd players from them and never had any trouble. If you can find one, get a Panasonic MXE. It's their premium line of decks. Comes with a 2 year factory warranty. Mosty everybody else only has 12 months or less. Look for a deck that has a build in Crossover/EQ or make sure your new amp does. I recommend JL Audio speakers and Amps. Cost more but the put out awesome sound reproduction. Plus, their speaker have built in filters/crossovers so you don't blow them or get distortion on the lows. So there you have it. I have a Panasonic MXE CD/MP3/WMA Player 50Wx4, JL Audio 12w0 subwoofer, e150 amplifier with built in Crossover, four 5x7 2-way JL Audio door speakers w/built in filters. Kick but set up. Constantly get compliments.

 

Alright, thanks, i might go with a head unit first.

also, will the head unit be able to put any 'noticable' sound to the subwoofer before an amp?

 

on the amp :
youll more than likey have to use one with high input wires or youll have to use a converter ... usually amps that use these arent that good in the qualty dept. if you up grade to a better head unit .. i like jvc or calrion.. youll be able to use rca plug in,s their a real plus ....

on the wire.. run the bigest guage wire you can afford .. for the power least 4 guage it will allow you to upgrade latter to a higher unit if you wish .. upgradeing now is always cheaper than swaping out latter .. u must us a fuse link on this wire as close to the the battery as possible .. or fire could result .. youre also going to need to run a power up wire to the amp use 10 or 12 guage for this one and should preff. be red but anything but black .. this one should also be fused as close to the sourse as poss..on a stock unit you would tie into the fuse panel when the key is in a run or assy. poss. on a newer head unit their might be a amp out wire or almost always a power ant. lead ...

running the wires ... weather their speaker or rca's dont bundel these and the power wires together it could and most times does lead to noise .. run the on opposit sides of the truck or at lest oppsite sides of the tranny tunnel .. thayll have to cross some times usually at the amp some times not but keep them apart as much as you can ... the ground to the amp should also be stout 4 guage and short as poss.. no longer than 3 foot .. also well grounded free of paint rust etc .. the ground wire is also a link to unwanted noise that people will some time over look ..

 

I would recomend either Eclipse or Alpine for the HU. They make some of the best. A little pricy, but you get what you pay for. Like Ct.Russ said if you keep the stock HU you will need to get a line leval converter. Or a amp with high input abilities (I wouldnt recomend this though). Too answer your Question I wouldnt run the sub off of just the HU, because then you will put more than just bass though the sub. Putting voices though a sub could, will damage it. So if you cant get an amp and the HU at the same time, I would suggest to get the amp first and then save for the HU (if you feel you want to run the subs now). If not then buy the HU, but wait to put the subs in till you can get a amp (better option). GL

 

for installing the amp... read here

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/s...d.php?t=398953

 

Don't run the sub off of the headunit you could seriously hurt something in the headunit. I recommend Eclipse headunits as they are the best. They're a little pricey like Texans said but wow, they're absolutely great. As far as hooking up the amp, Matt gave a good link.

 

with a good head unit a set of tweets hooked to bass blockers . and a desent set of speakers you might find youre self happy for now then still have the add on of a bass box latter ...good deals usually come to thoes who wait......

 

We went to bestbuy this weekend and i ended up getting a pioneer head unit and four pioneer speakers to go with.

Also, i got the other sub in the pair. If i were to cut the sub boxes down so that it could lay flat under the rear seat would the boxes still work well? Is there some type of formula for figuring out how big a box should be?

Also, when my cousin's bought this it was one sub box with two subs-the each watned a sub for their cars so they cut it in half and added sides to each half, can i put the two half back together with the sides stll there or do i need to cut a passage arcorss the box or should i take the sides completely off?


thanks!

Paul

 

You should take the sides completely out and join it into one large box. You need to find the volume of the box and determine if it's big enough for the subs. In the sub's manual it should state how much air space is required, or on the manufacturer's website.
Remember to count off for the depth of the material the box is made up (prolly 3/4 inch MDF) and the sub itself.
The Pioneer HU will probably have amp pre-outs in the form of RCA cables. You will need to run RCA cables from the HU to the amp. You will also need to connect the "amplifier remote turn on" wire from the HU to the amp's REM outlet.
Pioneer makes good HUs. What speakers did you get?
Good luck, report back on how it goes.

 

Pioneer 6x8's.. they were about 75 dollars i think, the model above was about 90 per pair. I can go look up the model number if you want.

 

read here


https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/s...d.php?t=398953