hooking up an active subwoofer (help)

[whatproblems]

so my friend just got in his subwoofer, and we're stumped on how to hook it up



thats the back of the subwoofer...



it came with 5 of these wires



all i know is the black is ground....



no clue at all what this is



nor this



this too



and thats the rear of the headunit

there is also an unused wire that says AMP REM MAX 0.3v sticking out of the rear of the headunit

any help is GREATLY appreciated!!!

[LoudCamry]

run the rca from the deck to the amp, it seem like your deck only have front and rear input, justr connect it to the front input and run it to the amp,

there is a blue/white wire on the deck harness, connect it with a remote wire for your amp,

then just run power and ground wire for your amp,

[whatproblems]

what exactly is the 'rca' ?

im so lost its not funny

[LoudCamry]

rca are wire, like this http://www.cardomain.com/item/STRZN2204

[whatproblems]

is the wire that says "AMP REM MAX 0.3" the one i connect to the blue wire coming out of the thing with the yellow, blue, and ground wire?

and to hook it to power do i just run that yellow wire to the battery terminal? or is there an easier way

[LoudCamry]

correct!! if your power source for the amp is by using a harness wire then that is correct

[LoudCamry]

what type of subwoofer and amp do you got?? is it a buit in one kind???

[whatproblems]

so i just hook the yellow wire coming out of the back of the sub to the positive side of the battery?

its a built in 'active' subwoofer by Jensen 100w RMS, 380w peak, its cheap but its what my cheap bastard friend got lol... i swear his 88 ford taurus has like $500 worth of electronics in it.... i'm helping him hook it up cuz he's about as 'car savvy' as lindsay lohan


so from what i understand so far is

from the harness with the blue/yellow/black wires:
black = ground
yellow = power (but does it hook right into the positive terminal of the battery?)
blue = hook to rear of headunit to the wire that says "AMP REM MAX 0.3v" ??

get rca wire and hook it from the l/r front sub output of the headunit into the l/r input of the subwoofer...

what the hell are the rest of the wires for? and the second harness with the 2 sets of black and red wires (the pic thats 48kb)?

[Tragedy]

Looks like you're on the right track... I've made some notes below.

It looks like there are 3 ways to get the stereo signal to this amp:
1: RCAs (recommended)
2: High-level Input (tapping your current speakers for the signal)
3: Headphone-type adapter

I've noted which cables are for what below.

Originally Posted by whatproblems

so my friend just got in his subwoofer, and we're stumped on how to hook it up



thats the back of the subwoofer...



it came with 5 of these wires
This is for option #3 (see above, I wouldn't recommend it). You would plug this into a headphone-style line-out jack, connect the cable with the spaded connectors (see below) into the ends, and then the other ends of those cables connect to the high-level-input harness. This cable is black for both wires because it only grabs the audio from one channel and splits it.
NOT NEEDED IF USING RCA!



all i know is the black is ground....
As mentioned, the blue is the remote turn on lead... this is how your radio tells the amp to turn on and off. Note that if this cable is not connected, your amp will NOT turn on, even if you have the power and ground cables connected.
The ground should be grounded to bare metal on the car (it's recommended to scrape paint off at the grounding point if there's any).
The yellow power wire should run to the battery, and be fused (it's recommended to put it between 18" and 36" from the battery). Adding a fuse protects both your amp and your car... even on small setups it's always a good practice to follow. Some setups come with fuses buried in the box somewhere... if not, look for a 30 amp in-line fuse.



no clue at all what this is
Used to connect the mono headphone-jack style cord (black one pictured above) to the harness pictured below.
NOT NEEDED IF USING RCA!



nor this
Connects either the headphone-jack-style cable (above) OR the High-Level Input cables (below) to your amp.
NOT NEEDED IF USING RCA!



this too
If you weren't using RCAs you would tap these wires into existing speaker wires on one end, and connect the other ends to the wiring harness above.
NOT NEEDED IF USING RCA!



and thats the rear of the headunit

there is also an unused wire that says AMP REM MAX 0.3v sticking out of the rear of the headunit

any help is GREATLY appreciated!!!

You're already on the right track... I hope this clears up any confusion. Good luck!

[whatproblems]

thanks for the amazing feedback guys, i'll have a go a this with his car tomorrow.

the active subwoofer already has a fuse in it, so will i still need that inline fuse?

[Tragedy]

yes. If there's a short, you want it to pop the fuse close to the battery instead of at your amp... it's a fire hazard. Here's a few links with some info about that and other general tips:

http://www.crutchfield.com/ISEO-rgbt...tall_tips.html
http://www.caraudiohelp.com/how_to_i..._a_car_amp.htm

Granted it isn't like you're running a huge setup but it's always best (and safest and cheapest) to do everything right the first time.

[whatproblems]

got it! thanks for the help

just hooked up everything as your said and it worked perfect, we're just attempting to find the right location for it in the car or trunk, thanks

[Tragedy]

No problem... enjoy

P.S.... if it slides around your trunk and you don't want to bolt it down, get some velcro... use the hook side (hard plastic side) of it on the bottom of the amp&sub and it'll grab on to the carpet

[whatproblems]

wow, would never have thought of velcro, i woulda just taken string and tied it down