Installing a sub...

Ok. I know this is going to sound stupid and not the "proper" way to connect a subwoofer but I am just curious if it's possible.

Today I ran some speaker wire from the negative and positive terminals on one of my rear speakers to a 12" sub I have in a box. It actually worked.(And by "worked" I mean the sub put off some sort of bass) I know this is far from the potential my sub has. I have an amp and an aftermarket cd player but they aren't hooked up right now. Plus I can't seem to find a "universal" wiring harness for my car and cd player. I'm running through my factory cd player.

Main question: Is it possible to run from both rear speakers to the sub to double the power getting to the sub without installing an amp? Or will this cause some electrical issues? If someone could point me in the right direction I would greatly appreciate it. My Aveo is as stock as they come, right now. This fool doesn't even have power windows! lol :eek:

the wiring diragram is on a sticker on the top of the radio,not sure if thats what your looking for, if you need help removing it, let m know,and i can whip up something.

I really just need a starting point to remove the cd player and the back cover for the factory speakers. I'm just going to install the cdplayer I have and some different speakers.

What year car do you have? for the 2009-up, you pry around the trim piece. Start from either the top left/right with a small flathead, and pry from the radio side. Then bottom, and then continue to the opposite side's bottom. It should pop right out, and reveal the screws that hold the radio in.

It's a 2004. Sorry for not posting this in the original post.

No biggie! Sorry I can't help you further.

how high up did you need to turn up the volume on the head unit for the sub to sound decent? I really doubt you will enjoy the sub w/o an amp powering it. If your head unit doesn't have preamp outputs behind it then you can go ahead and use the speaker wires in the trunk speakers to feed sound to the amp.

you want to take a flathead screw driver to the platic trrim peices on the right and left of the radio, start at the bottom where it curves to a point, and start to pry them up. they are just held in place with clips, once removed there are 4 i belive 10mm bolts holding the radio and tray assembly in place.
http://img850.imageshack.us/img850/7640/img01421m.jpg


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Is that foil?

no, its that aluminum duct tape, just temporary

whats that bottom unit for?

That is my 2m mobile VHF ham radio, hated it being on the dash, so i put it in it.

oh wat do u use it for? im guessin that slot is to plug in a walkie-talkie?

heres a pic of those clips
http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/9236/img0231zx.jpg
By peterbilt379 at 2012-03-13

i use it to chat with the local hams while on my way to work in the morning

Awesome! Thanks for the help. This forum has turned out to be a great source for help with this mysterious little car. Lol I'm going to start a new thread to see if any one has any good ideas fr inexpensive mods. I have already found a couple good ones.

To answer your original question, you "can" increase the power output o the sub by hooking up both of your rear speaker leads to it, but there are several issues with doing this. The main problem is that you could (depending on how you have wires the sub in and the impedance of the sub itself) end up putting too little of a resistance on your car's head unit. This can make your deck head up and damage to it. As for power output, even running both rear channels your sub will only be getting an rms (continuous power output) of around 20w, where as your amp will likely give you that tenfold (200w+ depending on the amp that you have). Other then this you are also not going to be getting a very good sound out of the sub, as it was designed to only play low frequencies (low bass and kicks) so you will end up with a really muffled and muddy sound. An amp will have a LPF (Low Pass Filter) which only allows the "low" frequencies to "pass" to the sub. This will sound much much better.

As for installing your new deck, if you are bent on doing the work yourself, you simply need to got to your local car audio store and they will be able to sell you a harness adapter. This will need to be wired in to the harness on your new deck (so soldered or cripped) but will plug directly into your existing harness going into the back of your factory deck. This will save you cutting and messing with anything factory, so you don't really need to worry too much about messing things up. (everything is colour coated). As for installing the amp, this is much more involved, and I would honestly recommend taking this to a shop to get done, or finding someone that has done these before that can walk you through the process. If an amp is installed improperly this can cause a good deal of headaches for you. Anything from dead batteries to annoying electrical wining from the speakers when your driving, to fires. Hope this helps!

Thanks again Quckturn for a good reply. lol I have decided I can install the cd player and new rear speakers with no issues but I do plan on letting someone else install my amp for me. (If the price is right.) Right now the amp and sub are at the bottom of the list for things that need to be done but I will post some pictures when I get everything done.

Cool, what kind of gear are you putting in?

I have a 12" 1800watt visonik sub in an enclosed box with a p.o.s. amp and head unit. To be honest, I don't even know if the amp works. The equipment was given to me so I'm not complaining. Lolthe sub and box is pretty nice though.

If you use the RCA's on an aftermaket radio, then sub/amp install is pretty easy, you could save the money and do it yourself, I have done 5-6 installs on my own and I am always learning something new, though the first time takes a little while to figure out how to get the amp going ;)

Yea. I noticed they had RCA outputs on the amp and head unit so it shouldn't be that bad. And the amp kit at Walmart is like $20. Not top notch stuff but it will get the job done. Now I just have to find someone that carries a wiring harness for my car. I'm sure I'm just going to have to order it online.

Ebay for $5

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2004-2006-Ch...b0f156&vxp=mtr

You need the plastic to fit in the radio as well if do not have one, no need for tape or foil :D....

2004 2005 2006 Chevrolet Aveo Single Din Radio Install Dash Kit | eBay

Any wiring kit works, brand or quality does not really matter till you deal with systems that are worth several thousand dollars.

Thanks man. I'm glad it's 1/3 the price of the store bought one. Lol this is very encouraging.