dieGone

iTrader: (2)

A good member of this board gave me one of those pioneer stock subs for the Balt. Only thing my car didn't have the pioneer option (base model) so it doesn't come prewired nor with an amp.

The sub has 4 wires, 2 red 2 blacks.

I was wondering if I could tap in the rear speakers (although I won't get much power out of them) and eventually hook it to an amp.

Questions;

- Is it possible to tap? If I did, which wires do I tap both reds to positive and both blacks to ground to any of the speaker wires on the rear deck?

- When I decide to get an amp, what type should I be looking for? I don't know how much power the sub handles, I think 400 watts?

- Can I share the same amp for the sub for my door speakers/rear deck speakers? (max handling is 120 RMS or 300 peak power for each door) or should I run 2 diff amps?

Thanks in advance!

Joe22

iTrader: (1)

What deck, speakers, and speaker amp are you running right now?

dieGone

iTrader: (2)

- Doors: Kenwood 6.5" 120 RMS or 300 Watt Peak Power
- Rear Deck: Stockers (soon to be Kenwoods 6x9) 120 RMS or 500 Watt Peak Power
- Sub: Pioneer that comes stock with Cobalt SS's

Amp: None. Will buy one eventually when I know what I need.

I was going to get an aftermarket sub but I got this one for free and It would be cool to wire it since it doesn't take much space in the trunk just filling up the side.

Let me know what are your thoughts man. I think I should prob get a 400-450 Watt Amp for the sub (that's the power they claim it handles) and then just wire my doors and rear deck ones to another amp? Would be better if I could have it all wired to a single amp but don't know how the channels work or if I can give specific amount of power to each channel?

Joe22

iTrader: (1)

Stock or aftermarket deck?

So you can't run the sub at all right now without a amp. Hooking up to your speaker wires will damage your headunit with that low of ohm load and you wouldn't get any sound out of the sub with that little power so you'd be really mad lol Messed up the deck and didn't even sound good...

For amp suggestions you got a few options depending your budget. The right way would be a 4channel amp for your speakers and either a mono or 2 channel amp putting out your desired wattage at 4ohms or 1ohm. Which I think 400 would be good. Don't think the sub will take 400 even but you'll have the room to turn it up to where it sounds good and have the option to upgrade sub later. Or still the right way you can also do a 5 channel amp that has a sub channel around that wattage.
Then you got a budget way which would be a 4 channel amp. Running the fronts to 1 channel @ 2ohms and rears to another channel @ 2ohms, then bridge the other channels for the sub at 4ohms which usually would be about 200watts or so.

ROB517

From the sounds of what your trying to do I would go with a 5 channel amp. It's as straight forward as it gets. Here's an idea of something I would suggest to someone on a budget
Rockford Fosgate R600-5 (R6005) 600W RMS Prime 5-Chan Amplifier

Joe22

iTrader: (1)

Ya that amp would be fine if you just want a little bass. It's only 200watts to the sub. Little bass no room to upgrade so if you want to stick with that setup and little bass is good then that would be a good setup for you.

dieGone

iTrader: (2)

Thanks a lot for the responses. Now I'm not as lost as I felt before. Now im getting a few more questions.

Seems to me that door speakers have to be wired at 2ohm (is that because they're 2?) and the sub has to be wired at 4ohm. I feel like 200 watts for the sub wouldn't be enough. Since I'd have my doors running at 100-120 Watts that means the sub would just run at 80 Watts more, when usually I see subs running at 600-800 Watts. I have one friend specifically running 2- 12" subs @ 1200 Watts and his system sounds amazing. I understand the stock pioneer shouldn't handle too much power but 200 Watts seems too low.

Now should I get that 5 channel amp to have it all wired to the same amp or should I consider separate amps. Because that amp with "basic" power is already 200$. I can only imagine what the ideal amp would cost. I'm not really looking to spend that much money since I have plenty of mods that come before audio. So I guess I could either consider this. Or get a separate amp for the sub and leave the doors and rear decks for later on.

If I did want; let's say a single channel amp with 300-400 watts just for the sub and nothing else, what would you recommend just for now? Thanks in advance!

I think I'm gonna upgrade to one of those 1200 Watt systems eventually but for now a basic set up will do & then ill just resell the amp when i wanna get rid of it. My doors already shake and sound great without being amped, rear deck is fair enough. Adding just the pioneer sub would be a great upgrade.

EmperorJJ1

iTrader: (5)

200w RMS is pushing it on what the stock sub can handle

Joe22

iTrader: (1)

Your stock speakers are 2 ohms but your aftermarket kenwoods are 4 ohms. And yes your sub will be 4ohms or 1ohms but a 1ohm stable amp is most likely going to push too much power. If 200w on the stock sub is pushing it from others experience, choosing an amp is tuff. Either a budget amp or a good amp and turn it was down but have the option to upgrade later.

dieGone

iTrader: (2)

Just checked on my door speakers they are:

- Kenwood KFC-1693PS / 70 RMS - 240 Peak Power

Now I want to get some Kenwoods 6x9 for the rear that are 120 RMS or 450 Peak Power.

For now I'm just gonna amp my sub. I'll go with a budget amp. What power amp should I do for the stock sub? No idea on the wattage once again I need someone that knows.

Let me know what I'd need, how many channels & how much power. I saw in Walmart one for 70$ that was a 2 channel that powered 2 x 700 RMS @ 4 ohms. I supposed that would be for 2 subs that handle 700 watts each.

The stock sub probably just needs 150 RMS as max power so a single channel cheap amp would do?

Sorry for the noob questions first time doing audio work to the car, impatient to learn.

dieGone

iTrader: (2)

Found this info about the Pioneer sub:

10" Dual Voice Coil High Excursion Subwoofer for higher output and less distortion. This subwoofer operates using a dual voice coil in a 2-Ohm load, to produce clean deep bass response for all types of music. The woofer also incorporates the latest speaker cone technology called Pioneer IMPP (Injection Molded Poly Propylene) to prevent the speaker cone from flexing or breaking up. This results in smoother output. In addition it has a bumped back plate for longer woofer movement. The subwoofer will not bottom out, and has higher output capabilities compared to standard subwoofers.

Enclosure for subwoofer is located in the left rear section of the Cobalt's trunk. This 18 liter size molded enclosure was specially designed and accurately sound tuned to work with the woofer and provide extended smooth deep bass response. This allows subwoofer to play low frequencies.

6-Channel High Power Amplifier

270 watt peak output power
2-Channels front tweeters
2-Channels front door speakers
2-Channels for 6 x 9" speakers with bridged mono channel for the 10" subwoofer
2-ohm stable
Class-AB operation
Low distortion output

EmperorJJ1

iTrader: (5)

if you are just looking at a sub amp you want a 2 channel and the RMS rating u want to look at is "bridged"

also the rule of thumb is peak power is ouble the RMS rating. however peak is an imaginary number so it could be whatever the manu randomly decides (if anything the number will be inflated)

but to put that into perspective the stock amp is 270w peak so logically the most the RMS for all 7 speakers is 135w. also the stock rear speakers are getting the exact same amount of power as the sub.

dieGone

iTrader: (2)

So you're saying that the amp has to be wired to the 6x9 speakers and bridged into the amp for it to work right? I'm not looking to amp my doors yet but wouldn't mind amping my rear deck.

Now all I need is a recommendation for an amp that handles the power I need.

Thanks everyone for your help!

EmperorJJ1

iTrader: (5)

no im saying the factory amp gives no power to the stock sub so to tread softly.

dieGone

iTrader: (2)

I'm gonna get an aftermarket amp. Just make me some suggestions of something that would work and is cheap. Simply to power the sub.

EmperorJJ1

iTrader: (5)

heres a few suggestions

Kicker DX125.2
Rockford Fosgate PRIME R150X2
Kicker ZX200.2
JL Audio XD200/2