Adding aftermarket amp/sub

[KingOfTheGeeks]

Ok, so that's what I needed to know. The signal coming in to the sub is not amplified? It's a sub/amp combo and it's just a low level signal coming in to the sub? I thought maybe the amp was elsewhere and it had speaker leads running to it.

Yes, the amplifier is mounted to the bottom of the subwoofer, so actually since the main amplifier processes the low frequencies and sends only low level signal to the subwoofer amplifier input, tapping into anywhere else would only sound like shit !

believe me, it sucks when you tap into the rear door speakers and only end up with very anemic base, fortunately i already had everything wired and decided to tap into the signals from the subwoofer plug, viola, it sounded great.

 

[BIRDMAN]

Yes, the amplifier is mounted to the bottom of the subwoofer, so actually since the main amplifier processes the low frequencies and sends only low level signal to the subwoofer amplifier input, tapping into anywhere else would only sound like shit !

believe me, it sucks when you tap into the rear door speakers and only end up with very anemic base, fortunately i already had everything wired and decided to tap into the signals from the subwoofer plug, viola, it sounded great.

that's great news. i didn't really have a problem with my last install where i used the rear speaker leads but i knew it wasn't to full potential. i had 2 massive 10's and 800w rms going to a vent tuned box so it was still more than enough, ear shattering even at times. since i will probably only do 300-400w rms and 1 sub under my rear seat i want to make sure i get it right. thanks for your help.

 

[ThugHunter]

Yes, the amplifier is mounted to the bottom of the subwoofer, so actually since the main amplifier processes the low frequencies and sends only low level signal to the subwoofer amplifier input, tapping into anywhere else would only sound like shit !

believe me, it sucks when you tap into the rear door speakers and only end up with very anemic base, fortunately i already had everything wired and decided to tap into the signals from the subwoofer plug, viola, it sounded great.

That's excellent news and it will be a much easier install now that I know this.

 

[Ramatuzio]

No you cant. What he is trying to do is use the two signal wires going back to the factory sub. Some moron engineer at Ford used a 2.5volt Digital DC pulse to save money. The amp on the sub Decodes the signal, and that amp only puts out 3 volts to the sub. Its ridiculous.
The plug uses 5 wires, 12v full time, ground, 5 volt turn on, and both 2.5 left and right signals. The sub is 1.5ohm, per voice coil and run 2 channel.


The only possibility is to use an amp with High Input, and use the actually speaker wires going to your sub as the inputs... This is what I had to do.

The Raptor is great, but I would like to kick the engineer in the nuts who designed and programmed the throttle map, anti roll, and traction control on this thing. Try driving in snow, you CANT. If the truck gets 3 inches sideways all power chops. I can't stand it, and yes I have held the button 50 secs on done all the tricks.. We need a programmer.

Rick

 

[BIRDMAN]

No you cant. What he is trying to do is use the two signal wires going back to the factory sub. Some moron engineer at Ford used a 2.5volt Digital DC pulse to save money. The amp on the sub Decodes the signal, and that amp only puts out 3 volts to the sub. Its ridiculous.
The plug uses 5 wires, 12v full time, ground, 5 volt turn on, and both 2.5 left and right signals. The sub is 1.5ohm, per voice coil and run 2 channel.


The only possibility is to use an amp with High Input, and use the actually speaker wires going to your sub as the inputs... This is what I had to do.

The Raptor is great, but I would like to kick the engineer in the nuts who designed and programmed the throttle map, anti roll, and traction control on this thing. Try driving in snow, you CANT. If the truck gets 3 inches sideways all power chops. I can't stand it, and yes I have held the button 50 secs on done all the tricks.. We need a programmer.

Rick

can you be more clear? can the 5v turn on be used on an aftermarket amp?

 

[jdowens1]

you can't use a 5v signal to turn on an amplifier. they need to be a 12v source there is BN/RD wire which is 12v wire going into sub/amplifier but its hot at all times. If you splice into that wire your amp will be on all the time and could drain the battery. If you tried hooking a 12v wire into 5v reference wire or vref you could fry the ckt, and the fact its just not enough power to work

 

[Ramatuzio]

Sure.. there is two rows of wires on the plug. Top row has 3 pins, furthest away (you will see what I mean when you look) is full time 12 volts. Next one is ground, then 5V is at the other end. The bottom row of pins are both signal wires.

Every amp has a different turn on voltage but 5volts should be enough..
Now you have your 12 volts, 5volt turn on, ground.. but the signal is a problem. There is no music on the two signal leads, if you touch your input it will burry your speaker with DC hum.

Pull the 4 speaker wires off the sub, and use those as your high level inputs on the new amp. Then run the output (speaker wires) from the new amp back to the sub. I would run the voice coils in series to raise your impedance to 3 ohms.. Do this by taking a wire from one of the + on the sub over to the other side -. This leaves you with a + and - on both sides now to use as your speaker wires...

I think your amp will be more stable and run much cooler this way..

Does this make sense? I was ******** around with it last night and was suprised to see how they set this up.

I wished there was a way to decode the signal easier and just use RCA jacks, but I don't know of any . Maybe someone else does...

 

[Ramatuzio]

He can use 5volt as turn on. Most amps don't use a 12 volt turn on.. Unfortunately the wires back at the factory plug are 22 guage wire.. Not even close to carrying enough current for the amp that you are thinking about.

Its just not a good deal.. The amp is mosfet, being that its so efficient they get away from small wire running it high frequency.

 

[BIRDMAN]

Sure.. there is two rows of wires on the plug. Top row has 3 pins, furthest away (you will see what I mean when you look) is full time 12 volts. Next one is ground, then 5V is at the other end. The bottom row of pins are both signal wires.

Every amp has a different turn on voltage but 5volts should be enough..
Now you have your 12 volts, 5volt turn on, ground.. but the signal is a problem. There is no music on the two signal leads, if you touch your input it will burry your speaker with DC hum.

Pull the 4 speaker wires off the sub, and use those as your high level inputs on the new amp. Then run the output (speaker wires) from the new amp back to the sub. I would run the voice coils in series to raise your impedance to 3 ohms.. Do this by taking a wire from one of the + on the sub over to the other side -. This leaves you with a + and - on both sides now to use as your speaker wires...

I think your amp will be more stable and run much cooler this way..

Does this make sense? I was ******** around with it last night and was suprised to see how they set this up.

I wished there was a way to decode the signal easier and just use RCA jacks, but I don't know of any . Maybe someone else does...

won't wiring in series create 8ohm? it will be 1 dvc 4ohm sub. parallel would be 2ohm, series would be 8ohm?

 

[Ramatuzio]

I don't think so. Look at your sub, its dual voice coil. Each coil is 1.5ohm... wired in series will give you a 3ohm resistance.

Parrallel would drop it to .75 ohm, almost a dead short.

Running them dual channel is just 1.5 ohm per channel.. thats pretty heavy for most car amps isnt it?