keyur246

hey, you mentioned that to "turn off" the stock woofer basically, you have to pull the plug on the woofer? can you go into more detail about that? because others on this forum said you have to cut the wires going into the stock sub terminals to keep it from playing but if there a way to "pull a plug" and disconnect it so i can connect it again if i need to for some reason, i can do that. thank you!

Slammer1

It has plug in connectors, just like the other speakers in the car. I am off today and have my old one in a box somewhere in the garage. If I can find it, I will post up a pic. I'm pretty sure there are pics of the stock sub in a couple other threads here as well.

keyur246

ohhh alright, that makes my life a lot easier, i dont mind pulling out the backseat to get access to the rear deck even though people said it's a pain but knowing that the stock sub has connectors gives me a peace of mind in case i ever need to reconnect it. i tried looking for pictures but i couldnt find any for the IS, i only found pictures from the ES and GS. i would appreciate it if you could post up pictures of the connectors from our cars, thank you!

ydnandy

you wont need to cut any wires to remove the stock sub. Check out this pic, I took this after removing my sub and you can see the plug connector towards the rear of the hole.

I used t-taps to tap the stock sub wires where they came out of the stock amp. Using these taps made it so I did not have to cut any wires anywhere.

jsmacks

I'm curious.. how did you remove your rear deck? I felt like I was going to break it while trying to unclip it so I quit. Wondering if there's a trick..

As far as bass/midbass goes, it's personal preference and what kind of music you listen to. Hip hop usually stays around the lower bass while reggae/electro goes a little more all over the spectrum.

To test my bass response, I play this song:
SICK album by the way if you like reggae-ish..

When I can hit all the bass notes with equal representation, then I know I've got it. You'll need to play it on a good system and not just your computer to hear it though..

keyur246

ohh alright i see it now thanks and im supposed to tap into the wires going to that connector, correct?

Slammer1

Nice tune! A lot of Dubstep carries a lot of mid bass too, btw. One of my personal favorites for mid bass is Jamiroquai's Traveling Without Moving album. Virtual Insanity is a great song and High Times really rips when it comes to mid bass. I usually turn my sub all the way down when I play that track and just listen to the doors.... Lol.

keyur246

i did my install this weekend, however after wiring everything up properly (im sure i did), the amp wont even turn on. i tried tapping the remote wire into the cig lighter fuse and it wont turn on. i dont know what to do

Slammer1

You only need three things for the amp to power up (power, ground and remote turn on). Double check all of your connections and take a test light to the make sure you have power to the remote wire when the stereo is on. Why did you tap the cig lighter? Is that where you had it before? Worst case, run a small jumper from your power run to the remote turn on screw on the amp. If you have power there, 12v at your power line and a good ground, you may have an issue with your amp. Have you used the amp before?

keyur246

This is my first sound system install so i never had a tap the cig lighter but i tapped there because previous posts on this thread mentioned its easy and it works so i went ahead and did that. i have never used the amp before its brand new out of the box. i will be attempting to figure out whats wrong today and tap the remote wire into the red wire on the 2nd connector from the back of the car as mentioned in a previous post

Slammer1

Technically you can tap just about any accessory wire (so long as it isn't powered when the car is off). Using something like the cigarette lighter just means that your amp will be powered up, whether you have the radio on or not. Once you have that sorted out, make sure you have a good ground. This is a common issue for people who are starting out in car audio. I have seen ground wires held into ring terminals with tape, as opposed to being crimped and have also seen ground wires screwed to pieces of plastic trim. Your ground should be solid. I always sand any painted surfaces, and bolt the ground to bare metal. Sounds like you are about to get this, so hang in there. It can be frustrating. Pic of my ground for my sub amp below. I have two just like this on the other side for my Zapco amps.

keyur246

can a bad ground prevent the amp from starting up at all? i touched together the power and ground wires that are supposed to be going to the amp together and they both sparked so i just assumed that there is a complete circuit and it should power the amp if they sparked

Slammer1

To be safe, always connect the ground wire to the amp first! As for the power connection, I will pull the fuse from the power run (at the battery) before connecting my power run to the amp. Once all of the connections are made at the amp, I put the fuse in the power run before powering the amp on.

Slammer1

And getting a spark when touching power and ground isn't "completing a circuit". You are shorting the power run out. You likely didn't but check your fuse at the battery to make sure you didn't blow it. Touching the power and ground together is no different than the spark you get if you are removing a battery terminal and the end of your wrench touches the fender.

keyur246

i appreciate all of the help and advice you are giving me. i will check in the next couple of days because it's raining here and update you on what's going on. if worse comes to worst, i will have to get it installed by a shop