SC300, stock subs not working after amp+ woofer install
 

so i got a rockford fosgate amp and a 10" kicker sub hooked upto my car by Al&Ed's (regrettingly). i now have 2 problems with the car that are driving me crazy. 1. the sub will only hit when the car is running, when the car is in park with the engine not running, there will be no bass in the car. i asked them why this was happening and they told me with this car there's no way to wire it so the sub can hit with the engine not running. and 2. i disconnected my subwoofer, and i found out the way these guys wired it, that there is no more stock bass in my car, the only thing that hits is the subwoofer and that really annoys me. is there a way to fix these 2 problems? my car is now worse then it was before i even took it to this shop and i will never ever go back to them:thumbdn:

Tell them to plug the remote turn-on lead to something that has power while it's in Accessory, or find an amp that has a remote sensing lead. BEWARE - when you do this, and turn on the radio, you will get this huge "THUMP" from the sub when it turns on. Unfortunately there isn't anything you can do cheaply to fix that problem. That's just the way it is when you do stock deck with aftermarket sub.

They tapped the remote turn-on lead into a wire that has +12V ONLY while the Key is in "run"- That's why it only works way. You'd better hope they didn't do the constant +12 to the same wire or you really have problems. If You don't see a new thick power wire with a new fuse going to the + lead on the battery underhood you got screwed - make them run a new fused +12V lead to the battery, find a proper remote turnon lead that has power while key is in accessory and then never go back.



Also - eave the factory sub out now that you've got it disconnected- all it will do will limit the amount of bass output the big sub can do because of clipping. Just spend time to tune it to sound right.

thanks so much for the info. are there any wiring diagrams online or anywhere actually where i can try looking it up to do it myself? or just to get a better look at what's going on? and how would i go about tuning the sub so it sounds good. it's just now that the aftermarket sub is disconnected, i miss the stock bass in my car cause i'm left with nothing at the moment

Simplest way is to pull the radio and look for the +12V lead that carries power while the car is in accessory and run it back to the turn-on lead on your amplifier.

It's really easy to drop the Glovebox, pull up the door sill, yank up the bottom rear seat cushion, and 3 bolts and lift up the rear seat back - on the passenger side of the car, at the top behind where the rear seat goes is a huge opening where you can run the power lines.

If you don't know how to test for +12V you're probably best taking to a reputable shop who can. You don't need a diagram for that.

For the sub tuning, just turn the gains up and down, and flip the polarity of the sub back and forth till it sounds best to you.

rjp

There's both +12v constant and +12v switched (ACC) on the CD changer harness, right-rear of the trunk, behind the side panel... so you won't need to run any power wires from the front to the rear (provided, I assume, that your sub amp is in the trunk)