Subwoofer?

Nuke33

Nuke33

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I was thinking about putting a sub woofer into my 2000 Honda Civic, Is this a DIY project and what would i need i have an amp... Do i need a new Cd player I olny have a stock one.


Thanks,
Ryan
 
You can use your stock radio if you want to, but a aftermarket head unit is the way to go. I have a line output converter on my stock unit so that i get clearer signals.Stock units don't give clear signals IMO (Ihave never owned a honda so I don't know about yours). Also, it is a great DIY project, Good luck.
 
Nuke33 said:
I was thinking about putting a sub woofer into my 2000 Honda Civic, Is this a DIY project and what would i need i have an amp... Do i need a new Cd player I olny have a stock one.


Thanks,
Ryan
Click to expand...
You might get a lot of sound distortion if you use a stock CD player. After market is the way to go. Get one with a little jack for Ipod.
Quality amp coupled with a good quality subwoofer like Kecker Solo Baric L5 or L7 is the way to go. Expensive, but well worth the price.
Another quality choce would be Rockford Fosgate.
Both choices are pricey, but with just one 12" sub you will have a "music party" in your car.
Remember, you get what you pay for. Don't buy some unknown brand.
 
#1 what amp do you have? You SHOULD base the sub selection on what you amp can put out. Also it should be based on what kind of music you listen to. And yes you should find an aftermarket deck preferably with a few RCA OUTPUTS.
 
JLAudio makes Stealthboxes for alot of cars. Great thing as designed to take up as little space as possible. You will need an amp, but can tap into rear channels or use their new CleanSweep Technology also.
 
Infinity also makes a nice little unit called the BassLink II. It's about 1 cubic ft in size and is self powered (built in amp and crossover). It takes line (RCA) or speaker level inputs and you can get wiring kits for many car models. You can find them for around $200 on ebay and the adapter kits for another $40. The nice thing with these is that they can be mounted vertically or horizontally and pulled from the car easily if the space is needed.
I haven't used them but have seen many very good reviews and Infinity is a reputable manufacturer. If you just want to improve your stock speakers and not upgrade everything, this may work. I've done a bit of research on this and have been an audio engineer for over 30 years, if that counts for anything.
Just an alternative.
 
Alright sounds good guys! i deff want a cd player with an ipod jack
 
what kind of amp do you have and what is power rating? also how many channels is the amp. kicker L5 hits harder and sounds better than L7 from the cars i have heard. another great sub is HiFonics.
 
I Have 2 Pioneer 12's. Dont go too big, with these and a 760W amp, I can already drone out any sound and make my parking tags do the salsa.

Looking back, I wish I would have gotten one, hehe.
 
10" will do great in a little car like he has. and a good 400-500watt amp
 
I think its a 350 watt 2 channal i cant remember ill look at it when i got home next week, i was thinking like a sony 10''
 
I recently started to get back into beefing my audio and have done lots of research on car audio forums. And there are plenty of affordable subs out there that will give you an awesome bang for the buck. What comes to mind are TC-1000 from TC sound they are great specs and from the crap load of threads I've read they have a strong following. And they sell them direct with free shipping to boot. Check out car audio forums 'dot' com and search TC-1000. They only thing stopping me from buying one 12'' is they don't offer a dual 2 ohm speaker that I need to run my 1 ohm stable amp. Since I only want one strong sub I had to chose Oz Audio which cost a bit more but man they are awesome subs. Good luck and car audio forum and a lot of info to offer just search the forums.
 
I'd get a single 12 and be done with it, I had a single 12 in my integra, JL 12W6 it hit hard and got low in a fairly small box. In my current car I was limited to a 10" and while it can hit it really doens't have the extension of my 12...I miss that low extension:(

You also never stated what your budget is, some people are telling you to get a new headunit, but if I was on a limited budget and had to do it in pieces I would add the sub and amp, via the cleansweep or some other line output device to the stoc CD unit and then get a new head unit later.
 
10" will hit harder than 12". all you lose by dropping down to a 10 from a 12 is a little bit of power handling
 
Nuke33 said:
I was thinking about putting a sub woofer into my 2000 Honda Civic, Is this a DIY project and what would i need i have an amp... Do i need a new Cd player I olny have a stock one.


Thanks,
Ryan
Click to expand...

You can add subs without adding an aftermarket cd player by using line converters, which basically convert speaker wire coming form your stock radio into rca connections, from there you can hook up rca and run to your amp. Yes, this is not as good as using an aftermarket radio, most people wouldn't know the difference, I do this to cars on a regular basis, now that a lot of newer cars are becoming harder and harder add radios and speakers. The converter only cost about $15, and you can hook more than one, I had three in my car before I got a aftermarket radio. They are really simple to hook up. This is what they look like.
Buy the Metra Line Output Converter (ALOC648) and other Car Amplifier Audio RCA Cables at circuitcity.com

This one is little more expensive because its made for four channel amps, which you wouldn't need for a sub.
Hooking it up in your car is really simple, the converter has five or six wires coming out of it, depending on brand. Four wires are for speaker connection, usually white and white/black and grey and grey/black, positive and negative basically for two speakers. All you would have to do is catch the two rear deck speakers, which can be accessed through the truck, white wires on one speaker and grey on the other. The other two wires, which are usually brown are used to ground out the converter to prevent excees noise, I rarely use them, hardly ever seen noise come from a converter.
All in all this is a pretty good way to go and cheaper than buying an aftermarket radio.

What subs and amp were thinking of going with?
 
I'm taking this time to show off my setup, by far in my opinion the best brand on the market, a little expensive, but well worth it in the long run, sound quality is amazing in both my sub and highs. I hit a 134 db on the dash with just that one sub. If you hae the money give any JL Audio Product a try.

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My highs are all Boston Aocustics SL Seperates 5x7s, another great brand, amazing sound quality and fairly priced. The sub is a 12" JL W7, Amps are JL 300/4 and 500/1
Not the greates install, but I wanted to keep it simple and not affect the car in any way so when I sell it or trade it in its like it was when it was new. My next project is a 7" lcd screen in my front grill, yes, front grill, also I'm gonna try and put some 3.5" screens in my headlights. Definitley posting pics when that happens.
 
A metra converter works fine if not abused for low signals. There are plenty of people who use (i am planning to) these converters and get a decent signal out of them. You can tap into the rear speaker signals usually and get a decent sound from a sub. One recommendation, get a 12" if single, a lot more cone area equals a lot more air moved and a decent sound, plus it goes lower.

Budget dictates everything here, you could get the sub and amp with a converter and then convert to a better head unit later if necessary. You could also swap out your factory speakers before and see an improvement in sound quality.

Plenty of sites out there for car audio. Buy a decent sub that fits within your budget as well as a decent amp and you are good to go.

Big thing with a converter is not not abues it and send a higher signal than needed to the amp which usually results in distortion. Simple explanation for something that is more complex than a simple paragraph.
 
There are also converters that will boost rca voltage to that of aftermarket units, JL makes one called the Clean Sweep, expensive, but for those with cars that they haven't made radio kits for or thse higher end systems with optical audio connections, this is the way to go. They do make some cheep converters with adjustable gains, which will aid in sound quality an power.
 
detailgod said:
10" will hit harder than 12". all you lose by dropping down to a 10 from a 12 is a little bit of power handling
Click to expand...

No way my current 10 hits harder than my previous 12, power is the same if not more to the 10. I had the SPL and the SQ with the 12, just got to pick the right one. As I said if I had the room for the 12 I would of put one in without thinking twice.
 
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