[SUBS] Subwoofer's will not work!

Alec_In5Speeds

New Member
Equipment:
Alpine CDA 7480 head unit
2 Sony xPlode 10" subs
1 Sony 400watt amp
(all stuff I picked up for cheap).

I bought a subwoofer wiring kit from my local car audio store. Before buying these subs via Craig's List, we tested the subs in the sellers car, and again in my friends car. Both times these subs and amplifier worked.

After moving the set up into my DA, I cannot get any subwoofer output.

The CD player does not have 'Sub Pre-outs', but does have RCA output (front/back).
The amp gets power, and my rear speakers sometimes get a 'crackling' sound when the stereo turns on.

Just wondering what I have done wrong, if you know, please let me know! Ask me questions if you need any more information to help me troubleshoot!

THANKS!
 

Str8Boostin

Sleeper
Wiring done correctly?

A car amp can light up and display as 'ON' but as soon as it gets a signal to play to the subwoofer, it'll 'die' if not properly grounded.

I suggest you run 4 gauge wire, with an in-line fuse on the positive cable from the battery no longer than 18 inches from the battery post. Use a 30 amp fuse or something close to that.

As for your ground on your amp, make sure you have a proper ground IE metal on metal, which means you might have to sand off paint/rust wherever you plan on grounding your amp. Make sure the cable is no longer than 3 feet and is of the same gauge as your power cable (4 gauge as recommended).

Make sure your head unit's settings are set to SUBWOOFER ON or ENABLED. That's a simple mistake some people make.

Also, check the gain/settings/speaker wires on your amp.
 

akitt2112

New Member
Also check your remote wire, when I hooked up subs in my camaro I forgot to wire the remote up (the blue wire) and all my stuff was getting power and glowing and speakers were working but my subs weren't coming on. Easy mistake lol.
 

Merlins Beard

*Beard not included
here is how mine was wired up. i had a section of i think 12 gauge extension cable wire which ran from the battery to the amp (amp has fuse), i ran a section of much smaller wire (i believe 18 or 20) gauge up to the power supply (not memory) on the radio (attaches to signal input on amp), then on my head unit it had rca jacks and i ran cables with those to the amp, then from the amp i ran 14 gauge speaker wire to the sub. it worked fine and i never had any problems.

my cousin has a factory head unit in his car and he removed the rear speakers and spliced his amp and sub instead. later he got a line-out converter (spliced that in instead of his amp and sub) and that fixed any problems he had with interference and it improved his sound quality
 


Merlins Beard

*Beard not included
mine are small because of my system. my sub (jensen xs12 - got it free from my cousin) has 175 watts rms, peak of 525 watts, and my amp (pioneer gm-x372 - $40 from a pawn shop) has 240 watts max power output. not a lot of power but enough for what i want
 


da9 b20 beast

New Member
make sure everything is grounded right i had same problem...i was running 4 gauge and had a 1200 watt amp and 15 rockford fosgate pumch
 

BeatBox

Real Good!
Merlins Beard said:
here is how mine was wired up. i had a section of i think 12 gauge extension cable wire which ran from the battery to the amp (amp has fuse), i ran a section of much smaller wire (i believe 18 or 20) gauge up to the power supply (not memory) on the radio (attaches to signal input on amp), then on my head unit it had rca jacks and i ran cables with those to the amp, then from the amp i ran 14 gauge speaker wire to the sub. it worked fine and i never had any problems.
Click to expand...
please tell me you are kidding
extension wire?! WHATTA FACKK ARE YOU ON?

/rant
 

mjones73

New Member
Merlins Beard said:
here is how mine was wired up. i had a section of i think 12 gauge extension cable wire which ran from the battery to the amp (amp has fuse), i ran a section of much smaller wire (i believe 18 or 20) gauge up to the power supply (not memory) on the radio (attaches to signal input on amp), then on my head unit it had rca jacks and i ran cables with those to the amp, then from the amp i ran 14 gauge speaker wire to the sub. it worked fine and i never had any problems
Click to expand...
1) The fuse on the amp does nothing for you when something shorts out that wire running to the back and it decides to light on fire and burn your car to the ground. You fuse it at the battery for a reason.
2) Are you grounding it locally at the amp or running the ground back to the battery also?

At the 14.4 amps max that amp can draw, 12 gauge wire is actually sufficient for a 10-13 foot run...
 

mjones73

New Member
BeatBox said:
please tell me you are kidding
extension wire?! WHATTA FACKK ARE YOU ON?

/rant
Click to expand...
12 gauge is 12 gauge.. Course personally I'd have run some 10 or 8 for a little overkill, that small amp he has is barely pulling any amps.
 

BeatBox

Real Good!
IMO i would never run anything under 8g for power wire on an amp.
12g is perfect for speaker wire
 

AcurInteg96

Just call me chris.
BeatBox said:
IMO i would never run anything under 8g for power wire on an amp.
12g is perfect for speaker wire
Click to expand...
I run a 2ga power with 4ga wires at the split, 4ga ground to the split with 2ga to the ground spot. and 12ga speaker wire.

Sent from my EVO with tapatalk.
 

BeatBox

Real Good!
AcurInteg96 said:
I run a 2ga power with 4ga wires at the split, 4ga ground to the split with 2ga to the ground spot. and 12ga speaker wire.

Sent from my EVO with tapatalk.
Click to expand...
perfect, i have 0g power and ground, 8g speaker wire :)
for the highs amp 8g power and ground, 12g speaker wire
 
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