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Hello, I am completely new to this and have no idea what I'm doing. I recently got a box with a 12" sub.
I have a 2004 C240 with base speakers. All I want to do is either only set up the subwoofer or subwoofer with an AMP. I honestly don't need it to be turned up all the way, so if there is a way for me to get this done without buying AMP, that would be great. Is there a tutorial with pictures or something like that for me to follow?
I tried looking through this forum but couldn't find anything specific for C240... And all other models seem to be all different and set ups are really complicated haha
but any feedback is appreciated !!
P.S.
Can anyone maybe recommend me what to buy? I honestly don't even know what to buy hahaha Im not even sure how strong of an AMP i need. My friend said he used 1000W but he had a whole system built there. I only want the SUB with AMP, i have a feeling the BASE speakers will burn
Last edited by artiomso; Jul 16, 2014 at 03:11 PM.
I have never seen a sub work worth a hoot without an amp connected to it. Even if you put a crossover on it using a lead from another speaker it won't have enough power to drive a 12" sub. If your car has the Bose system it may already have a sub in the rear deck on the drivers side. Easiest way to tell is look at the speaker grille in the driver side back window and it will say Bose on it if you have that system. I am sure there are others here that can better tell you how to setup what you want than I can.
if you have the stock headunit radio you'll need a hi/low converter and tap that into one of your speakers (usually the rear speaker). from the other end of the converter are rca jacks and you'll plut in the rca cables to that and run those cables to your amp. You'll still have to run a power and ground wire for the amp and a 12v for the power switch.
i just installed my system into my car a few weeks back to my factory radio with no problem at all..i have a built in amp/sub combo but having them separately should work just fine nonetheless. I'm assuming you will have the audio wires routed underneath the driver and passenger side pull up door sill plastic pieces, if you don't then this info wont be much help..i run a 05 C230 btw. I found that I could run all the wires to the passenger side audio wires and get all the speakers in the car to work just fine. The only thing that you will have to find out for yourself is how to route the power wire inside the car. I removed the AC compressor from inside the passenger footwell and routed the cable up and out the way, but the only bad thing is when you open your hood you can see the power wire going into the hole meant for air to the AC. That works for me because i dont want to drill any holes in the firewall and it doesnt look that bad to me. Not too bad of an install...took me about 3 hours just because of some trial and error, but the the longest part was taking apart the backseat to route the wires from the trunk up front. Your model might be easier than mine..im not how sure how much of a difference is between the years.
Can anyone maybe recommend me what to buy? I honestly don't even know what to buy hahaha Im not even sure how strong of an AMP i need. My friend said he used 1000W but he had a whole system built there. I only want the SUB with AMP, i have a feeling the BASE speakers will burn
i just installed my system into my car a few weeks back to my factory radio with no problem at all..i have a built in amp/sub combo but having them separately should work just fine nonetheless. I'm assuming you will have the audio wires routed underneath the driver and passenger side pull up door sill plastic pieces, if you don't then this info wont be much help..i run a 05 C230 btw. I found that I could run all the wires to the passenger side audio wires and get all the speakers in the car to work just fine. The only thing that you will have to find out for yourself is how to route the power wire inside the car. I removed the AC compressor from inside the passenger footwell and routed the cable up and out the way, but the only bad thing is when you open your hood you can see the power wire going into the hole meant for air to the AC. That works for me because i dont want to drill any holes in the firewall and it doesnt look that bad to me. Not too bad of an install...took me about 3 hours just because of some trial and error, but the the longest part was taking apart the backseat to route the wires from the trunk up front. Your model might be easier than mine..im not how sure how much of a difference is between the years.
Thanks man !!! I am currently in the process of buying an amplifier for the Sub.
Right now I'm looking at ->
I believe this one will work with my sub, its TS-SW3041D 12". Someone mentioned i need an HI/LOW frequency converter and i believe it has that built in already. Can anyone give me any feedback on this ?
All a high low converter does is "convert the high's from the signal of your speakers to a low frequency so that you can connect RCA's and run a low frequency subwoofer.
pulled that from a fellow car website. Makes sense that you dont need a high/low converter..i've never had one in any of the many car installs i've done, but if you are an audiophile then this would be needed. I work on aircrafts all day/night so im pretty sure im deaf. as long as it sounds great inside the car im happy.
This hi-to-lo converter steps down the output from the headunit (meant to go to speakers), and outputs it to the amp (expecting a line-in signal).
From the description on amazon, PH2.500 apparently has both hi- and lo- inputs, so you won't need the converter (just connect the HU outputs to the "speaker level" input in the amp)...
All a high low converter does is "convert the high's from the signal of your speakers to a low frequency so that you can connect RCA's and run a low frequency subwoofer.
pulled that from a fellow car website. Makes sense that you dont need a high/low converter..i've never had one in any of the many car installs i've done, but if you are an audiophile then this would be needed. I work on aircrafts all day/night so im pretty sure im deaf. as long as it sounds great inside the car im happy.
Ok, so I after a day of research trough forums
I was able to get a pretty good AMP from a friend. Alpine MRP-M450 which has a Speaker Input Leads and in the manual it says: These leads are input leads for use with head units not equipped with preamp outputs. When not using the RCA Line Input connectors, you should connect these wires to the speaker output leads of your head unit. The MRP-M650/MRP-M450 accepts input from high power or standard power head units.
So I believe i don't need the converter, but now i only have few questions left haha sorry
1. The "remote" wire, which fuse did you use?
2. Where did u connect the ground wire?
3. Did u have to touch the factory head unit at all ?
4. How did you connect the speakers in the car to the AMP?
Sorry !!! But thank you for helping me!! there is so much info online but half of them might mess my car up..
Another thing I'm a little confused on, so since i already have the box with the sub installed, all i do to send the signal to the SUB is connect two wires +/- from AMP to the box that has terminal connection:
You are going to have to tap into the speaker wires running to the back door speakers or something like that to get the signal to go to the amp inputs. Then you will run speaker wire from the output of the amp to the connecter on the sub box (+/-). As for the remote wire, you need to attach that to a switch item to only turn the amp on when you turn the key on. The cigarette lighter is a switched item in the car for example.
Normally that remote wire would connect to the back of an aftermarket radio. So when the radio is on it will send power to the amp and tell it to turn on.
Connect the ground to the body with either a self-tapping screw or an existing screw in the car. Make sure there is no paint between the screw and the body (scrape it off) when you put the ground wire on it.
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