Subwoofer

[Rore]

Awrite guys :D

Gonna buy myself a Vibe Slick sub and amp ... i know how to connect it to my cd player etc but its the connection to the Battery i'm unsure about is there not a case over your Battery?

also i dont think i'm gonna bother changing the Speakers it seems to much like hassle ... i mean drilling out rivets and needing to rivet back in the new Speakers? seems alot of work :( will my sub and amp be worth it without changing the Speakers?

cheers ;)

[Phoenix999]

You need to find the maximum power capabilities of your present Speakers

If your new amp puts out too much power then you will blow them.... you must have Speakers more than capable of handling the amps power output.

[Rore]

You need to find the maximum power capabilities of your present speakers

If your new amp puts out too much power then you will blow them.... you must have speakers more than capable of handling the amps power output.

am no wantin eh wire eh amp to the Speakers tho ... so does that still apply?

[Phoenix999]

You need to find the maximum power capabilities of your present speakers

If your new amp puts out too much power then you will blow them.... you must have speakers more than capable of handling the amps power output.

am no wantin eh wire eh amp to the Speakers tho ... so does that still apply?

Sorry but I don't understand what you are trying to say.... your words are almost a foreign language

[Rore]

You need to find the maximum power capabilities of your present speakers

If your new amp puts out too much power then you will blow them.... you must have speakers more than capable of handling the amps power output.

am no wantin eh wire eh amp to the Speakers tho ... so does that still apply?

Sorry but I don't understand what you are trying to say.... your words are almost a foreign language

sorry about that i dont want to wire the amp to my Speakers ... i only want it connected to my sub and well obv the Battery and stereo - so do i still need to consider the door Speakers :( ?

[DefiantFrog]

Usually stock Speakers are a bit rubbish when it comes to high volume. As long as you aren't expecting them to keep up when the sub's are running hard, then they will be no worse than they are now. Get a decent set of Speakers though, and the difference in quality will be phenominal.

Assuming you have an aftermarket stereo, you should hopefully have a sub-out connection to make use of, and along with that, usually you get a built in cross-over. Make use of it to take the really low stuff away from your stock Speakers in favour of sending the low signals down to the amp/sub, it'll help them to not distort the stock speakers with the frequencies they struggle to handle at the higher volumes.

And Amp wiring... This is always fun! Read your Amp's manual. If you haven't got it yet, look on the maker's website. This'll tell you what spec power wiring it needs, what it needs to be fused at and will usually give you some kind of basic wiring diagram. You then need to go shopping... You will need:

+ve power cable - red. However much of it will get you from Battery to amp location, plus a bit extra as 'just in case'

-ve power cable - black. 2 choices, you can either go back to the Battery, or get a grounding point near the amp - any old screw hole will do in to the car's metal work, just make sure the cabling eventually makes good contact with bare metal.

maybe a remote power cable. Most aftermarket units can send a signal down a wire from HU to Amp to say 'Turn on' or 'Turn off'. Its a small electric current. Any old wire will do! It'll save your amp draining your Battery when not in use.

a way of terminating the new cabling on the battery (and ground point if applicable), in to the back of the stereo, in to the amp, etc - basically anywhere where cabling ends up, you need to terminate it in a connector of some sort. Work it out, Maplins or local car electronics shop will sell everything you need. I've never seen a Yaris battery, I don't know what's in place already. Usually some O-ring terminators at the right AWG will be fine to add on to what you have, and will also be fine to make use of a grounding point near the amp. It pays to investigate the car first, and work out what is going to connect to where and how before you buy anything.

An in-line fuse holder and appropriate spec fuses (multiple of the same type, you'll probably blow one or two in its life) for the amp - sits in the +ve power cable run, not too far from the battery, and definately in the engine bay. Should anything go horribly wrong, it may save a cabin fire.

Speaker cabling and connectors to plug in to your sub set up from the amp, if it isn't an all-in-one package.

Then the install...

- Find a nice big grommet going between engine bay and cabin. Shove your wiring through it from the engine bay side. Get in the cabin and find your wiring, keep pulling through till you've got enough left on the engine bay side to tidy it up, connect to the battery, plus a little bit more

- take your car's interior trim apart along the route of your power cabling, and run the power cable through to where the amp is going to be. Its a good time to run the Remote On cabling as well, from the stereo down the same route. Put your trim back together.

- terminate the cabling at the amp end, but do not connect just yet.

- put the in-line fuse in the +ve power cable, near the battery - cut the new +ve cable, attach one end of the fuse holder to the bit that goes in the car, attach the other end of the fuse holder to the bit of cable you chopped off. Make you the fuse holder can be mounted / cable tied somewhere secure but accessible. Put in a fuse, and screw the fuse holder together and mount it securely.

- terminate the power cabling at the battery end (and grounding point if applicable), but do not connect just yet

- terminate the remote on cabling on both ends, and connect to head unit & amp. You may as well run the RCA cabling at this point as well - but down the other side of the car from the power cabling. Power and Audio cabling in the place can interfere with the Audio, especially if the cables cross each other and are touching. Connect RCA to HU and Amp.

- connect subs to amp with speaker cabling if the are seperate items

- re-check every connection you've made, make sure its nice and tight and that all cabling is secure in the engine bay / cabin.

- connect +ve and -ve to amp

- connect -ve to battery / grounding point

- connect +ve to battery

- start the engine, turn on stereo and put stereo volume right down immediately. See if amp has a power light. If not, diagnose & fix. If so, turn up head unit volume a little, and ensure subs are working. Turn up more, and tweak EQ / head unit setup / amp set up to taste.

Its a bit of a quick description of a full day's work, and a lot of swearing and cursing, but its worth it...! :D If you've got a mate to help you plan, implement and sanity check all work as you go, that'll really really help. Once you've done all that, you'll realise that drilling some rivits, making some speaker mounts out of MDF and replacing the stock speakers is easy!

Good luck!

[Rore]

Usually stock speakers are a bit rubbish when it comes to high volume. As long as you aren't expecting them to keep up when the sub's are running hard, then they will be no worse than they are now. Get a decent set of speakers though, and the difference in quality will be phenominal.

Assuming you have an aftermarket stereo, you should hopefully have a sub-out connection to make use of, and along with that, usually you get a built in cross-over. Make use of it to take the really low stuff away from your stock speakers in favour of sending the low signals down to the amp/sub, it'll help them to not distort the stock speakers with the frequencies they struggle to handle at the higher volumes.

And Amp wiring... This is always fun! Read your Amp's manual. If you haven't got it yet, look on the maker's website. This'll tell you what spec power wiring it needs, what it needs to be fused at and will usually give you some kind of basic wiring diagram. You then need to go shopping... You will need:

+ve power cable - red. However much of it will get you from battery to amp location, plus a bit extra as 'just in case'

-ve power cable - black. 2 choices, you can either go back to the battery, or get a grounding point near the amp - any old screw hole will do in to the car's metal work, just make sure the cabling eventually makes good contact with bare metal.

maybe a remote power cable. Most aftermarket units can send a signal down a wire from HU to Amp to say 'Turn on' or 'Turn off'. Its a small electric current. Any old wire will do! It'll save your amp draining your battery when not in use.

a way of terminating the new cabling on the battery (and ground point if applicable), in to the back of the stereo, in to the amp, etc - basically anywhere where cabling ends up, you need to terminate it in a connector of some sort. Work it out, Maplins or local car electronics shop will sell everything you need. I've never seen a Yaris battery, I don't know what's in place already. Usually some O-ring terminators at the right AWG will be fine to add on to what you have, and will also be fine to make use of a grounding point near the amp. It pays to investigate the car first, and work out what is going to connect to where and how before you buy anything.

An in-line fuse holder and appropriate spec fuses (multiple of the same type, you'll probably blow one or two in its life) for the amp - sits in the +ve power cable run, not too far from the battery, and definately in the engine bay. Should anything go horribly wrong, it may save a cabin fire.

Speaker cabling and connectors to plug in to your sub set up from the amp, if it isn't an all-in-one package.

Then the install...

- Find a nice big grommet going between engine bay and cabin. Shove your wiring through it from the engine bay side. Get in the cabin and find your wiring, keep pulling through till you've got enough left on the engine bay side to tidy it up, connect to the battery, plus a little bit more

- take your car's interior trim apart along the route of your power cabling, and run the power cable through to where the amp is going to be. Its a good time to run the Remote On cabling as well, from the stereo down the same route. Put your trim back together.

- terminate the cabling at the amp end, but do not connect just yet.

- put the in-line fuse in the +ve power cable, near the battery - cut the new +ve cable, attach one end of the fuse holder to the bit that goes in the car, attach the other end of the fuse holder to the bit of cable you chopped off. Make you the fuse holder can be mounted / cable tied somewhere secure but accessible. Put in a fuse, and screw the fuse holder together and mount it securely.

- terminate the power cabling at the battery end (and grounding point if applicable), but do not connect just yet

- terminate the remote on cabling on both ends, and connect to head unit & amp. You may as well run the RCA cabling at this point as well - but down the other side of the car from the power cabling. Power and Audio cabling in the place can interfere with the Audio, especially if the cables cross each other and are touching. Connect RCA to HU and Amp.

- connect subs to amp with speaker cabling if the are seperate items

- re-check every connection you've made, make sure its nice and tight and that all cabling is secure in the engine bay / cabin.

- connect +ve and -ve to amp

- connect -ve to battery / grounding point

- connect +ve to battery

- start the engine, turn on stereo and put stereo volume right down immediately. See if amp has a power light. If not, diagnose & fix. If so, turn up head unit volume a little, and ensure subs are working. Turn up more, and tweak EQ / head unit setup / amp set up to taste.

Its a bit of a quick description of a full day's work, and a lot of swearing and cursing, but its worth it...! :D If you've got a mate to help you plan, implement and sanity check all work as you go, that'll really really help. Once you've done all that, you'll realise that drilling some rivits, making some speaker mounts out of MDF and replacing the stock speakers is easy!

Good luck!

cheers for that :D

all seems a bit confusing tbh ... mibi try find a company which will do it all for me

any Speakers / sub nd amp's you recommend?

[DefiantFrog]

cheers for that :D

all seems a bit confusing tbh ... mibi try find a company which will do it all for me

any speakers / sub nd amp's you recommend?

its all easy enough if you plan well and take your time doing it, and there'll be a good sense of pride in knowing you did it (plus you'll be a couple of hundred quid up on getting a company to do it all for you and a lot more knowldegable about how your car hangs together when you're done!). I can understand why its daunting though and there's no shame in getting someone else to fit it if you aren't comfortable.

Recommendatons need to have a price point to come in at. If you've got £30 - £40 to spend per speaker set / sub, then Pioneer's or Alpine's are pretty good for the cash. I've just brought a set of component Boston Accoustic S60s for the MR2, and at £90 they're awesome for the money. Have a look on the internet - www.caraudiosecurity.com or www.cel-stores.co.uk are not bad places to start. See how much each item usually costs, and work out what you are prepared to pay for each, then go for what ever your budget will allow. General rule of thumb, you get what you pay for... You just need to work out what you want to pay!

By far the most important thing you can do is do the research, and make yourself a 'final goal'. You can do bits in stages, and its nice to hear the quality 'grow' as the system develops. Then buy and fit items that will be the ones you'll keep, don't be tempted to buy cheap stuff to see you through for now and replace later - its just a waste of cash and time. And its well worth running all the cabling you'll need for the final goal in one go - saves you pulling the entire car apart 4 or 5 times!

[Rore]

cheers for that :D

all seems a bit confusing tbh ... mibi try find a company which will do it all for me

any speakers / sub nd amp's you recommend?

its all easy enough if you plan well and take your time doing it, and there'll be a good sense of pride in knowing you did it (plus you'll be a couple of hundred quid up on getting a company to do it all for you and a lot more knowldegable about how your car hangs together when you're done!). I can understand why its daunting though and there's no shame in getting someone else to fit it if you aren't comfortable.

Recommendatons need to have a price point to come in at. If you've got £30 - £40 to spend per speaker set / sub, then Pioneer's or Alpine's are pretty good for the cash. I've just brought a set of component Boston Accoustic S60s for the MR2, and at £90 they're awesome for the money. Have a look on the internet - www.caraudiosecurity.com or www.cel-stores.co.uk are not bad places to start. See how much each item usually costs, and work out what you are prepared to pay for each, then go for what ever your budget will allow. General rule of thumb, you get what you pay for... You just need to work out what you want to pay!

By far the most important thing you can do is do the research, and make yourself a 'final goal'. You can do bits in stages, and its nice to hear the quality 'grow' as the system develops. Then buy and fit items that will be the ones you'll keep, don't be tempted to buy cheap stuff to see you through for now and replace later - its just a waste of cash and time. And its well worth running all the cabling you'll need for the final goal in one go - saves you pulling the entire car apart 4 or 5 times!

you seem to know alot about what your doing ...

i was considering these Speakers - http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/...tegoryId_165707

and this sub - http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/...tegoryId_165748 in store it comes with an amp for 50 quid more

do you know if these will work together and all that stuff?

[DefiantFrog]

you seem to know alot about what your doing ...

i was considering these speakers - http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/...tegoryId_165707

and this sub - http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/...tegoryId_165748 in store it comes with an amp for 50 quid more

do you know if these will work together and all that stuff?

haha! I'm no professional... I've just done it a few times and learnt the hard way!

I'm always a little bit warey of Halfords and the prices they charge. For example, you look on Halfords for an Alpine CDE 103BT head unit - £199.99 (prob even more in shop). www.celstores.co.uk is selling it at £179.99. Its only an example, but I'm sure you'll find the same across many items they sell. Its not to say don't buy from there, just be aware that you can be more value concious, and spend the same amount of money on better items. In fact, I've just done a search on those Edge Speakers: £40 from Halfords, top hit on Google - £35 from caraudiodirect.

The Speakers look ok. I've never come across the make before, but the magnet on the woofers seems to be a reasonable size, and they have a power handling capacity greater than you'll ever need. They do look a bit 'bling' to me, which probably needlessly adds to the cost. When you consider you'll never actually see them, bling isn't so important. I assume the yaris has a component speaker set up from stock (ie a woofer and a seperate tweeter in each side at the front). If you've only got 1 speaker each side, the easier way to go is get a composite speaker, with the woofer and tweeter(s) is a single unit.

Consider replacing the rear Speakers as well as the front ones. Some people like the "sound stage" idea, where you can shut your eyes, and think you are at a gig, with all the sound coming from in front of you - this would be a decent set of front Speakers only, and fading all the sound to the front of the car via the stereo head. Some people prefer a very full sound and have the cabin full of noise (my preference), so in this case, you'd want to replace all stock speakers in the car. If you do replace them all - go for the same brand and same series of speakers - don't mix and match brands without good reason, otherwise it could end up sounding wierd.

The Sub also looks ok. The "speaker and box in one" packages will work well together - the company that makes them will have invested time and effort to make the items work well together - better than you buying a sub speaker and a box for it to go in if you are a newbie to this (yes, the box you put a speaker in makes an unbelievable amount of difference to the sound the speaker gives! Get the box wrong, and it'll sound rubbish!). Vibe tend to have a good rep, and its a reasonable price point (although its £87.99 on caraudiodirect!). Bare in mind you will need an Amp to drive it, and a stereo that allows an amp to connect to it (usually a stock stereo doesn't have that fuctionality). If you don't have a stereo with a additional unamplified output to plug in to an amp, you can buy amps that will take a feed from your existing rear speakers (as well as be able to connect direct to stereos), but I wouldn't recommend it.

You can also buy packages that are amp/sub/box all in one. They'll follow similar lines to the sub/box combo's where everything has been designed to work together, so would take another difficult decision of 'what to get for an amp' away from you. And finally, I've noticed Vibe also do a package of Sub/box, with seperate amp, and a wiring kit (http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/vibe-slick...m-pack-0-1.html) for £160... There will be other examples of this kind of set up as well, so don't assume its the only one - i just haven't looked for any more.

So, I guess all I've done is open your options up a bit rather than give you any definate yes's. What I'd do now is get yourself out and about a bit. Go to local meets, and have a listen to what other people have and find out how they have done it and how much it was - it may give you a shopping list of exactly what you want, and you'll know what to expect cos you heard it. Your local cruise scene is probably the easiest way to get that done. And go find some shops that sell this stuff. If they think there's a sale on, they'll happily demo stuff for you as much as they can and give you some sound recommendations for your car and budget, but bare in mind that accoustics in a shop are quite a bit different to accoustics in a car, so you will only get a rough idea on sound from shop demos.

And last but not least - if you do decide to go for this big time, especially with replacing the stock speakers, invest in some dynomat to deaden the unwanted sound resonation in the doors and car panels and air gaps. Worth every penny.

Good luck with the research!

[Rore]

you seem to know alot about what your doing ...

i was considering these speakers - http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/...tegoryId_165707

and this sub - http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/...tegoryId_165748 in store it comes with an amp for 50 quid more

do you know if these will work together and all that stuff?

haha! I'm no professional... I've just done it a few times and learnt the hard way!

I'm always a little bit warey of Halfords and the prices they charge. For example, you look on Halfords for an Alpine CDE 103BT head unit - £199.99 (prob even more in shop). www.celstores.co.uk is selling it at £179.99. Its only an example, but I'm sure you'll find the same across many items they sell. Its not to say don't buy from there, just be aware that you can be more value concious, and spend the same amount of money on better items. In fact, I've just done a search on those Edge Speakers: £40 from Halfords, top hit on Google - £35 from caraudiodirect.

The Speakers look ok. I've never come across the make before, but the magnet on the woofers seems to be a reasonable size, and they have a power handling capacity greater than you'll ever need. They do look a bit 'bling' to me, which probably needlessly adds to the cost. When you consider you'll never actually see them, bling isn't so important. I assume the yaris has a component speaker set up from stock (ie a woofer and a seperate tweeter in each side at the front). If you've only got 1 speaker each side, the easier way to go is get a composite speaker, with the woofer and tweeter(s) is a single unit.

Consider replacing the rear Speakers as well as the front ones. Some people like the "sound stage" idea, where you can shut your eyes, and think you are at a gig, with all the sound coming from in front of you - this would be a decent set of front Speakers only, and fading all the sound to the front of the car via the stereo head. Some people prefer a very full sound and have the cabin full of noise (my preference), so in this case, you'd want to replace all stock speakers in the car. If you do replace them all - go for the same brand and same series of speakers - don't mix and match brands without good reason, otherwise it could end up sounding wierd.

The Sub also looks ok. The "speaker and box in one" packages will work well together - the company that makes them will have invested time and effort to make the items work well together - better than you buying a sub speaker and a box for it to go in if you are a newbie to this (yes, the box you put a speaker in makes an unbelievable amount of difference to the sound the speaker gives! Get the box wrong, and it'll sound rubbish!). Vibe tend to have a good rep, and its a reasonable price point (although its £87.99 on caraudiodirect!). Bare in mind you will need an Amp to drive it, and a stereo that allows an amp to connect to it (usually a stock stereo doesn't have that fuctionality). If you don't have a stereo with a additional unamplified output to plug in to an amp, you can buy amps that will take a feed from your existing rear speakers (as well as be able to connect direct to stereos), but I wouldn't recommend it.

You can also buy packages that are amp/sub/box all in one. They'll follow similar lines to the sub/box combo's where everything has been designed to work together, so would take another difficult decision of 'what to get for an amp' away from you. And finally, I've noticed Vibe also do a package of Sub/box, with seperate amp, and a wiring kit (http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/vibe-slick...m-pack-0-1.html) for £160... There will be other examples of this kind of set up as well, so don't assume its the only one - i just haven't looked for any more.

So, I guess all I've done is open your options up a bit rather than give you any definate yes's. What I'd do now is get yourself out and about a bit. Go to local meets, and have a listen to what other people have and find out how they have done it and how much it was - it may give you a shopping list of exactly what you want, and you'll know what to expect cos you heard it. Your local cruise scene is probably the easiest way to get that done. And go find some shops that sell this stuff. If they think there's a sale on, they'll happily demo stuff for you as much as they can and give you some sound recommendations for your car and budget, but bare in mind that accoustics in a shop are quite a bit different to accoustics in a car, so you will only get a rough idea on sound from shop demos.

And last but not least - if you do decide to go for this big time, especially with replacing the stock speakers, invest in some dynomat to deaden the unwanted sound resonation in the doors and car panels and air gaps. Worth every penny.

Good luck with the research!

thanks so much mate, awesome help and advice :D

[DefiantFrog]

Been doing a bit more research on the yaris - looks like you've got 4 Speakers to upgrade in the front, and none in the back! Thought I'd let you know... (see why research is important??!)

And no probs at all for the help! :)

[Rore]

Been doing a bit more research on the yaris - looks like you've got 4 speakers to upgrade in the front, and none in the back! Thought I'd let you know... (see why research is important??!)

And no probs at all for the help! :)

4 ... i only thought there were 2 i'll be searching for the other 2 now

[DefiantFrog]

Maybe, maybe not - its from a piccy i saw on another thread on this site on the audio / video / electronics section. It may vary, depending on your year / model of Yaris. Sadly, I know next to nothing about the car specifically... The pic showed two in the doors, and two in the dashboard - looked like they point up towards the windscreen from each corner of the dash.

Happy hunting!