Adding Subwoofer. How To Connect?

[93eng]

Hi

I have two questions regarding the installation of a subwoofer and power amplifier. The head unit is a Sony WX-C570 which I understand originally comes from the Gen 7 Celica. The Power Amplifier is a generic Mosfet amplifier or so it says on the casing.

Now the power amp has a Line Input which presumably should be connected to the Line output of the Sony Unit.

Questions:

1. Where do I connect to get the power?

2. The power amp has a GRD / B+ / REMOTE connections. The diagram on the case shows the REMOTE connected to ANT/B+ Radio Cassette. What does that mean?

Unfortunately all of these have been bought second hand, hence no installation manual is available.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated. The car is a Gen 5.

[DefiantFrog]

Yep, the stereo is the G7 Pre-facelift Stereo. I think they changed it for facelift, but not sure...

You need an RCA cable, output from the back of the stereo (probably the rear output, but I don't think it'll matter) and input in to the amp, as you probably already suspect.

If its for subs, probably the best bet is to run a +ve and -ve cable from the Battery down the inside of the car (putting an in-line fuse on the +ve somewhere near the battery), then terminating them in a small fuse box in the boot, or close to where you are going to mount your amp, then running more +ve and -ve to your amp. I'm making a bit of an assumption here, but -ve will go to ground and +ve will go to B+ (never heard it called B+ before though, hence the assumption!). Make sure you use cable with appropriate ampage and appropriately rated fuses.

You then need to find something electrical that only turns on when you start the ignition - power ariel is a good one if the G5 has one. You then run a cable connected to that connection to the 'Remote' input. What this does is when the cable gets power (this means ignition is on), power goes to the amp and tells it to turn on. Stops the amp from draining your Battery - if remote wasn't connected the amp'd be on all the time. The cable here can be pretty much anything as the power draw is minimal.

While doing all this, try hard not to cross the power and rca / speaker cabling as you may end up getting unwanted interferrance.

That all make sense?

Pic of the amp, highlighting what plugs are where would be good, just to confirm!

[93eng]

DefiantFrog

Thank you for the response. The B+ definitely connects to the Battery +ve as it shows so on the power amp.

Yes the Gen 5 has an automatic aerial (although mine does not work), so two further questions if I may:

1. How do I connect to the Battery? Do I drill a hole from the cabin to the engine bay? If so, where is the best location for that? Is it a case then of splicing the cable to the +ve Battery cable?

2. How do I know which one is the aerial power cable? Do I use a multimeter and check the pins? Or is there a particular colour I need to look for?

Partial answers will also be appreciated!

[DefiantFrog]

There will already holes between the cabin and the engine bay - have a look in the bulk head area for rubber grommets with cables going through (or maybe just blanks) from the engine bay towards the cabin. Once you've found one that looks suitable work out where it appears in the cabin (there's usually something in front of the passenger seat to use), then tape your cables to a coat hanger n just push them through! I'm afraid I've never been up close and personal with a G5, so can't recommend a grommet to go through myself, but I'll bet someone else on here can.

For attaching to the Battery you'll be much better off getting some new terminal blocks than splicing in to the existing cable. Maplins used to do 'em for a few quid each, but I've just checked, and they seem to be discontinued (see here for what you are looking for). I'll bet halfrauds'll or your local car audio shop will sell something similar for double the price! Once you've got your blocks, remove the existing Battery cabling from the Battery, attach it to the new block along with your new Sub cabling and put the new blocks back on your battery. And now you have power.

And be careful from now on - in fact its best to disconnect your battery before you start doing anything with the electrics, and only reconnect once you have done your work, double checked it and triple checked it. Only when you know all your connections are going to the right places, and are tight and safely taped / covered up and your ready to test do you put your battery terminals back on. Do the -ve connection first, then +ve. You may get sparks as well, thats always fun!

I'm afraid I don't know which cable powers the arial, and I think I know why yours doesn't work (and I gave you crap advice earlier) - when the stereo turns on, the ariel is meant to come up, yeah? Thats the point that the ariel motors get power (not on ignition as I thought earlier). Well, the Sony Stereo you have prob doesn't have that connection on it to push the ariel up as the G7 ariel is always out - no connection from stereo, no power to ariel, and no 'remote on' power to amp. So, dont use the powered arial connection - that was a crap idea from me! G5 boys - what do you have that comes on with ignition to send a little bit of power to an amp?