I saw the write up for the coupe, figured I would throw one up on how I did my '04G

Figured I would post up a little "How to" seeing as how the beginning of the installation, going through the firewall, is the hardest part for some when it comes to doing an amp install.

This isn't a super detailed write up, I'm going to assume you are somewhat handy with basic tools and aren't afraid to get your hands dirty.

Ok here we go

Tools I used:
Plastic pannel tool
Screwdriver
Knife
wire strippers
solder and soldering iron
Electrical tape

Parts needed:
Amp kit w/ RCAs
Line out converter (LOC)

Break open you shiney new amp kit. I just went with the power kit because I already had RCAs:


Take the battery cover off


All the covers come off by popping the middle of these up then pulling them out



Then take the cabin filter cover off


This gromet with the mass of wires going in it, that's where you are going to feed your power wire and any other wires you may need to run in the future. You can already see the hood pin/tach/siren wires coming out for my remote start/alarm.


Make an "X" in the rubber gromet with your knife, and feed the power wire in about 2ft.


Open the front passenger door and remove the lower trim that runs along the door sill and then the kick panel




Stick your head in the foor well and look up towards the gromet. There is your power wire.


Once all your wire has been pulled, slide the passenger seat all the way forward and tilted.


Open rear passenger door and pull up the lower trim along the door sill


At the bottom of this panel are two clips, one per side. Pull each side straight back towards the other side of the car and the bottom should pop loose.



Go back up front and start tucking the wire all the way to the back seat. Carpet is attached to the door sill by plactic loops that go over white clips which is what holds the plastic trim to the car.


Once you get the wire to the back, take a look at where the bottom of the rear seat meets the carpet. You will see black plastic hoops. To get the rear seat up, pull the loop towards the front of the car and pull up on the seat. Don't try pulling the hoop up with the seat as it's attached to the car.


With both sides loose, pull the seat towards the front of the car to give you some space to feed the wire up with your hand. The seat doesn't have to come all the way off, you just need some space for your hand. The back of the back seat(the part that reclines, I had no idea my seats did that and was so amazed ) has insulation behind it. Make sure when you feed the wire, to pull the insulation up as you pull on the upper back part of the back seat as you feed the wire up towards the trunk. If not, the wire will be between the seat and insulation and you will not be be able to see the wire or pull it.



Now that the wire has been fed up towards the trunk, crawl in the trunk and pull back the bottom carpet, and then pull up on the back panel.


Once that's done, you should be able to see the wire


Now your power wire is in the trunk


Now to install the line out converter (LOC). You have to pull down the top plastic trunk panel in order to expose the factory sub and amp. Pop out the little black buttons the same way you did the ones under the hood. There are about 6 total. Once they are all out, the panel should flop down like a door because it is attached at the back.


After you drop the panel, you will be able to see the sub


.....and the amp


Unplug the brown plug attached to the sub, pull the black sheath covering the wires, you should see a black wire and a white wire


Grab your line out converter


Now twist the (+) together(no stripe), and then the (-) together (w/black stripe). On this particulat LOC, you don't need to use the two brown wires.


Take the LOC, connect the (+) to the white wire, and the (-) to the black wire. Once you have made your connections, do not plug it back into the sub.


Move over to the amp now and unplug the two plugs on the left side of the amp. You will only need to get to the black plug but it's alot easier to work if both are unplugged


Pull the black sheath back and look for the green wire with the white stripe. That's the amp turn on wire. Take the blue wire that came with the amp kit and connect it to that wire. This is what is going to be turning your aftermarket amp on. Now plug everything back into the amp.


Run your RCAs and amp turn on wire back and down to the bottom of the trunk.


Now for your ground. Pull back the back panel like you did for the power wire, scrape/grind off paint until you get to bare metal, and sink two screws into the connector. Why two? If you attach such a large wire to thin metal, it is easy for it to start to rotate as the car bounces around down the road. That can shake the ground loose and cause your system to cut in and out. by sinking two screws into the terminal, you can help reduce that your ground will come loose. It's best to look for an existing bolt to use, but I didn't find one in the area where I would be mounting my amp.



At this point, I leave you to mount the amp, and make your connections to what ever sub/amp combo you have chosen, as the hardest part is over with. I'm running a 10" Type R with a 500w Alpine amp and it sounds pretty good! There is a serious need to have sub volume control, so for now I just have all the settings on the amp turned down. Will I be replacing my HU, yes and very soon. I was just bored on thanksgiving morning and needed something to do

 

nicee writeup! jw- where did you mount your amp? lol
thats the part im playing with to figure out

 

Until it gets warmer out, it's ghettofied by sitting on a board on the trunk floor lol. When it's Nicer out, I will be mounting it to the back of the seats.

 

great write up! just the thing i needed!! Just got a question for you.
there is no need to wire the sub to the hu? just wire the new sub to the existing sub and amp?
If I was going to get a new HU(avic z3), would i have to wire the sub to the new hu or is it the same way?

 

is that ground on the rear of the rear seat bracket?

do you get a decent 12volts +/-?

 

Correct, no need to wire the line out converter to the headunit and run RCA's all the way to the front. Just do everything in the trunk. You do have to use an aftermarket amp, can't use the stock one to power a sub.

As far as a ground, I just stuck a wire wheel on my drill and wheeled off paint until I got to bare metal, and sunk to self tapping screws into the teminal. I get a solid 12v with the car idling and 13.6-14.4v depending on how hard i'm knocking down the street lol. I do have a D3 installed now, no more stock radio for me.

 

im not saying its a bad spot,just wondering if you grouded via the rear seat bracket?

 

Oh no I know you're not, I'm just not sure what exact bracket you're talking about lol. I've used seat brackets, cargo tie downs, seatbelt bolts, other large OEM bolts. As long as they are clean, they all give good solid grounds.

 

My plan is to keep my stock amp/speakers/sub but change my HU(avic z-3).
Would it sound better to directly connect the sub/amp to the aftermarket HU?
Also i was thinking about disconnecting the stock bose sub after i get an aftermarket sub. What do you think about this?

What type of rca cable is needed for the installations of a sub/amp? thanks


thanks..

 

I vote sticky. Nice work

 

Connecting the RCAs directly to the Z3 will allow you to have sub volume control, adjust EQ settings for it, and allow you to turn the sub on and off so there is benefit to running the RCA's off the radio. Not to mention if you bypass the factory bose amp when you install the Z3, you will no longer get audio out the sub lol.

As far as RCAs go, go with a brand name cable you recognize, so you get a quality built cable, but you don't really need a top of the line cable. I'm running the entry level Rockford Fosgate RCAs. When it comes to my personal listening preferences, I can't tell the difference between the cables i'm using now and a $100 pair when it comes to sound quality out of the sub.

In my experience, what you can find at your local Best Buy/Audio shop is good enough for the average Joe.

 

Thread is stuck

Thanks for taking the time to put this together.

 

Great job.

 

In the coupes :

Locate the bose amp. (drivers side trunk under the plastic next to the spare tire)

The remote turn on wire is the Light Blue in the black / blue plug.
The sub wires at the amp aswell are in the White plug.
Colors for the sub are Blue/red is postive and Blue/White is Negative.

 

what if you don't have a stock sub and sub amp?