Aftermarket speaker subs installation?

Tiny
JESSICA MERTENS
  • MEMBER
  • 2013 ACURA TL
  • 3.5L
  • V6
  • 2WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 120,000 MILES
I have two 12" aftermarket speaker subs that I wanted to install in my car, but I don't know anything about this kind of stuff. I don't see how I could put an aftermarket deck in my car because the heater controls are attached to the radio, it's all one piece. Is there a way to use your factory stereo to do this? Or how would it work?
Thursday, April 11th, 2024 AT 6:25 AM

11 Replies

Tiny
KEN L
  • MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
  • 48,363 POSTS
Most of the time the sub-woofer speaker with come with instruction's but if you don't have them you will need to supply fuse power (on with the key) and ground to the sub woofer speaker and then tap into the subwoofer wiring the car already has, here are the wiring colors in the images below so you know which wires to connect. If you have problems, please upload images or a short video so I can help walk you through the job. Check out the images (below). Let us know if you need anything else.
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Thursday, April 11th, 2024 AT 11:39 AM
Tiny
JESSICA MERTENS
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Is my car going to be able to handle 2 12" JL Audio subs?
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Thursday, April 11th, 2024 AT 12:14 PM
Tiny
STEVE W.
  • MECHANIC
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The OE amp likely won't be able to drive both of them, however you could use the OE subwoofer outputs to drive a different amplifier to handle the 2 subwoofers. You would connect them up in parallel and then to the subwoofer amp. For the amp you would use a mono (single channel) amplifier with speaker level inputs. Like a Kicker CX 400 watt or a Kenwood KAC-511. Just be sure to run a good set of power cables to the amp. Don't try to power it off any of the stock wiring.
As for an aftermarket deck, you are correct however it isn't just the heater controls that run through that stock unit. There are multiple other modules that also get information through it. The high level of integration is why you don't see a lot of aftermarket units these days. Some vehicles are even worse, the display units on them are nothing but a computer screen and all the other parts are scattered around the vehicle. Yours only has the parts shown in the image that are the "radio".
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Thursday, April 11th, 2024 AT 9:49 PM
Tiny
JESSICA MERTENS
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  • 66 POSTS
So, I got the box and the wiring and now I'm lost at how to hook it up in my car, literally never done this before. Would I need a power cap too or not?
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Saturday, September 7th, 2024 AT 2:44 PM
Tiny
JESSICA MERTENS
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  • 66 POSTS
Where's the wiring for the factory sub? And is there a factory amp then too?
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Saturday, September 7th, 2024 AT 2:44 PM
Tiny
STEVE W.
  • MECHANIC
  • 13,573 POSTS
The factory amp is in the trunk. You could use the output from it to drive the aftermarket amp. This is the wiring it uses. You shouldn't need any caps, but they don't hurt. You need to run the power to the amp and then use the factory sub connection from the oe amp as the signal. There are a few videos out there if you want to look at them to get an idea of how to wire it.
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Saturday, September 7th, 2024 AT 5:29 PM
Tiny
JESSICA MERTENS
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  • 66 POSTS
Okay, so I bought this today so needing to know how to hook it up to the factory sub and radio.
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Monday, September 23rd, 2024 AT 5:10 PM
Tiny
JESSICA MERTENS
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  • 66 POSTS
Like if I were to keep my factory sub and amp like you said where would I hook that up to this thing at?
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Monday, September 23rd, 2024 AT 5:18 PM
Tiny
STEVE W.
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That is a line level converter. It would get connected to the sub connection in the schematic I posted. It would connect to the light blue and gray wires. Then it's output would go to the new amp and those connect to the subwoofers. Your connections will be to the amplifier, not to the radio.
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Monday, September 23rd, 2024 AT 8:09 PM
Tiny
JESSICA MERTENS
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  • 66 POSTS
Don't understand anything you're saying. I give up.
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Tuesday, September 24th, 2024 AT 11:13 AM
Tiny
STEVE W.
  • MECHANIC
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You go to the subwoofer in your car that is already there. That gets disconnected from the amplifier that is already there. Those are the Gray and Light Blue wires. Now the two wires that went to that subwoofer get connected the line level unit you bought. Then the output of that unit connects to the new amp and the subwoofers that you have. No way to explain it any easier.
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Tuesday, September 24th, 2024 AT 1:55 PM

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