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Hook up aftermarket sub to 02 Explorer?

B

Blue Goose

CEG'er
Joined
Jul 3, 2004
Messages
75
Location
International Falls, MN/Stevens Point, WI
This isn't Contour related but nobody else can help me and you guys know stuff so...... I've got a Kicker Comp VR with a Rockford 900 watt amp left over from the 'tour and was wondering if its possible to hook it up to the stock cd/tape player in my 02 Explorer. it has the premium package in it i believe. I tried to cut the RCA cables and splice the wires into the door speaker wires like i did in the Contour then hook up the other end with the RCA's still attached to the sub, but it dosn't like that at all. is is possible to hook it up or should I just put up with the stock system? I Believe that it is the same head unit that most all Ford vehicles have with the cd/tape combo. anything else I can try?
 
Well, according to the so-called vets here yes you could splice the audio out into RCA's, but that seems kinda ghetto to me.

Also the stock power wire you may have going to the stock premium amp may be a lil weak, cause the power requirements that your rockford amp would need a better power and ground setup in my opinion.

But do what you want to.

Id say a new deck with sub out, and dedicated RCA's but that's just me.

Im sure you could yank that stock sub and replace it with a similar type ohm, and size and wattage of sub made of better quality to get a better thump. Without the extra hassle. Whats in those exploders, an 8" I think? But Im sure that prem amp is weak and doesnt put out much so your choices of subs is sorta limited.
 
If it's an explorer with premium sound you could use the sub out(assuming it has a factory sub) from behind the radio and attach 2 RCA's to that, and run your signal back to your aftermarket sub, you will of course need to find a switched 12V(+) wire that works in accessory like your radio does to turn your amp on... unless you can find your amp turn on wire of the factory radio... If you don't have a factory sub, you'll probably have the gray data cable behind the dash if I remember correctly... which in that case you'll have to go to the amp it'self and either attach rca's to one end... or to the high level on the other end.... You also could grab the high level output to the 2 rear speakers if your amp has high level inputs.... If your amp just has RCA's then I'd suggest attacking some RCAs to the sub out behind the radio... A little more technical... but if in the future you decide to add an aftermarket headunit, all of your connections will already be there in the dash for you....
 
CSVT_2004 said:
If you don't have a factory sub, you'll probably have the gray data cable behind the dash if I remember correctly... which in that case you'll have to go to the amp it'self and either attach rca's to one end... or to the high level on the other end.... You also could grab the high level output to the 2 rear speakers if your amp has high level inputs.... If your amp just has RCA's then I'd suggest attacking some RCAs to the sub out behind the radio... A little more technical... but if in the future you decide to add an aftermarket headunit, all of your connections will already be there in the dash for you....
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i does not have the factory sub. Thsi kinda confused me though. Am I splicing into the grey data cable behind the dash and attaching the other end to the RCS inputs on the sub? I have to find this cable, is it with the wiring harness that goes the the stock head unit or elsewhere? and I don't have high level inputs, jsut RCA inputs. Thanks for the help, I have heard a couple ideas and this one sounds best if I can make it work.
 
Blue Goose said:
i does not have the factory sub. Thsi kinda confused me though. Am I splicing into the grey data cable behind the dash and attaching the other end to the RCS inputs on the sub? I have to find this cable, is it with the wiring harness that goes the the stock head unit or elsewhere? and I don't have high level inputs, jsut RCA inputs. Thanks for the help, I have heard a couple ideas and this one sounds best if I can make it work.
Click to expand...

Okay, there are two things you can do here.... I would not recommend adding the rca output behind the dash because the gray data cable is a pain, and it will look really bad if it's hacked up..... You can grab your input from either side of the amp, one side will be low level in, and one will be high level out. The amp in the explorers is usually in the back passenger side panel. Double check behind the glove box 1st, but i'm almost 99% sure it's going to be behind the rear passenger panel, which is rather huge and a pain to take apart. You can attach a wire to RCA adapter to the low level input side, and then add a y adapter so you can use it with normal RCA extensions. Or you can attach a Line out converter, which will covert a high level wire to a low level RCA output so you can send the signal to the amp.

Double check that you have a premium system too before we get too far.... Cause I'm looking at the harness for your car, and it looks like it's all high level output from the factory radio, since it's the single harness.
 
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CSVT_2004 said:
Okay, there are two things you can do here.... I would not recommend adding the rca output behind the dash because the gray data cable is a pain, and it will look really bad if it's hacked up..... You can grab your input from either side of the amp, one side will be low level in, and one will be high level out. The amp in the explorers is usually in the back passenger side panel. Double check behind the glove box 1st, but i'm almost 99% sure it's going to be behind the rear passenger panel, which is rather huge and a pain to take apart. You can attach a wire to RCA adapter to the low level input side, and then add a y adapter so you can use it with normal RCA extensions. Or you can attach a Line out converter, which will covert a high level wire to a low level RCA output so you can send the signal to the amp.

Double check that you have a premium system too before we get too far.... Cause I'm looking at the harness for your car, and it looks like it's all high level output from the factory radio, since it's the single harness.
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well, heres a few things. I have taken the radio out and there are 2 wiring inputs on it, and i can't find this data cable. I beileve it had pramium sound because the option checklist that i got from the 1st owner had that checked, although it does not say premium sound anywhere on the system. I also have reason to believe that the amp is inside the head unit because when I took the head unit out, the wires running from it were the same color as the wires running to the speakers in the doors. coinciednce maybe, but im not sure. also, i couldnt find a amp behind the glove box and that back panel is very intimidating to take off so that will probally be my last resort. I have checked with that explorer website and they recommended a in line output converter. anyone have any expirience with these and if so, can it handle my 800 watt amp? thanks for the help and i will keep poking around to see what I can find.
 
Blue Goose said:
well, heres a few things. I have taken the radio out and there are 2 wiring inputs on it, and i can't find this data cable. I beileve it had pramium sound because the option checklist that i got from the 1st owner had that checked, although it does not say premium sound anywhere on the system. I also have reason to believe that the amp is inside the head unit because when I took the head unit out, the wires running from it were the same color as the wires running to the speakers in the doors. coinciednce maybe, but im not sure. also, i couldnt find a amp behind the glove box and that back panel is very intimidating to take off so that will probally be my last resort. I have checked with that explorer website and they recommended a in line output converter. anyone have any expirience with these and if so, can it handle my 800 watt amp? thanks for the help and i will keep poking around to see what I can find.
Click to expand...

If the wires you disconnected from the factory radio look like this....
FD02RB.jpg

Then you don't have a premium sound system, you just have the standard sound.

As for line out converters, they have nothing to do with the wattage of your amp or subs.... line out converters convert high level audio, down to low level rca.... so if you have a factory radio that doesn't have low level outputs, you attach a line out converter and then you have low level outputs you can send to your amp.... unless you have low level outputs on a factory radio, then you can just attach an rca end to the wires and sent it back to the amp... You should really only need a line out if you don't have rca jacks on the back of your after market radio... or are sticking with the factory radio...
 
Ok, I have the premium sound. i want to stick with the factory cd/tape deck because of the tape function and how it looks and all. It has no RCA outputs on it so I think I may have to go with the converter. So I can hook up my 900 watt rockford to the converter then if watts don't matter? And i will try to hook up the rca wires to the outputs on the back of the factory deck but it didn't work when i hooked then up the the speaker wires so Im doubting that I have low level outputs here either since the wires are the same. I'm not sure if this is making any sense or not but I will see what I can do. Thanks for the help so far!
 
Blue Goose said:
Ok, I have the premium sound. i want to stick with the factory cd/tape deck because of the tape function and how it looks and all. It has no RCA outputs on it so I think I may have to go with the converter. So I can hook up my 900 watt rockford to the converter then if watts don't matter? And i will try to hook up the rca wires to the outputs on the back of the factory deck but it didn't work when i hooked then up the the speaker wires so Im doubting that I have low level outputs here either since the wires are the same. I'm not sure if this is making any sense or not but I will see what I can do. Thanks for the help so far!
Click to expand...

1. I have yet to see a factory radio that has RCA outputs, it's rumored there is a high end factory system on some vehicle that has rca outputs, but I've never seen it or ever really heard solid evidence of this...

2. Converters and the watts your amp are don't have any correlation. It goes back to making sure that your amp is recieveing low level input... a converter ususally takes a "high level" audio signal and converts it to a "low level" audio signal. If your factory system already has a low level signal, then you can sometimes just attach a RCA to it and send the low level signal directly to the amp, instead of needing a line out converter.

3. Now if you have the premium system, the cables behind your radio should be like these.... or more specifically, should plug into these...
FDK4B.jpg
 
Walmart sells a Scosche little box that ties into the rear speaker wires and converts the signal to RCA's - can be had for like 20 bucks. I would still suggest grabbing new power and ground - but you can use that Scosche box to get your signal.
 
KyleQ said:
Walmart sells a Scosche little box that ties into the rear speaker wires and converts the signal to RCA's - can be had for like 20 bucks. I would still suggest grabbing new power and ground - but you can use that Scosche box to get your signal.
Click to expand...

Which would be what I was talking about before... and looks something like this...

ProductImage


That product there is from installedge.com a very good producer of some helpful audio products...
 
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