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Need serious help! try to add an aftermarket amp to my car

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Old 11-27-2007, 08:49 PM
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Hello All!

Ok here's the deal. I have a 2008 535i and I'm trying to ad a little boom. I purchased a jl audio 10 w6v2, jl audio clean sweep, and a jl audio 500/1 amp.

The box I built is ported and built to spec according to JL audio's suggested dimensions. However, I'm having some problems with the sound. I tapped the rear speaker wires (before the cross over to the tweeters) and fed it into my clean sweep. When I go to calibrate it, the clean sweep states that the signal is NOT full range. Thus, the sound is only mid range which in turn, equals no boom.

I then proceeded to try to by-pass the clean sweep altogether and tape the speaker wires, convert them into rca, and feed the amp directly. This has almost the same result. It sounds like I'm only getting mid range.

This is killing me! The only thing I can think of is that the there is another cross over somewhere that cuts the speakers in the rear to only mid range... but this sounds dumb unless I have stock subwoofers.. which I don't (no logic 7).

I've tried multiple configurations with the amp, with different settings and the result is always the same.... everything sounds midrange coming out of the subwoofer.

I'm thinking of tapping the speaker wire outputs directly from the stock amp in the trunk but I'm not sure which wires to tap. Also, I'm not sure if these wires are also midrange.... I don't know what else to do.

Can any of you help PLEASE??

Thanks in advance for your time.
Old 11-28-2007, 12:52 AM
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If you have the normal US amp (not logic 7) in the trunk, you should see 4 thiner wires on one side of the plug going into the amp. They are line level inputs, use them to feed into your amp and see how you get on.

0.75 SW/VI pin 13 AZBL-
0.75 SW/RT pin 3 AZBL+
0.75 SW/BR pin 4 AZBR-
0.75 SW/WS pin 14 AZBR+
Old 12-02-2007, 09:00 AM
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Tap the black with red stripe and black with brown stripe 20 ga wire that goes into the stock amp. That should be your left low-level signal. That's all you'll need for a mono sub. Tapping these as opposed to the rear speakers will not only give you a clean, low level RCA signal for your amp, but will also allow you to fade the front and rear from the head unit, while maintaining a constant sub volume.

good luck.
Old 12-27-2007, 06:33 AM
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Originally Posted by spindrome' post='501823' date='Dec 2 2007, 01:00 PM
Tap the black with red stripe and black with brown stripe 20 ga wire that goes into the stock amp. That should be your left low-level signal. That's all you'll need for a mono sub. Tapping these as opposed to the rear speakers will not only give you a clean, low level RCA signal for your amp, but will also allow you to fade the front and rear from the head unit, while maintaining a constant sub volume.

good luck.

That is what I did. But than I ran the wires to a line converter and than to the amp. Is that ok, or was the line converter not necessary? I used this sub.
http://mobile.jlaudio.com/products_stealth...php?fit_id=1577
Old 01-13-2008, 02:49 PM
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Originally Posted by neil.schneider' post='511009' date='Dec 27 2007, 10:33 AM
That is what I did. But than I ran the wires to a line converter and than to the amp. Is that ok, or was the line converter not necessary? I used this sub.
http://mobile.jlaudio.com/products_stealth...php?fit_id=1577

hello

am having some problems, i also try installing a system in my car,

i tapped into the wire before they went to the factory sub amp

am not getting any sound output

i did use a line converter, i tapped in to the subwoofer under the seat wires, one for the left n other for the right side

anyone know if i need to do anything different to get this to work.
Old 01-17-2008, 02:47 PM
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The black with red stripe and black with brown stripe 20ga wire that goes into the stock sub amp are already a "low level" signal. There's no need to wire them to a line-out converter prior to an amp since the purpose of a line out converter is to convert high-level signals (speaker level output) to line level signals. Solder and splice RCA jacks to these wires and you should be fine.

The other alternative is to tap the left rear speaker wires and feed them to the LOC. The rear speaker covers snap off with your fingernail or a small screwdriver (careful not to scratch). Get a Torx-10 socket and remove the mid-range driver. Tap the wire and feed them through the rear pkg tray holes in the trunk. Feed them to your LOC, then RCAs from LOC to Amp.

You only need 1 signal for bass since sub bass is non-directional and most subs are mono anyway. If you want a stereo input to your sub amp, then tap the right rear speaker as well.
Old 01-17-2008, 02:54 PM
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Originally Posted by spindrome' post='519314' date='Jan 17 2008, 06:47 PM
The black with red stripe and black with brown stripe 20ga wire that goes into the stock sub amp are already a "low level" signal. There's no need to wire them to a line-out converter prior to an amp since the purpose of a line out converter is to convert high-level signals (speaker level output) to line level signals. Solder and splice RCA jacks to these wires and you should be fine.

The other alternative is to tap the left rear speaker wires and feed them to the LOC. The rear speaker covers snap off with your fingernail or a small screwdriver (careful not to scratch). Get a Torx-10 socket and remove the mid-range driver. Tap the wire and feed them through the rear pkg tray holes in the trunk. Feed them to your LOC, then RCAs from LOC to Amp.

You only need 1 signal for bass since sub bass is non-directional and most subs are mono anyway. If you want a stereo input to your sub amp, then tap the right rear speaker as well.


am using a 2ch amp, so i would need to tap into two pairs, one for left n right

i can use the high output cable right, if i dont want to use the rcas
Old 01-17-2008, 05:00 PM
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ok, i got the system to work, i have bass

but i got one problem, amp turns off when turning the volume up,

i have the RCA hooked up to the stock subwoofer wiring

and also the amp turns on when opening doors n stuff n then turns off after 1 min or so
Old 07-03-2008, 04:03 PM
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anyone know if aftermarket amps and subs can be added to systems with Logic7?
Old 07-08-2008, 12:39 PM
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Originally Posted by 530SOunds' post='519380' date='Jan 17 2008, 10:00 PM
ok, i got the system to work, i have bass

but i got one problem, amp turns off when turning the volume up,

i have the RCA hooked up to the stock subwoofer wiring

and also the amp turns on when opening doors n stuff n then turns off after 1 min or so
hey i just added some sub to my 545i and im having the same problem.. when i turn the volume up the subs cut out, but the second i turned the volume down they come back on.. i watched the amps while my friend turn the volume up and they amps never turned off or went into protect. they sub simply just stopped.. did you figure out a way to fix it?

also i think they problem with the amps turning onwhen you open the door is because the car wakes up from sleep cause my radar does the same thing when i press the unlock.


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