Need help installing aftermarket subwoofer setup into my new used car.

[s.abushaikha]

I recently purchased a 2013 Lexus GS350 F Sport with navigation, (Non-ML system). The previous owner already had a subwoofer setup and left all of his stinger wired hooked up. I was told that the detailing crew at the dealership removed the line output converter he had to sell it for money I guess...

I have a 2channel 1200watt Skar amp with two Skar 10" subs from my previous Acura. The wiring he has is 4 channel. He also removed the factory sub and has the two connections which you normally see in factory car audio, running alongside the aftermarket wires. I took the car to my local car audio shop and they said he had hooked up the factory sub wires to a line output converter and had that running to the amp or whatever to power the subs. They wanted $500 for a KeyLOC and labor...

How can I handle this myself, if anyone needs photos I will link some in a little bit... My amp gets power but my subs receive no signal. Any help is greatly appreciated.

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[Doxquzme Premium Member]

Get yourself a an LOC and hook it up. Something as simple as this little Kicker LOC might do the trick. I'd get a written quote if you can, it will itemize some of what is needed and then check it out aftermarket stuff tha might work. I used this little guy to add an amp to my grandsons car, easy peasy. This assumes you have access to full or the sub signals too. this will handle up to 55 watt speaker level inputs from the OEM setup. and it does not require a remote lead, Something tells me that you may need resistive loads too, just a hunch, not completely sure but Audiocontrol makes those as well. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07VKFSLKN/?tag=caraudiocom-20

 

[s.abushaikha]

Get yourself a an LOC and hook it up. Something as simple as this little Kicker LOC might do the trick. I'd get a written quote if you can, it will itemize some of what is needed and then check it out aftermarket stuff tha might work. I used this little guy to add an amp to my grandsons car, easy peasy. This assumes you have access to full or the sub signals too. this will handle up to 55 watt speaker level inputs from the OEM setup. and it does not require a remote lead, Something tells me that you may need resistive loads too, just a hunch, not completely sure but Audiocontrol makes those as well. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07VKFSLKN/?tag=caraudiocom-20

I appreciate the quick response, a lot of this audio and electrical stuff is confusing to me, where do I hook up the factory sub speaker connections? And if the RCA's are coming from somewhere in the front of the car, what exactly is coming out the LOC... Sorry I'm a little confused but I can go outside right now and send a photo of the setup.

 

[s.abushaikha]

Here are some photos if it helps, if anything help me understand what you guys suggest...
(Don't know why they're sideways)

Everything power-wise is wired to the amp, what's left is the factory cables and the 4 RCA's. 2 of which are tagged "F" and the other 2 "R." No matter which way I arrange them they give no signal to the subs.

 

[Mitchell Fosgate III]

I recently purchased a 2013 Lexus GS350 F Sport with navigation, (Non-ML system). The previous owner already had a subwoofer setup and left all of his stinger wired hooked up. I was told that the detailing crew at the dealership removed the line output converter he had to sell it for money I guess...

I have a 2channel 1200watt Skar amp with two Skar 10" subs from my previous Acura. The wiring he has is 4 channel. He also removed the factory sub and has the two connections which you normally see in factory car audio, running alongside the aftermarket wires. I took the car to my local car audio shop and they said he had hooked up the factory sub wires to a line output converter and had that running to the amp or whatever to power the subs. They wanted $500 for a KeyLOC and labor...

How can I handle this myself, if anyone needs photos I will link some in a little bit... My amp gets power but my subs receive no signal. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Premium sounds. LOC. Do you know car audio well? If not, that subwoofer won’t work. Bypassing the factory amp. Try them out. Pay the $500 dollars. If it works, then you’ve got your system going. Auto shop? Which one? Loc are either cheap or expensive. It makes the frequencies smaller. Amplitude. The problem is how the frequencies are read. Leading or lagging phase. They all have to be in phase using correct crossovers. Filters. Very much technical. Some people there are donuts. So paying them first. If the system don’t work, you may sue the auto shop for damages. Easy going.

 

[shredder1 10+ year member]

Premium sounds. LOC. Do you know car audio well? If not, that subwoofer won’t work. Bypassing the factory amp. Try them out. Pay the $500 dollars. If it works, then you’ve got your system going. Auto shop? Which one? Loc are either cheap or expensive. It makes the frequencies smaller. Amplitude. The problem is how the frequencies are read. Leading or lagging phase. They all have to be in phase using correct crossovers. Filters. Very much technical. Some people there are donuts. So paying them first. If the system don’t work, you may sue the auto shop for damages. Easy going.

Something tells me that even if this guy gets banned it'll turn into whack-a mole. Lol... seriously

 

[1aespinoza Premium Member]

where do I hook up the factory sub speaker connections? And if the RCA's are coming from somewhere in the front of the car, what exactly is coming out the LOC...

Ok, let us try to figure this out. Where do those RCAs come from. If the previous owner only had a sub system installed, he would only need two RCAs. So do trace them to form the battle plan.
Here is how LOCs are wired-
On one side you will have pairs of regular wires, white and gray if two channels plus green and purple if four channels.
These wires are spliced into the factory speaker wires to feed the signal into the LOC.
The other side will have either two or four RCA ports. These feed the modified signal to the amplifier. That's it for a passive LOC.
If it is a digital LOC, it will have power, ground, and remote out. The remote out goes to the amp's remote terminal. That's it for now.

 

[Doxquzme Premium Member]

Premium sounds. LOC. Do you know car audio well? If not, that subwoofer won’t work. Bypassing the factory amp. Try them out. Pay the $500 dollars. If it works, then you’ve got your system going. Auto shop? Which one? Loc are either cheap or expensive. It makes the frequencies smaller. Amplitude. The problem is how the frequencies are read. Leading or lagging phase. They all have to be in phase using correct crossovers. Filters. Very much technical. Some people there are donuts. So paying them first. If the system don’t work, you may sue the auto shop for damages. Easy going.

WTF??? Do not listen to anything he says, he knows not what he speaks!

 

[Doxquzme Premium Member]

New

Something tells me that even if this guy gets banned it'll turn into whack-a mole. Lol... seriously

A new a$$hat born everyday... The op is just trying to install a subwoofer/amp to the OEM system.

 

[shredder1 10+ year member]

Ok, let us try to figure this out. Where do those RCAs come from. If the previous owner only had a sub system installed, he would only need two RCAs. So do trace them to form the battle plan.
Here is how LOCs are wired-
On one side you will have pairs of regular wires, white and gray if two channels plus green and purple if four channels.
These wires are spliced into the factory speaker wires to feed the signal into the LOC.
The other side will have either two or four RCA ports. These feed the modified signal to the amplifier. That's it for a passive LOC.
If it is a digital LOC, it will have power, ground, and remote out. The remote out goes to the amp's remote terminal. That's it for now.

Its almost like fine tuning an AI, I wouldn't feed it info but instead meme it to death. I haven't broken out the bigguns quite yet myself.

Stay tuned

 

[shredder1 10+ year member]

Premium sounds. LOC. Do you know car audio well? If not, that subwoofer won’t work. Bypassing the factory amp. Try them out. Pay the $500 dollars. If it works, then you’ve got your system going. Auto shop? Which one? Loc are either cheap or expensive. It makes the frequencies smaller. Amplitude. The problem is how the frequencies are read. Leading or lagging phase. They all have to be in phase using correct crossovers. Filters. Very much technical. Some people there are donuts. So paying them first. If the system don’t work, you may sue the auto shop for damages. Easy going.

Opening salvo...

"Mitchell Fosgate" seems knowledgeable with lotsa keywords and base meanings but honestly its a Papermakers revenge or something. Who TF is this guy?

 

[Mitchell Fosgate III]

Ok, let us try to figure this out. Where do those RCAs come from. If the previous owner only had a sub system installed, he would only need two RCAs. So do trace them to form the battle plan.
Here is how LOCs are wired-
On one side you will have pairs of regular wires, white and gray if two channels plus green and purple if four channels.
These wires are spliced into the factory speaker wires to feed the signal into the LOC.
The other side will have either two or four RCA ports. These feed the modified signal to the amplifier. That's it for a passive LOC.
If it is a digital LOC, it will have power, ground, and remote out. The remote out goes to the amp's remote terminal. That's it for now.

Come on 1aespinoza, that’s the club. But the guy my guess even with auto shop help didn’t get it to work. So he’s stuck with this forum trying to figure things out. Like I said, either do it like manually and figure the volts, amps, into the factory amps and out, or just guess. This auto shop just guessed. Too lame are them. Now what? Lose $500 dollars and not working amps and subs.

 

[Mitchell Fosgate III]

This problem is a hard problem. Since the auto shop bummed out, and down $500 dollars, now what? Do it the right way. Lexus. Get the plans and model of the car. Then study the make. I know that they guessed and screwed up. It didn’t work. If you’re the worker working on it, what do you do? You have 1 night to study it. Tomorrow is work day. Anyone?

 

[shredder1 10+ year member]

This auto shop just guessed. Too lame are them.

Bot or troll forsure...

This'll blow his mind...

Weigh in on the "loudspeaker cookbook" please @Mitchell Fosgate lll ... any good readin?

Please tell all of us how the phase affects the flux within the gap as referenced against a known magnetic field with a known set of windings. And further extrapolate how shielded RCA can affect the flux while solidifying the ground floor. andwhat to do to defeat those pesky 3 laws every sub system encounters.

Can you design this forum an enclosure for 2 12's P3/ported and recommended?

How does ratio affect boundary layer airflow in regards to port ratio? Tell everyone the optimum ratio and design please.

Can you change a tire?

 

[Mitchell Fosgate III]

Bot or troll forsure...

This'll blow his mind...

Weigh in on the "loudspeaker cookbook" please @Mitchell Fosgate lll ... any good readin?

Please tell all of us how the phase affects the flux within the gap as referenced against a known magnetic field with a known set of windings. And further extrapolate how shielded RCA can affect the flux while solidifying the ground floor. andwhat to do to defeat those pesky 3 laws every sub system encounters.

Can you design this forum an enclosure for 2 12's P3/ported and recommended?

How does ratio affect boundary layer airflow in regards to port ratio? Tell everyone the optimum ratio and design please.

Can you change a tire?

There are many wires into and out of the factory amp. Not needed is the factory amp. All four + and - wires are affected. In phase or out of phase, all wires are color to color from the pre-amp outputs to the inputs of the factory amplifier. Since you’ll down either two front speakers or two rear, and not keep all of them. Because the four speaker drivers cannot handle it. NBA stuff here. The adjustment to make here is. 1988. Measure all the readings of the wires at 12 volts. Redirect out from the factory amplifier directly into the car radio. Pre-amp inputs. And out to the RCA jacks into the power amplifier used. All reading with in limits. Normally under 6 volts. Double din. Reverse engineering the wiring setup. Special assignment iso connectors made. Which wire and where into the radio? Same location it came out from. This will act as a flux capacitor. Analogy made here. The whole set up is here.