Complete newb! I have a sub thats it. Please help

[scrawfrd02]

I drive a 2002 mitsubishi eclipse gs. I have factory cd player. I bought a rockford fosgate p3s punch sub and box at a yard sale for 30$ which is nice. I want an auxillary input.

so i plan on getting a cheap 75$ cd player at best buy with aux input. My question is what else do I need. I hear alot about kits and faces and all that. I don't need it to bust my windows just, get the sub kickin nice. So i need advice on what kind of amp you'd recommend and should i go to walmart for a harness? Im a complete newb and know a thing so list everything if you could. I do build computers, and am an engineer so i may be able to install it if I have all the right stuff. Do i just need to buy a 2 channel mono amp at like 500w? The amp is the most confusing for me. Alot of new terminology with it all though. I'm looking for the cheapest but decent way to get my subwoofer in my car working. Saw eclipse plastic faces for 12$ on ebay and i guess wires are 20$ at walmart. Then an amp? If any of you could help me thatd be awesome.

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[linksys]

Well, yes you need an amp. That is correct. But, you also need to do some research and match your amp to the sub I.E. 500 watts peak to an amp no stronger then 500 watts peak. Otherwise at best you'll blow out the sub, at worst you might start a fire! //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/eek.gif.771b7a90cf45cabdc554ff1121c21c4a.gif

Now once you buy the amp you will need to wire it in. This is highly not recommended as a DIY because it's quite tricky and dangerous. Most places that wire amps will do it for like 50 bucks or so but you could get it cheaper if you shop around.

Hope this is a start. Good luck!

 

[clickclickw00t 10+ year member]

DO NOT, and i repeat, DO NOT EVER buy your audio equipment at Walmart.

Test those P3s first to see if they work. Take a 9v or 12v (drill battery), connect hte negative to negative, and tap the positive to positive. If it pops, it works, if it doesn't its trash. For $30 if they work you got a steal. However, a walmart amp will be useless with those subs.

My suggestions: go with a hifonics brutus or american bass mono amp. walmart literally is the bane of existence for car audio. same thing with headunits. buy a decent one off crutchfield.com and you'll get a harness and dash kit and antenna adapter and all that.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

Buying a head unit at Crutchfield or Sonicelectronics is a good idea. The prices will be solid and they throw in the dash kit and wiring pigtail that you'll need for installation.

Look for a 500-600W mono amp. Don't cheap out here! If you buy good quality it'll be something that'll perform well and give you trouble free service for a decade or more and will hold a solid resale value if you decide you want to sell at some point later. If you buy cheap you'll have poor performace, high risk of random failure, and poor to no resale value.

Common brands like Alpine, Kicker, Infinity, and JBL should have affordable offerings for 500W range. I'd avoid the lower end Rockford stuff and IMO Kenwood hasn't made a good amp yet. If you can shop around on classifieds or eBay, the JL 500/1 amp is a great 500W unit. There's plenty of others, but I'm just throwing out a few more mainstream names with reliable product that will do what they claim.

You will need an amp wiring kit. I'd recommend 4 gauge wire simply since it's not much more money than #8 and it'll have a bit more insulation for safety. I buy amp kits from Darvex.com (bagboy on ebay) Wiring an amp isn't rocket science, but you'll need enough basic tools to drill a hole through your firewall, and remove seats and trim panels in your car. Luckily, these days if you google search "remove head unit in XXX" your model car, you can likely find plenty of pics or youtube videos so that much is pretty fool proof.

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

if you dont care about sound quality, volume or long lasting equipment, then go to walmart, they lots of cheap boss audio junk amps that'll just work for awhile and the cheapest amp wiring kit for 30 bucks. setup will last you for 2 days to a year if your lucky. You'll get as much bass in your car as you would from a cheap computer subwoofer. Added bonus is a headache trying to figure out whats wrong with your system or figuring out why your car caught on fire.

If you want to do it right, buy an amp that does continuous power as in RMS ratings not peak. Peak is the marketing tool that makes money off of noobs that have no clue. a 500 watt amp is not 500 watt, you'll be lucky to get 50 real watts from that amp if you cheap out.

is it an old Rockford p3? there should be a RMS power rating at the bottom of the sub, just buy an amp off of that.

since your new and looking for cheap, just stick to mainstream brands kenwood alpine kicker, pioneer, jl, rockford.. etc for your amp.

Stay away from garbage brands like pyle, boss, lanzar, power accoustik and other "too good bang for buck to be true" amps.

Sonicelectronix.com is better than walmart if your just starting out.

 

[Ahmed Johnson]

Do not match peak power ratings. Look at rms rating. You could get a sub with 1400 peak and 300 rms and match it with an amp that is 1400 peak and 700 rms, what will happen is the sub would be taking in twice the amount of power it supposed to handle and blow it. Always compare the RMS of the sub and amp

 

[naughtyca 10+ year member]

for head unit check this link, it will show you open box and clearanced items for best buy for several locations, in my area i can find a $100 alpine with bluetooth. you would want an rca input for sub so you can connect the amp thru rca which most of them have it.

if im not mistaken that p3 is dual 2 ohm and if its in a RF box its wired to 1 ohm

for an amp ill go with this one, just tune the gain down a little but cant beat for the price

New Audiopipe Apsm 1500 1500W Mini Design Mono MOSFET Car Amplifier APSM1500 784644415849 | eBay

amp kits you can get those bullz audio 4 ga for cheap