Subs don't work?

[darrell18]

Hello, I am new to car audio. I recently got my first car and it is a POS and wanted to at least have a nice system to put in it. So I got everything I needed set it all up with a few minor problems, but I finally got it all working. The bass sounded a little strange but I figured it just needed tuning although I tuned a little bit the best I could and it sounded decent. Today a friend looked at my system and I thought he knew a lot more about car audio from all what he has told me and I told him it sounded strange and he said on my head unit put the fader all the way to the rear so I did and all my music and bass went away so he said I think you have the connection for your bass in the wrong spot on the head unit. So we pulled out the head unit and on my unit there is a spot for front bass and rear bass and a "Bus In" spot. I think he thought that said "Sub In" so he told me to put my RCA's into that and it would sound alot better. So I did and it sounded worse. He told me since I have a 4 channel amp and the way it was sounding possibly that it was more for highs and speakers rather then bass. Now my subs do not work at all. I pulled the head unit out later today and realized it said bus in not sub in and put it back to the way I had it and my subwoofers still do not make noise. And after all of this even my audio seems lower to me. Does anyone understand any of what I am saying? And if so can you help me please? I am new to all of this and all I want is a nice and clean sound with bass.

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[VWBobby 10+ year member]

Sounds like you need to start back at the basics.

If you have a 4-channel amp for your main speakers, make sure the Front is plugged into the Front and Rear into Rear.

If you have a monoblock or 2-channel amp running your subs, look for a Sub Out set of RCAs on your head unit. If you don't have them, you can use the rear channel RCA's if you like, or use them on the front channels if you are not using the amp for your main speakers.

Check your volume or level controls in the menu on your head unit to make sure the sub level and front/rear RCA levels are up.

Check your EQ settings. They should be set nearly flat.

If you are running off of head unit power (no amp), then make sure the connections are good. Check your power connections make sure they are good.

Good luck!