Wiring Sub to Amp to headunit

[hambo]

hey everyone, Im going to start off by saying i have extremely limited knowledge about sounds systems. I have some wiring experience for other automotive things, but not audio. My question is, I just bought a truck, and the previous owner just installed a new headunit and new speakers. I wanted to put a shallow 12" sub behind the seat because its a singlecab. I was wondering can I just wire the sub to an amp and then wire that to the new headunit? and leave the speakers how they are? Thanks in advance!

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[CSCStang]

hey everyone, Im going to start off by saying i have extremely limited knowledge about sounds systems. I have some wiring experience for other automotive things, but not audio. My question is, I just bought a truck, and the previous owner just installed a new headunit and new speakers. I wanted to put a shallow 12" sub behind the seat because its a singlecab. I was wondering can I just wire the sub to an amp and then wire that to the new headunit? and leave the speakers how they are? Thanks in advance!

Pull the head unit out and see if it has rca jacks in the back of it. If so, easy breezy. If not, you can still do it, buy you'll have to get a loc (line out converter) to do it. You could also get an amp that has high level inputs and tap into the speaker wire for the signal.

What head unit is it?

 

[hambo]

Its a Dual XDMA 760. I couldn't pull it out easily to check for rca jacks so I'm gonna research that right now

 

[hambo]

I looked up the headunit and it says it has a "Rear RCA aun input" and "front and rear/sub preamp outputs". Would either of those already be taken up by the 4 speakers?

 

[What was that? 10+ year member]

Rear auxiliary input just means it's an extra input on the back of the radio. You probably have a USB on the front. The front and rear/sub are for signal to external amplifiers. You will have to take the radio out and run a rca from the rear/sub to the amp input. Being a dual purpose output rca you will probably have to switch the radio's rear/sub rca to sub through the menu on the head unit. I am not familiar with that deck, but it's typical for head unit to be configured like this.

 

[C1500martin 10+ year member]

are the speakers in the truck amped, or are they directly off the head unit? but yea you have front&rear/subwoofer pre outs, so the rear use that for sub and change the setting on the head unit.

 

[hambo]

Im pretty sure the truck speakers are directly to the headunit. No amp. The page for the headunit I have says "2 pairs of preamp outputs (front+rear/subwoofer Selectable) if I select the sub in the settings like you guys say wouldnt my speakers not work?

 

[globalminds_ent 10+ year member]

speakers will still work right now they are using the built-in amp inside the headunit

 

[hambo]

Okay. Thanks. So is the built in amp separate from the pre amp outputs?

 

[CSCStang]

Okay. Thanks. So is the built in amp separate from the pre amp outputs?

Yes

 

[hambo]

Okay. Awesome. I think I got this figured out. Thanks CSCStang and everyone else for your help!