How To: Amp and Sub install walkthrough
 

I apologize to all of you in advance for the lack of pictures, I tend to be able to do a writeup effectively so I'll try to make up for it.


So the idea is that because there are no aftermarket solutions (that I know of) for those of us that did not get the sound system upgrade, if you want to install a sub and an amp you have to work with what you have.

This includes stock head unit, stock speakers, and no options for an RCA line output

The first item of business is getting a supply of a full 12v to the trunk. Now I have to say that I feel like I really found a great way to do this:

You obviously need to come off the battery and back to the trunk. (note: I used the Following "NS-Kit" install kit from diesel audio which came with everything i needed except one item for my capacitor)

The way I did it is like this:

The red flip cover on the positive terminal of the battery is in the way for a cable which is one problem. The second problem is that there is no way to use the terminal splitter that comes in the kit because of the harness that :mitsu: uses to connect the power. SOOoo in order to get a power cable connected to the positive terminal, take off the nut that tightens the terminal and then with a prepared power cable (cut and stripped with a round terminal connector crimped on) slide it onto the bolt that tightens the positive terminal and replaced the nut.

Now, face the cable away from the terminal. (towards you, if you stand in front of the car) Next, that red flip cover will now not be able to close, so to fix that carefully cut a slot out of the red plastic so that the cover will easily return to its default position around the new cable.

Next you need to install your 30A fuse somewhere close to the battery. So run your cable to the right, under the leg of the air intake thats right next to the battery, and straight back to the power steering fill up cap. Now leave some slack and twist your cable around that cap and the cable should pass right over the ECU.

The best place to secure the 30A fuse is on the plain aluminum brace that supports the top of the ECU. It's one bolt that is really torqued down but when you get it off you can tighten down the fuse assembly as you replace the bolt. You'll need to trim and strip the cable so that it stops at that fuse.

The next part is getting your power cable into the cab so that you can run it back to the trunk. One way to do this is to tie the new end of the power cable that you just cut, to power steering cap (this is temporary, and make sure to leave enough slack to wire it to the fuse) and then run it down and straight back from there. You should be able to spot some metal lines that run in a group of 4 (break lines?) and down to under-carriage level.

From below the car and behind the front left wheel, those lines will angle to parallel with the ground, at which point there is an aluminum debris shield. Pull the cable taught and zip tie it to the outwards most line at the point that they angle back.

Now this is the interesting part. Take the cable and pull it out from under the car at 90degrees to a point directly behind the front left tire. There is a plastic guard that is at the edge of the wheel well. It's held in place by four push button plastic fasteners. Pull the center out of the four fasteners and pull back that plastic guard so you can see the frame.

You should also be looking at a round rubber seal that plugs a 1.5" hole in the frame. The cable is going to be pulled through that hole and into the cab so pull the seal out and then you need to locate the hole on the other side that's inside the car

Open the drivers door and locate the two kick panels. The first panel you want to remove is the one that also surrounds the levers for the trunk and gas cap. Just get underneath them and pull straight up. You dont need to worry about breaking anything, it all just snaps down anyway. The next panel you need to pull off is the one that surrounds the lever for the hood. Again you can just pull everything off, but at the back of this panel next to the clutch pedal there is a plastic nut that could be unthreaded but it will still pull right off without breaking. Set these aside.

Now, under the second panel you just removed you should see the frame. Locate another one of those rubber seals, this one will be a bit bigger at about 2". Pull it out. This next part is tricky. You need to pull apart a wire coat hanger and snake it through FROM THE INSIDE to the hole behind the wheel. TRUST ME! It will seem like they don't connect because it is EXTREMELY DIFFICULT to get the coat hanger through but they do! Just shine a bright light into the hole behind the wheel to prove it. Have fun with that!

After you get your coat hanger through to the other side drill a 5/8" hole in the seal for the wheel well and pull it over your power cable. Bend about a 1/4" of the end of your coat hanger that's now outside. Push it into the bare end of the power cable and into the insulation to make pulling the cable as easy as possible. Pull it through to the other side.

Drill a hole in the other seal and pull it over the power cable anp Pull everything tight. At this point the cable will be exposed to a little bit of road debris (but you still can't see it from outside the car without getting under) The NS-Kit I bought at frys had some plastic cable covering, trim it to length for the section that is behind the wheel and wrap it up. The insulation on this high gauge wire is really enough to protect it but this is just an added bonus.

At this point you have the cable in the cab! YAY! :D The wire harnesses that hold the stock wiring will have plenty of space for this power cable all the way back to the left passenger seat. (you'll need to now remove the panel right behind the driver seat and also the passenger kick panel and set them aside, again everything just snaps off, they wont break)

Pull the power cable through each one of the white plastic harnesses and then snake it, with your hanger, up under the passenger seat and into the trunk (note, I have a 60/40 split in my rear seats which made this very easy but if you don't have that I don't know what to do) THAT's DONE! You now have power!

Next you need a signal for your amp:

The signal going to each one of your speakers is amplified! You'll need one of these
which is a line out converter that will drop the amplified signal down to line voltage so you can safely run it into an amp. Since we're just installing a sub and and amp we only need on side of the signal because the low end is usually not split stereo wise.

The next step is to locate the group of wires that run up from the kick plates and into the left rear passenger door. The group of wires, if your now looking from the rear left passenger seat, runs up from inside the car and travels through a rubber tube and into the door. We're going to splice into the wires for that door's speaker on the inside.

They will be taped to a wire harness that is secured to the frame right next to the driver's seat belt. You're going to need to expose about 2-3" of wire in order to splice into it, so cut some of that tape off to do this (BE CAREFUL! these wires are very thin and control your locks, window and speaker in that door)

Now that you have a length of wire to look at, locate one green and one yellow wire that are marked every inch or so with silver. These are the speaker wires, YELLOW +, GREEN -. With a wire cutter/crimper and some wire splices take some 16-20 gauge wire and splice in two lengths, one for each speaker wire (long enough to get to the trunk). Run both wires straight down and then follow your power cable to the trunk. Since this is just one channel (which is fine) wire into one side of your line out converter that is best placed in the trunk. Now you have an RCA output for your amp!

The only thing you need now is a remote wire.

Since you want your amp to turn off when the car is off you need a 12v power signal that is off when the car is off. The way I got this was to run the included remote wire into the fuse box that's up under the steering wheel. To do this, take out the fuse for the cigarette lighter. (this fuse is off when the car is off and on when the key is turned to ACC or ON) Strip about 1/4" of the wire and push it into the top leg of the hole for the cigarette lighter fuse (look at the diagram on the door for the fuse box to find it, it's kind of confusing though :confused: ). Your remote wire should be about 20 gauge wire so you should be able to just push the fuse back in to the slot to secure everything. Snake it down through all the wire harnesses and back to the trunk like your power wire.

Now you have all the elements of a basic setup that you need to hook up any amp/sub setup. Securing an amp can prove a little tricky but it's only limited by what you want to drill into your car and the bottom of your trunk. (but be sure to file away any paint for where ever you decide to hook up your ground wire)

Also, be sure to get an RCA splitter for your amp so that you run the same mono signal for both RCA plugs on your amp.

Now put on the music you most listen to and adjust levels to taste! (but keep the gain on the line out converter as low as possible to keep your amp from clipping)

I personally hooked up a 1000w amp and a 12" sub with a 1.5f Capacitor and it flippin' bumps!!!{thumbup}

Again, I apologize for the lack of pics. Feel free to ask about anything that's confusing 'cause I just did this and am very happy with it.

GOOD LUCK!!!

This copy is the discussion thread for the How To.

explain more about the REM wire, please.

There is a fuse box under the steering wheel to the left. there is also a little panel that you open up so you can see it. on that panel there is a diagram. if you match it up to the way the fuses are (i think it's upside down on the diagram) you can find the fuse for the ciggarette lighter. The reason that I used that is because that fuse is dead when the car is off as opposed to most of the other fuses that maintain power even if the car is off, so it's perfect as a remote signal for your amp. all you need to do is strip a thin wire (like most REM wires are) and stick it into the top hole of the two-hole slot for the fuse the shove the fuse back in to secure it, run it down under all the kick panels and back up into the trunk and into your amp.

there is also a fuse space for "diesel" which our cars dont have. this turns off and on with the car so just run a wire from there to the REM on your amp. works great ! the other way works too.

Great write up, but i dont think you will get the best sound quality using a inline out converter. Hooking up external amps for subs by splicing random wires and hooking up a hi-low converter; or using the pre-existing wire coming from the rock ford amp to uses as a sub out put signals; This is the wrong approach, and incorrect. You will get the wrong low freq signals and have crappy quality music. The correct way is using sub output signals that is off the CD player NOT off the rock ford amp.You should find out which wires are the subwoofer output wires that connects from the CD player to the Rockford amp.These are the wires you need to connect to your aftermarket subwoofer amp and will provide you with good sound quality, eliminating a need for the line converter. All you need is audio wire to rca cable (JL Audio sells these). If i had a car, i would do my own reseach but i dont. I believe that there is a function on the navi where you can test out individual speakers. this can help you out in determinig the correct sub out put signals.

Can some one figure out which wires are the subwoofer output wires that connects from the CD player to the Rockford amp?

anyone trace back the wires from the headunit to add in your own amp and subwoofer off this thread? ( ones that goto the fosgate amp (RCA) )

Just put in a new amp and sub to navi. The problem now is that sometimes the navi just mutes...there is no audio and sound at all. It is just off and on....anyone know why?

8 paragraphs explaing how to get power cable into the cab? No, no, no....

I realise this thread is antiquated, but there is a perfect hole that has a rubber grommet plugging it that goes from engine bay to interior.
Standing looking into the engine bay from the front of the car, it's located on the extreme left handside, behind the shock absorber/springs mount. It's just on the left hand side of brakes/ABS kit.
From inside the footwell, on left hand drive cars, it's behind the glove box and on right hand drive cars, it's very easily accessible on the drivers side without removing any panels or carpet...just stick your hand up in there and pull the grommet out.
Cut a decent hole in it and run your power cable through the firewall, plugging it back up with the grommet. Easy.

For the remote wiring, there is a yellow wire with black stripe in the back of the head unit, that is an ignition on. I wired my remote to that and works perfect for the amp remote. The yellow and Black wire is on the bigger harness.

@Red Dragon, as far as I know, there is no rockford amp in the DE. I do beleive the head unit has built in AMP. So your solution wouldn't work for a DE without the Rockford sound package.

I have a NEW 2011 Lancer ES and was reading about how to get through the firewall and was wondering if you have any pictures. I am a Very visual person. And when it comes to the Remote wire.... I have 2 kids and want to run a toggle switch in the remote wire. I do not have the nav (however it looks like its pre wired for it) so is there a wire I can connect to as an ACC? What color would it be for an 2011? Is there any 11's that have done this yet? I have pictures of all my work if anyone wants me to post the door splicing.

Please dont let me mess this up. Let me know if I am understanding this correctly.

subwoofer signal tap for DE stock stereo
 

So the other day, I added the audio input to my wife's 09 de lancer's radio. I noticed that there are about 10 contacts that are not used, on the back of the plug that you do the modification for the external audio in.

Has anyone checked each of the contacts while the radio is on?

Is the rockford fosgate harness a completely different connector?

I would really like to tap off of an additional rca or speaker level output without having to use a vampire tap (i hate those things) or do it properly with soldering iron.

does the line out converter need to be grounded? and does it need a power source?

Audio Issues
 

Check speaker grounds.