OEM Subwoofer with aftermarket head unit

[Caspernam]

Hi Guys,

I have the OEM sub with an aftermarket HU (Kenwood DMX9706S), and all stock speakers. After much EQ tweaking I'm still not getting sound quality and separation that I want, and I'm annoyed by the fact that the only way to control the sub is to change the front speakers settings.

I'm wondering if anyone's found a way to decouple the front speakers from the subwoofer output, or if there's a good wiring diagram I can use to pull out the sub wires and splice them into RCA connectors to plug directly into the HU.

Any advice?

Thanks,

Casp

[FR-S2GT86]

Originally Posted by Caspernam

Hi Guys,

I have the OEM sub with an aftermarket HU (Kenwood DMX9706S), and all stock speakers. After much EQ tweaking I'm still not getting sound quality and separation that I want, and I'm annoyed by the fact that the only way to control the sub is to change the front speakers settings.

I'm wondering if anyone's found a way to decouple the front speakers from the subwoofer output, or if there's a good wiring diagram I can use to pull out the sub wires and splice them into RCA connectors to plug directly into the HU.

Any advice?

Thanks,

Casp

If you're not too fond of the two rear speakers, you could disconnect them and then rewire the system to route the head units' rear speaker outputs as the subwoofer signal input instead of how it is currently set up. That way you can use the fader of the head unit to fade between the six front speakers and the subwoofer.

Also, make sure all of your speakers are in phase relative to one another.

[soundman98]

the oem sub is a speaker-level input only, so you can't wire it in as a typical aftermarket audio amp. the above suggestion to take over one of the radio's speaker outputs is really going to be one of your only options if you want to keep all the gear as-is.

[greencounty]

That sub is jumped from the speaker levels on the rear channels and you should be able to decouple it by just unplugging that jumper. The main issue will be finding an amplified output to connect it to.

[soundman98]

Originally Posted by greencounty

That sub is jumped from the speaker levels on the rear channels and you should be able to decouple it by just unplugging that jumper. The main issue will be finding an amplified output to connect it to.

this is incorrect, as the rear channels on these cars are a heavily filtered signal without bass.

i haven't seen a diagram, but all '13-15's with the sub as an option had a door speaker amp in the front drivers side of the trunk. the harness jumped off of that, as the amp received a full range signal.

[FR-S2GT86]

Originally Posted by soundman98

this is incorrect, as the rear channels on these cars are a heavily filtered signal without bass.

i haven't seen a diagram, but all '13-15's with the sub as an option had a door speaker amp in the front drivers side of the trunk. the harness jumped off of that, as the amp received a full range signal.

Yeah, with that aftermarket head unit he's got in the dash, OP should now have a full frequency speaker-level signal to the rears, (depending on his setpoints in the head unit, of course) which should be sufficient for what he's wanting to do.

Now if he'll just come back and heed the advice he asked for.

[Caspernam]

Thanks for all the feedback guys! I'll look into finding a wiring diagram for the rears and go from there. Any places I should check out first?

Casp

[FR-S2GT86]

Originally Posted by Caspernam

Thanks for all the feedback guys! I'll look into finding a wiring diagram for the rears and go from there. Any places I should check out first?

Casp

I'm sure we can help you if you can post some pictures here. Since I've never seen the OEM subwoofer set up, I couldn't begin to tell you where to look. Snap and post a picture of where the sub and box is located in the car. Then try to locate the amplifier for it, snap and post a picture of that, and also of some good, close-up shots of the wiring and harness(es) connecting to it. If it's truly an OEM supplied set up, the harness connectors will probably be all standard Toyota as seen with their door speaker amp in the trunk.

Further advice, since you're new here, make sure to press the [QUOTE] button:

when replying to someone on this thread so that the forum alerts us in the notification area at the top of the page:

that you have replied, otherwise we will not know that you have done so unless we specifically open the thread to look. We can give a quicker reply back to you if you do in order to help you solve your issue.

[soundman98]

Originally Posted by FR-S2GT86

Further advice, since you're new here, make sure to press the (QUOTE) button:

then we create an inception situation with a quote-in-a-quote-in-a-quote-in-a-quote!


i just hit 'new posts'. see it all just fine. this place moves at the right speed for me.

[FR-S2GT86]

Originally Posted by soundman98

then we create an inception situation with a quote-in-a-quote-in-a-quote-in-a-quote!


i just hit 'new posts'. see it all just fine. this place moves at the right speed for me.

Yeah, we all have our different ways of navigating the site. I just find it easiest to refresh any screen I might be on and look at the top of that page to see if there are any new alerts pertaining to quotes of mine made by others or thanks directed towards me. Tap that alert and it goes straight to the alert list page. Just easier for me when I'm in the middle of a conversation.