Sub and Amp Help

[Damian]

All,

I am about to buy a sub for my system and currently have a 4 channel amp running my front two speakers only. Therefore I have 2 channels left. If I add a sub I then need 3 channels ?? so I flick the switch to 4 channel mode.

I have this amp installed already......See Here (http://www.service.pioneer-eur.com/peeservice/RegistrInstrMan.nsf/(CountDownloadinInstructionManuals3)?openagent&ID=0BBA2814364C7BE241256C86004E7013&Attachment=HRD0221_GM-X574.pdf)
and want to add this sub................See Here (http://caraudiosecurity.com/shop/product/products_id/3446.html)

All I need to know is I have got it sussed right ??

Also the sub comes with a box and it has RCA plugs on it, can you buy speaker leads that are RCA one end, and bare wire the other ??

Also how does the sub connect to the box ??

Hope this makes sense and you can help

Cheers

[Ben H]

That switch is to select wether you are using 4 channel input (i.e 2 for the front, 2 for the rear) if you've only got one set of inputs at the mo (i.e 2 for the front only) then you can either run a second set to run the rear & then move the switch as you've now got 4 channel input. This would be used to have the fader control over front & rear. If your head unit only had one pair of phonos then you could have it set to 2 channel input & have audio coming out of all four outputs but have no control over fader.

You could just simply leave the switch set on 2 & bridge your sub across the two rear outputs & that will be job done. If you ran another input to it & set it to 4 channel you fader control could act like a level control so you can vary the sub level from the head unit.

Reading that back as I'm typing it sounds confusing but I hope it's understandable.

As for your sub there shouldn't be any phonos at all, they may look like phono but are what is known as binding posts. They're just round nuts you can undo with fingers or sometimes just sprung loaded, as you undo or push down they expose a hole your speaker cable can be pushed into & when relaesed or tightened it secures the cable in place.

[Damian]

You could just simply leave the switch set on 2 & bridge your sub across the two rear outputs & that will be job done.
How do I bridge my sub if I choose to go down this route ??



If you ran another input to it & set it to 4 channel you fader control could act like a level control so you can vary the sub level from the head unit.
This sounds better, if I read the above correctly I could vary the bass with my headunit. Decreasing the output when I am listening to Bob the Builder with the nipper in the car. I have the Pioneer DEH-70BT which has outputs on the back for the sub so I take it this would be the way to go ??



As for your sub there shouldn't be any phonos at all, they may look like phono but are what is known as binding posts. They're just round nuts you can undo with fingers or sometimes just sprung loaded, as you undo or push down they expose a hole your speaker cable can be pushed into & when relaesed or tightened it secures the cable in place.
Excellent, it's just not a very good picture on the website

Cheers for your help, I think I will splash out now

[Ben H]

Yeah run the sub preout off you headunit to channel 3&4 input on the amp, set the switch to 4 channel in & on the amp you'll have a pos & neg terminal for channel 3 & the same for channel 4, etched onto the amp casing or following the install guide it will show which pos & which neg to use to bridge the 2 channels together, i.e pos off channel 3 & neg off channel 4.

If you have a sub preout forget about using the fader to control the level but your headunit will no doubt have it's own dedicated sub out level control to use instead.

[Damian]

Yeah run the sub preout off you headunit to channel 3&4 input on the amp, set the switch to 4 channel in & on the amp you'll have a pos & neg terminal for channel 3 & the same for channel 4, etched onto the amp casing or following the install guide it will show which pos & which neg to use to bridge the 2 channels together, i.e pos off channel 3 & neg off channel 4.

If you have a sub preout forget about using the fader to control the level but your headunit will no doubt have it's own dedicated sub out level control to use instead.

Top Man, thanks for your help