Just installed an amp and a sub with the factory HU.

[technicolorskies]

Awhile back I was thinking about swapping the 6 stock speakers...not anymore!! They sound soooo much better in conjuction with a sub. Very well-rounded audio.

For those of you wanting to keep your factory HU while adding a sub and and an amp, I highly suggest tapping into the rear speakers for your signal input on your amp. I was a bit nervous about this, thinking it would degrade the sound quality as opposed to plugging straight into an aftermarket HU with RCAs or using a line output converter with the rear speakers. No signal degradation whatsoever! You just obviously have to use an amp with speaker inputs. You can find a good mix of bass by adjusting the bass level on the HU, and adjusting the fade on the speakers.

My camera died on me, but I'll do a quick step by step.

The door panels came off easier than I thought. With the door panels on the rear doors, if you feel along the edge facing the front of the car, you'll feel a lip from the door panel. If you pull on this slightly, you'll also notice that it pulls away from the door quite easily. I spliced two speaker cables into the existing ones near the speaker, and ran them out of where the panel pulls away from the door. I then poked a hole into the rubber grommet where the cables from the door enter the car, and ran my new tapped wires through there. I then ran them down behind the column where the seat belt is, and hooked them into my amp. (This section was done for both rear speakers.)

I have the amp underneath the drivers seat. You'll also find some good places to run the ground wire under there. I hooked mine to where the seat bolts into the floor.

For the remote wire, I tapped into the radio fuse. You can buy fuse taps that expand your existing fuse slot to two fuse slots (one for your radio and one for your amp). While I did buy the fuse tap, it was the wrong type. So instead of making the trip the store, I wrapped the remote wire around one leg of the radio fuse and put it back in. Not the best way to go at it, but it works.

Now for the power wire. Everyone talks about running through the firewall. Personally, this seems like a big pain, so I found an alternate route. If you open your drivers side door and your hood, sit in your front seat and look to your far left. You might have to lean over a bit as it's near the hinge of your door. You'll notice a narrow "tunnel" leading up to the front of the car. Simply run the cable from your battery through this tunnel, poke a hole into that rubber grommet at the front of the doorway, and run it to your amp. The wire is completely hidden up until it enters that hole, but if you cover it in black electrical tape, no one will ever notice.

All done!

I'll take some pictures once my camera starts working again. For now I installed the system from my old car...a 200 watt Pioneer amp and a 12" Pioneer sub in a box. I was planning on upgrading to a 760 amp and adding another sub, but this setup surprised me with the amount of bass it puts out. I think I'll wait.
Modified by technicolorskies at 5:43 PM 8/27/2009