New here and have an amp questions

[Meowchi]

First I would like to say hi to all my fellow Versa owners out there! My question is I have a Versa SL 2007 that did not come with the upgraded stereo, but I do have the smart key and blue tooth ( I am not sure which package I have) I would like to add an amp and subs to my car, but I do not want to lose the on wheel controls. Is there any way to get subs in my car without having to replace the Factory HU? Thanks for any help!

[Ever Victorious]

Yes. It's a bit trickier, but it can be done.

You have to tap into one of your speaker wires to get the signal, and depending on the type of amp and sub you use, you may need some sort of signal converter (I believe someone called it a HiLo device?)

If you're not looking for earth-shattering bass, Kenwood makes a compact sub and amp combo that will fit easily under either the driver or passenger seat. This particular unit is nice in that it actually takes speaker-level inputs, eliminating the need for a hi-lo. You just tap in to a signal source, give it power and ground, and go.

It gives decent bass... a little more than my wife's Tucson's stereo (which is one of the best non-premium OEM stereos I've ever heard). I had mine for a whopping 6 days before (grrr) it was stolen.

[jfanaselle]

You have many options. The easiest thing to do is simply leave the factory head unit intact, and install an amplifier with "high level" inputs. Basically, you'll tap into your rear door speakers or any speakers in the car and run the speaker wires into the high level input on the amplifier. You don't need to disable whatever speakers you tap into, but run another set of wires from the ones feeding the speakers. Alot of newer amps have "high level current sensing" which means they'll power up once they detect audio coming into the high level inpuyt. If you go this route, you'll probably geta little bit better sound if you use an external high level converter - a small device that will actually connect to the speaker wires and have RCA plugs on the other side to connect to an amp. You can find a decent one at an electronics retailer for $20-$40. The second alternative would be to buy an aftermarket Head Unit and then use an integration adaptor to continue utilizing the steering wheel mounted controls. My V came without the convience package, so I don't know what controls are on the steering wheel, but you may very well lose a few of the functions if you go that route. Someone else can confirm if they did it or not, but you would probably lose the bluetooth feature if you did it that way, and to be honest, I haven't even checked if there is an integration harness available for the V. Plus, if there is such a harness available, you would be limited on the brands and types of head units you could use it with. The quickest and easiest route would be to just do what EV recommended, but it depends on what kind of setup you're looking for. Infinity used to make a product called the Basslink, but I'm not sure if it exists anymore. It is much like the product from Kenwood that he recommended - a completely self contained amp, subwoofer and enclosure combo that simply requires power and a signal from your speakers. A decent stereo shop can help you out with all of this. Or if you prefer to do it yourself, a good resource for learning would be http://www.crutchfield.com

[Clipsed]

give me some more details of what exactly you want to do, the kinds of music that you listen to, and the type of sound you want to achieve, and your budget.

I can be a great help, but I need some more info on the things listed above.

[Meowchi]

I really don't need it to be earth pounding bass, but I would like to get the best sound possiable without losing the on wheel controls. Including bluetooth.I listen to mostly screamo (I don't know if you have any idea what that is) which is almost like metal in the fact that it has alot of bass. I also listen to alot of hip hop. The budget isn't that important, I'm willing to pay if it's going to get me what I want.I really would just like to have real bass in my car. I would prefer not to have to go the route of the self powered sub, I had on of the kenwood ones in my truck a few months ago and I really did not like it.

[Clipsed]

well a setup that I recommended to a fellow member of the board that he is getting is about $700, which includes 2 12" Kicker CVX subs, pumping out 750watts RMS each (1500 watts together) 1500 watts peak each sub, and a Hifonics BXi 2006D 2000watt amp. It is quite punchy. If you wanted to, you could go with 1 CVX and a Hifonics BXi 1606D, and that would probably be nice for you. If you like bass, not too loud, but nice crisp sounding bass, that would be a nice setup for around $425.

[Meowchi]

And with this set up the amp is able to be hooked up as posted before? With out having to use rca's from the HU? If that is the case then it sounds like a great deal to me.