hello all..
as a new owner of 2001 QX4. i must say i love everything about the SUV. Now I want to add 2-12" sub. I have all the equiment (amp, sub) ready to be install.
my amp doesn't have a high input it only have RCA (low input). I really want to add sub without changing the head unit. I love the 6 disc changer from factory and the control on the steering wheel.
any reply is greatly thnax.......
Want to add sub to 01 qx4 without replacing head unit..please help..
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edmonton_qx4
- Posts: 12
- Joined: Sat May 21, 2005 7:51 pm
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edmonton_qx4
- Posts: 12
- Joined: Sat May 21, 2005 7:51 pm
Re: Want to add sub to 01 qx4 without replacing h ... (edmonton_qx4)
Try the car audio forum, I think I've seen this topic there.
Do you have the Bose stereo? Bose generally uses atypical impedences (lower than 4 ohms) for their speakers and amps, so it's hard to just tap right into the system and to replace anything with non-Bose equipment.
Most likely (easiest route) you'll want to tap into the rear speakers, add a line level-to-preamp converter and hook up your amp. I believe a company called PAC makes such an adapter for the Bose system. It has to be Bose-specific for the reason mentioned above, and it wasn't that easy to find a year ago when I looked into it. I did a similar setup on a Jeep with an Infinity system and it sounded pretty good. If you don't have the Bose, you can get these line level adapters really easily at most car audio places.
Keep in mind that this is not a very high fidelity way to add a sub. First, you won't have any way to cross over your front and rear satellites, so turn your bass down on your head unit a bit, and compensate by turning up the gains on your amp a bit, too. Your stock speakers are no match for huge aftermarket subs. Second, a line level signal isn't very clean, and the converters aren't perfect. You may well end up with non-linear volume levels, i.e. bass loud at low volume, not as loud at high volume. But you can usually tweak around that. It is very helpful if your amp has a controllable bass-boost function.
If you are really missing bass from having the stock system, this is a quick fix, but many of the higher-end audio shops near me scoffed at the idea of doing it this way--so I did my Jeep myself. I didn't do it on my Pathfinder because my custom box didn't fit well and I haul a lot more stuff than before. Hope this helps. I'm not an installer, so if anyone has some more input, please post.
Do you have the Bose stereo? Bose generally uses atypical impedences (lower than 4 ohms) for their speakers and amps, so it's hard to just tap right into the system and to replace anything with non-Bose equipment.
Most likely (easiest route) you'll want to tap into the rear speakers, add a line level-to-preamp converter and hook up your amp. I believe a company called PAC makes such an adapter for the Bose system. It has to be Bose-specific for the reason mentioned above, and it wasn't that easy to find a year ago when I looked into it. I did a similar setup on a Jeep with an Infinity system and it sounded pretty good. If you don't have the Bose, you can get these line level adapters really easily at most car audio places.
Keep in mind that this is not a very high fidelity way to add a sub. First, you won't have any way to cross over your front and rear satellites, so turn your bass down on your head unit a bit, and compensate by turning up the gains on your amp a bit, too. Your stock speakers are no match for huge aftermarket subs. Second, a line level signal isn't very clean, and the converters aren't perfect. You may well end up with non-linear volume levels, i.e. bass loud at low volume, not as loud at high volume. But you can usually tweak around that. It is very helpful if your amp has a controllable bass-boost function.
If you are really missing bass from having the stock system, this is a quick fix, but many of the higher-end audio shops near me scoffed at the idea of doing it this way--so I did my Jeep myself. I didn't do it on my Pathfinder because my custom box didn't fit well and I haul a lot more stuff than before. Hope this helps. I'm not an installer, so if anyone has some more input, please post.
Re: Want to add sub to 01 qx4 without replacing h ... (larryt)
I went back and checked the audio forum. Look at "Bose Audio Thread" most of the way down the first page, and you'll see some posts that others made about their experience with the same system.
Also, above I referred to line-level to pre-amp. I think it's actually speaker-level to line-level. Good luck.
Also, above I referred to line-level to pre-amp. I think it's actually speaker-level to line-level. Good luck.