Calling all you Audio guru's!

[james8whippy]

Hey Guys,

So I had my X converted to LPG at the weekend and the installers had to take out my factory subwoofer to put the air compressor pump in that right hand cupboard.

Not that the OEM subwoofer gave that much bass but now its soo bad. I cannot stand the sound of no bass so I've treated myself to an:

• "Orion HCCA 12.2 subwoofer" (HCCA122 (12inch Dual 2ohm) - Orion Card Audio)

and I wanted to go for the "Orion HCCA 5000 amp" to match but haven't got the funds at the moment so I have an old "JL Audio 1000/v2 Monoblock Class D" (1000/1v2 - Car Audio - Amplifiers - Slash v2 - JL Audio) lying around so I plan on using that for the time being just need to get the connections setup.

I know this has probably been asked a million times and I have read the How To's but I seem to read different install information depending on each person and which factory options they have.

So from factory I have:

• Nav 16:9

• DSP amp Upgrade

• Professional Hifi Upgrade (Extra speakers in rear doors and factory sub in boot cupboard)

I think I'm OK with running the with running the power from the battery I take its just Black to negative and Red to positive right??

I don't know where to get the inputs for the line input amplifier. Here are the different options I've seen:

1. Tap a connection from the OEM sub connector which plugs into the sub. (Post factory Amp)

2. Tap a connection from the feeds to the factory amp from the 16:9 screen (Pre factory amp)

3. Tap a connection from the rear outputs to speaker doors (Post amp)

I've heard it's best to get a "clean" signal that hasn't been through factory amp is this right??

Also do I need to get a cable that converts them from 2 normal wires into a Phono plug for the JL amp input?

Could someone please recommend which method would be best suited for me?

Also could someone explain what this means "Ω" i.e 1Ω@1000w 2Ω@1000w etc..

Thanks!
James

[TerminatorX5]

Omega = resitance value, Ohm... haven't seen that in years!!!

[james8whippy]

Thanks man so is the lower the Ohm's the better or is it the higher?

It's the guy I bought the sub from said it's wired to 1Ω but can be wired to 4Ω what does this mean in terms of my sub and amp?

[admranger]

Don't connect the amp to the battery negative terminal. Find a factory grounding spot near where you mount the amp and use that instead. Shorten that run of noise gathering cable.

Your JL amp is stable down to 1.5 ohms impedance (it's not resistance, similar but different). Run that sub in a dual 2 ohm configuration (which according to your link that sub does). Lower ohms equal higher watts to the speaker. If you go too low, you fry the amp but that's not a problem here with your single sub.

There are a number of hookup options, but in all of them you are going to have to take the signal wires and convert them to RCA male plugs, likely via a line out controller. BSW do some more searching here and you'll find some threads on subwoofer installs. I haven't done this, but will be via a much more involved process in the future.

Good luck!

[james8whippy]

Thanks I wasn't aware about connecting the negative to the car instead of the battery so I will do that now. I believe I understand what you are saying about the Ohms Impedance I've checked my amp and it says:
1.5Ω = 1000w
2Ω = 1000w
3Ω = 1000w
4Ω = 1000w

So as its the same power that is supplied on each I will run it at 4Ω so I don't fry the amp. Someone also told me the higher the Ω the better quality sound as it's not distorted?

I have watched this video by BSW - BMW X5 Subwoofer System (x108) by BSW - Install Guide 3 of 7 - YouTube and they run the input from the existing OEM subwoofer connections (Option 1 in my original post) even though this is Post amp would that be the best option then? Does it not matter about this clean feed I heard about?

Would I need something like this to convert to RCA cables? - Stinger Electronics SGN11 Car Speaker to RCA Phono adaptor | eBay

Thanks!
James