Aftermarket Amplifier Wiring Guide

[Bosh]

I am finally getting around to upgrading my audio system. I have the premium tech package with the subwoofer and all that. I am thinking of purchasing a LC-6.1200 so I can power 2 sets of speakers and install an aftermarket subwoofer as well all in the same package. I just pulled apart the back of my vehicle to see what I am dealing with and was hoping to get some help on a few things.

Does anyone have a wiring diagram? I need the speaker level inputs for front and back speakers.

Are the speaker level inputs going into the amp on the back side of the oem subwoofer or do I need to find them somewhere else?

Is there a remote power-on cable anywhere in the back left section?

 

[Bosh]

Here is a photo of the amplifier. I need speaker level inputs for my new amplifier. I am hoping those are in the bunch of colored wires?

 

[JerryST89]

I am finally getting around to upgrading my audio system. I have the premium tech package with the subwoofer and all that. I am thinking of purchasing a LC-6.1200 so I can power 2 sets of speakers and install an aftermarket subwoofer as well all in the same package. I just pulled apart the back of my vehicle to see what I am dealing with and was hoping to get some help on a few things.

Does anyone have a wiring diagram? I need the speaker level inputs for front and back speakers.

Are the speaker level inputs going into the amp on the back side of the oem subwoofer or do I need to find them somewhere else?

Is there a remote power-on cable anywhere in the back left section?

From my understanding you need to buy a Interface module to convert the signal but not 100% sure if its different with the amp you plan to run. At least thats what I was told.

 

[UNBROKEN]

From my understanding you need to buy a Interface module to convert the signal but not 100% sure if its different with the amp you plan to run. At least thats what I was told.

He’s looking at an amp with speaker level inputs so he won’t need an interface. It’s far from ideal but it will make sound. It’s no different than wiring in a line level converter like an LC2i.

 

[JerryST89]

He’s looking at an amp with speaker level inputs so he won’t need an interface. It’s far from ideal but it will make sound. It’s no different than wiring in a line level converter like an LC2i.

Whats the downfall of doing what he is doing vs using the interface like the pac or nav tv? Thought the purpose of the interface was to bring out a flat eq to the amps to work with and blend all the eq together?

 

[Cruising68]

You will get more distortion from Bose speaker outputs, basically amplifying twice. You get a reasonable clean pre-amp signal out of the Nav-Tv without all the Bose amp eq weirdness.


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[JerryST89]

You will get more distortion from Bose speaker outputs, basically amplifying twice. You get a reasonable clean pre-amp signal out of the Nav-Tv without all the Bose amp eq weirdness.


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So getting it from the speaker outputs the signal is amplified and still eqd to whatever settings the manufacturer did correct?

 

[UNBROKEN]

You will get more distortion from Bose speaker outputs, basically amplifying twice. You get a reasonable clean pre-amp signal out of the Nav-Tv without all the Bose amp eq weirdness.


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If you use the NAV it’s a dead flat signal out. We’ve measured it more than once in more than one Ford vehicle. There’s nothing better on the market. With it being a CAN-BUS car even the USB is a great input because it maintains a digital signal all the way through the chain to your processor or amps. I use optical out of the NAV so it’s a 100% digital signal chain to the amps.

 

[UNBROKEN]

So getting it from the speaker outputs the signal is amplified and still eqd to whatever settings the manufacturer did correct?

Not only EQ but also any filters they used in their tuning process. OEM’s love all pass filters and if you don’t know what they did it makes it quite a bit harder to make things sound good.

 

[Cruising68]

Agree. I was surprised I got zero distortion at my amp thru a NavTV even at max volume on the head unit.

 

[banniar]

Not only EQ but also any filters they used in their tuning process. OEM’s love all pass filters and if you don’t know what they did it makes it quite a bit harder to make things sound good.

There is other strangeness that occurs on the factory speaker outputs... The subwoofer level dials itself down when you start driving it hard in a somewhat unpredictable way. It behaves like it is a thermal protection that is not strictly volume based. Once you turn the volume up enough (about 15), the bass will fade in and out without touching the radio. I've fully disconnected the factory sub, so this has nothing to do with the load on the sub circuit.

There is definitely some heavy EQ happening in the factory amp. I've tried dialing the bass on the head unit down and pushing the amp gains. That resulted in a very unbalanced sound with the ~30-40Hz frequencies boosted way too much. And it didn't really help much with the cutout problem. I even tried tapping the front speaker outputs to drive my sub to get away from this issue, but the low frequencies died off too dramatically. There may be hope to DSP those signals, but I only did a short test before falling back to the sub signals.

One day I'll switch to the NAV, but I have a hard time justifying the the investment (speakers, amps, dsp, time) for better listening on with my 3 mile commute. Firearms and cheap car audio from my teenage years wrecked my hearing too much to fully appreciate a system like UNBROKEN put together anyway.

 

[WaferTech]

Here is a photo of the amplifier. I need speaker level inputs for my new amplifier. I am hoping those are in the bunch of colored wires? View attachment 18042
View attachment 18043

Do you still need the pinouts for those connectors? 12 or 14 speaker system?

 

[Bosh]

Do you still need the pinouts for those connectors? 12 or 14 speaker system?

Yeah, I'm still looking to get the pinout of the connectors on the amp side. If you also have it on the radio/headunit side as well, that would be even better! 14 speaker system.

 

[Stone17]

 

[Stone17]

 

[Bosh]

Thanks @Stone17!

I think I might go with the PAC AmpPro instead of jumping in off the factory amp. This should still be very helpful so I know which wires are which.