Fiesta ST subwoofer wiring project

[bduane]

I though I tried that one... Labeled instrument cluster. I ended up finding f8, moonroof, did the trick (and I have no moonroof)

 

[gii0]

nvm , spliced into the wrong wire. Just in case anyone wants to try this it's the speaker wire wrapped together that you want to splice into...

 

[Boro]

At the risk of being the guy who revives a thread from 5 months ago just to ask questions, I have a couple noob queries that I hope won't just sound like I'm asking for a total wiring walkthrough.

Basically, the place that put a system in my old thunderbird told me they would have to custom add a head unit in the dash cup by the shifter, they couldn't or wouldn't wire anything to the stock head. I didn't like the way they wanted to handle that, so I've been researching it myself. Hoping to either tell a place what I want wired where, or just do it myself maybe. So, my questions are these:

Why do you use the rear speaker wires to go into the LOC, rather than the front speakers?

For your remote wire, what was the yellow/brown wire you tapped into, the ignition? And if you were putting a toggle or a bass knob in the cabin, do you just cut the remote in two somewhere and connect the switch where it's cut?

And last is about bridging. MKVII posted a wiring diagram and I at least partially understand what bridging does, at least as far as allowing the amp to push more power to one channel vs less power to more channels (?). Is that diagram pretty much the rule on how to wire the sub if amp channels are bridged? And if it weren't bridged, would you then just wire each channel to each set of pos/neg on the sub, but it would be less power coming from the amp? Or am I totally off base? This is the main aspect of wiring that I am not sure about.

Anyway. If I did nothing else but expose my level of inexperience, please feel free to enjoy teh lols.

 

[Phinnegan]

Rear speaker tap because easy and close to the hatch. Don't tap the yellow/brown, use an add a circuit fuse tap and run the remote from the fuse block behind the glove box. As far as bridging an amp, check the manual for your amp, some amps will support, some won't. If you haven't bought an amp yet you'd probably just buy a single channel amp.

 

[MKVIIST]

Directed Electronics said its perfectly fine to connect to the Yellow and Brown for an amp remote. But if I were to do it over, I agree with Phinnegan, use a fuse tap from the fuse box behind the glove. He's also spot on about bridging, it depends on your amp and subwoofer. I purchased a 4ohm subwoofer and wanted to run it at 2ohm bridged. However you can run a mono-amp to make it easier.

 

[Phinnegan]

Yea it might have to do with the sensitivity of the remote line on the amp, my amp would cut out when hooked to the yellow/brown (as far as I can tell that is a speaker wire)

 

[Boro]

I have my amp already, from my old system. I dug it out and it's actually an alpine mrp m500, so it's a mono amp. Thinking of getting an alpine 10" dvc 4 ohm to go with it. Or the same bazooka tube you used MKVII, just because I've never heard a bazooka tube.
I will keep the fuse tap in mind for the remote! Thank you both!

 

[Hijinx]

Thanks MKVII, I used this as a guide to find the best wires to tap into for signal and the remote. I went with the Infinity Basslink. IMO, it fills the car perfectly inside without alerting everyone on the outside.

Pro-tip: for those who removed their sound symposer, use it to route wires through from the engine bay.

 

[Sourskittle]

I used my syposer hole yesterday to run a small cable for the wmi controller, it was pretty nice. I'm a fan of it now, I used to hate it, lol.

 

[Sourskittle]

Most amps are not sable at 2ohm ( although lots are rated at 2ohm or lower ). The ones that are sable at 2ohm normally require a solid power supply (light extra batteries and/or caps).

Maybe I'm getting old, but a bass link under the seat would be all I'd ever want...

 

[MKVIIST]

Thanks MKVII, I used this as a guide to find the best wires to tap into for signal and the remote. I went with the Infinity Basslink. IMO, it fills the car perfectly inside without alerting everyone on the outside.

Pro-tip: for those who removed their sound symposer, use it to route wires through from the engine bay.

You're welcome and thanks for the added tip.

 

[HaveBlue83]

I did this hpw to and everything worked but now my sub beats whenever i touch the passenger side doors. It just goes off. Its very annoying. Any help? My girlfriend freaks out and ifgaf but she is on me to fix it


It will do it car on car off audio on or off doesnt matter. I ran power from the sync fuse as i am running a tiny 50w amplifier and 4" sub and it doesnt pull more than 20a. The wire that is causing this is a brown wire. If i disconnect it the sub isnt powered. If i connect it back up it works but when i tap the car anywhere it starts going off and doesnt stop. I got the setup from a buddy pre wired. I just connected the amp power ground and signal wires.

Any ideas?

 

[TruConspiracy]

Clean job MK! Im really wanting to (pay someone) to do this

 

[Coolnezzz]

Thank you for the excellent write-up, I plan on following this when I do my sub install this weekend. I had a thought though, you only tapped into one of the rear speakers to convert to RCA for the sub. Wouldn't it be best to tap into both sides since any kind of input that moves from left to right or vice versa will only send signal to the sub when it's coming from the side you tapped into?

For example, if you're listening to a song with a kick drum that alternates left-right with every other beat, wouldn't the sub only hit when the drum is beat on the side you've tapped into? I'm genuinely curious and am in no way criticizing your install, I think you did a fantastic job.

 

[MKVIIST]

I did this hpw to and everything worked but now my sub beats whenever i touch the passenger side doors. It just goes off. Its very annoying. Any help? My girlfriend freaks out and ifgaf but she is on me to fix it


It will do it car on car off audio on or off doesnt matter. I ran power from the sync fuse as i am running a tiny 50w amplifier and 4" sub and it doesnt pull more than 20a. The wire that is causing this is a brown wire. If i disconnect it the sub isnt powered. If i connect it back up it works but when i tap the car anywhere it starts going off and doesnt stop. I got the setup from a buddy pre wired. I just connected the amp power ground and signal wires.

Any ideas?

Sorry didn't see this before. Even if its a small amp, I would suggest running the a power wire directly from the battery rather than tapping into your fuse panel as you may risk causing electrical issues. When you say it happens when the audio is on or off, do you mean your amp is constantly on?

Can you post some pictures so we can see what where you are tapping into the wires as well as grounding? Are you using a line convertor or using high-level inputs?

 

[MKVIIST]

Thank you for the excellent write-up, I plan on following this when I do my sub install this weekend. I had a thought though, you only tapped into one of the rear speakers to convert to RCA for the sub. Wouldn't it be best to tap into both sides since any kind of input that moves from left to right or vice versa will only send signal to the sub when it's coming from the side you tapped into?

For example, if you're listening to a song with a kick drum that alternates left-right with every other beat, wouldn't the sub only hit when the drum is beat on the side you've tapped into? I'm genuinely curious and am in no way criticizing your install, I think you did a fantastic job.

That's a valid question and in an ideal situation you can run both left and right channels properly. For me since I was using a single sub, I was okay with just using one side for my inputs.

If you wanted to wire both sides, you can always run additional speakers wires from both the panels and mount the convertor further back in the car.

 

[Izzy]

Wow...didn't know a 10" Bazooka would be that big. It takes up too much room for my needs. Thankfully I went another route...glad you're enjoying it though. Still have to get my lower Fiesta tray to hide the wires.

 

[Coolnezzz]

Thanks to MKVIIST and several other posters and their threads here I was able to wire up my new sub and door speakers without too much trouble.

Parts were all ordered through Crutchfield:

Subwoofer: JL Audio 10W0v3-4 - 10" mounted in a pre-built sealed enclosure.
Amp: MTX THUNDER500.1 - 300W RMS @ 4ohm.
Wiring: Lightning Audio LA-4i - 4 gauge power wiring kit.
Front speakers: MTX Terminator65
Rear speakers: Kicker 41DSC654
LOC: AudioControl LC2I 2-Channel line output converter

Finding a way through the firewall to run the 4 gauge power wire was a pain in the butt. Ended up routing it through the sound symposer tube as I had removed it several months ago.


I used a fuse tap and tapped into the fuse suggested a couple pages back, however, right after I installed it I was suddenly getting all kinds of weird problems. Airbag light was on, climate controls stopped working, and there was no audio while the car was running. Changed it to the moonroof control fuse and all is working correctly now


Gigantic 80 amp fuse, came with my 4 gauge wiring kit. Probably a bit overkill.


No pictures of the door speaker replacement but all wires for the sub-woofer are now run to the rear of the car.


Cut up a piece of MDF my buddy gave me and mounted the amp and line output converter to it. Attached it to the bottom of the trunk using velcro and it seems to work perfectly.


Final install location, the subwoofer is held to the rear floor board using several large pieces of velcro. Holding really strong at this point, will see how it goes over time. So far no issues.


Who's a cute little subwoofer?! You are! Perfect location for accessing the amp and line output converter controls from within the cabin.

 

[Jeffrey_Wang]

great job!

 

[2006ser]

Nice job